Sharon Salzberg - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Sharon Salzberg is a New York Times Best selling author and influential teacher of Buddhist meditation

Buddhist meditation

Buddhist meditation refers to the meditative practices associated with the religion and philosophy of Buddhism.Core meditation techniques have been preserved in ancient Buddhist texts and have proliferated and diversified through teacher-student transmissions. Buddhists pursue meditation as part of...

practices in West. She co-founded the Insight Meditation Society

Insight Meditation Society

The Insight Meditation Society is a non-profit organization for study of Buddhism located in Barre, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1975, by Jack Kornfield, Sharon Salzberg, and Joseph Goldstein, and is rooted in the Theravada tradition. IMS meditation practices are based on the teachings of the...

at Barre, Massachusetts

Barre, Massachusetts

Barre is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 5,398 at the 2010 census.-History:Originally called the Northwest District of Rutland, it was first settled in 1720. The town was incorporated on June 17, 1774, as Hutchinson after Thomas Hutchinson, colonial...

with Jack Kornfield

Jack Kornfield

Jack Kornfield is a teacher in the vipassana movement of American Theravada Buddhism. He trained as a Buddhist monk in Thailand, Burma and India, including as a student of the Thai monk Ajahn Chah...

and Joseph Goldstein

Joseph Goldstein

Joseph Goldstein is one of the first American vipassana teachers , co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society with Jack Kornfield and Sharon Salzberg, contemporary author of numerous popular books on Buddhism , resident guiding teacher at IMS, and leader of retreats worldwide on insight and...

, in 1974. Her emphasis is on vipassanā

Vipassana

Vipassanā or vipaśyanā in the Buddhist tradition means insight into the true nature of reality. A regular practitioner of Vipassana is known as a Vipassi . Vipassana is one of the world's most ancient techniques of meditation, the inception of which is attributed to Gautama Buddha...

(insight) and mettā

Metta

Mettā or maitrī is loving-kindness, friendliness, benevolence, amity, friendship, good will, kindness, love, sympathy, close mental union , and active interest in others. It is one of the ten pāramīs of the Theravāda school of Buddhism, and the first of the four sublime states...

(loving-kindness) methods and has been leading meditation retreats around the world for over three decades. All of these methods have their origins in the Theravada

Theravada

Theravada ; literally, "the Teaching of the Elders" or "the Ancient Teaching", is the oldest surviving Buddhist school. It was founded in India...

Buddhist tradition. Her book include Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness (1995), A Heart as Wide as the World (1999) and Real Happiness - The Power of Meditation: A 28-Day Program (2010), which was on the The New York Times Best Seller list in 2011.

Early life

Born in New York City to Jewish family, Salzberg had a troubled early life after her parents divorced when she was 4, and her father abandoned the family. At 9, her mother died and she went to live with her father's parents. Though her father returned when she was 11, but he soon overdosed, and was subsequently put in the hospital and soon moved into the mental health system for the rest of his life. By 16 Sharon had lived with five different families.

Salzberg was first exposed to Buddhism in 1969, while taking a course in Asian philosophy in her sophomore year at the State University of New York, Buffalo. This led to her taking an independent study trip to India in 1970, where in January 1971, she attended her first intensive meditation course at Bodh Gaya. She spent the next years in intensive study with from various Buddhist teachers. Returning to US in 1974, she started teaching vipassana

Vipassana

(insight) meditation.

Career

A student of Dipa Ma

Dipa Ma

Dipa Ma was born Nani Bala Barua in a small village named Chittagong in East Bengal , moving to join her husband in Burma when she was 16...

, Anagarika Munindra

Anagarika Munindra

Anagarika Shri Munindra , also called Munindraji by his disciples, was a Bengali vipassana meditation teacher, who taught many notable teachers including Dipa Ma, Joseph Goldstein, Sharon Salzberg, and Surya Das. Anagarika simply means a practicing Buddhist who leads a homeless life without...

and other asian masters, Salzberg together with Jack Kornfield

Jack Kornfield

Jack Kornfield is a teacher in the vipassana movement of American Theravada Buddhism. He trained as a Buddhist monk in Thailand, Burma and India, including as a student of the Thai monk Ajahn Chah...

and Joseph Goldstein

Joseph Goldstein

, founded the Insight Meditation Society

Insight Meditation Society

at Barre, Massachusetts

Barre, Massachusetts

in 1974. She also co-founded (with Goldstein) the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies in 1989. In 1998 they co-founded The Forest Refuge as a long-term meditation retreat center and is today a notable teacher of the Vipassana movement

Vipassana movement

The Vipassana movement refers to a number of branches of modern Theravāda Buddhism, for example in the various traditions of Sri Lanka, Burma, Laos and Thailand including contemporary American Buddhist teachers such as Joseph Goldstein, Tara Brach, Gil Fronsdal, Sharon Salzberg, and Jack Kornfield...

.

An in-depth interview with Salzberg appears in the book Meetings with Remarkable Women: Buddhist Teachers in America, by Lenore Friedman. (Boston:Shambhala, Revised and Updated edition, 2000. ISBN 1570624747)

Honors

Sharon Salzberg was honored by the New York Open Center in 1999 for her "Outstanding Contribution to the Mindfulness of the West"

Appointments

Mind and Life Institute
Mind and Life Institute
The Mind and Life Institute is a non-profit organization dedicated to exploring the relationship of science and Buddhism as methodologies in understanding the nature of reality...

2005 Investigating the Mind Conference, Panelist.
Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey is an American media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer and philanthropist. Winfrey is best known for her self-titled, multi-award-winning talk show, which has become the highest-rated program of its kind in history and was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2011...

’s O Magazine
O, The Oprah Magazine
O: The Oprah Magazine, sometimes simply abbreviated to O, is a monthly magazine founded by Oprah Winfrey and Hearst Corporation.-Overview:...

, Contributing Editor.

Books

Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness (1995) ISBN 1-59030-187-0
Heart as Wide as the World (1999) ISBN 1-57062-428-3
Voices of Insight (2001) ISBN 1-57062-769-X
Faith: Trusting Your Own Deepest Experience (2003) ISBN 1-57322-340-9
The Force of Kindness: Change Your Life with Love and Compassion (2006) ISBN 1-59179-355-6
The Kindness Handbook: A Practical Campanion (2008) ISBN 978-1591796558
Real Happiness - The Power of Meditation: A 28-Day Program (2010) ISBN 978-0761159254

Audio Publications

Insight Meditation: A Step-By-Step Course on How to Meditate (2002), with Joseph Goldstein
Joseph Goldstein
Joseph Goldstein is one of the first American vipassana teachers , co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society with Jack Kornfield and Sharon Salzberg, contemporary author of numerous popular books on Buddhism , resident guiding teacher at IMS, and leader of retreats worldwide on insight and...

ISBN 1-56455-906-8.
Lovingkindness Meditation (2005) ISBN 1-59179-268-1
Guided Meditations For Love & Wisdom: 14 Essential Practices (2009) ISBN 978-1-59179-707-4
Unplug: An Interactive Kit for Giving Yourself a Break (2009) ISBN 978-1-59179-638-1

Articles

Interviews

External links

Sharon Salzberg's Website
Sharon Salzberg audio from the DIY Dharma site

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