IMS Teacher

Joseph Goldstein

Listen to a Featured Talk

Understanding Karma

Listen to more talks

IMS Teacher

Joseph Goldstein

Listen to a Featured Talk

Understanding Karma

Listen to more talks

Joseph Goldstein has been leading insight and lovingkindness meditation retreats worldwide since 1974. He is a co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, where he is on the guiding teachers’ Founders Council. In 1989, together with several other teachers and students of insight meditation, he helped establish the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies.

Joseph first became interested in Buddhism as a Peace Corps volunteer in Thailand in 1965. Since 1967 he has studied and practiced different forms of Buddhist meditation under eminent teachers from India, Burma and Tibet. He is the author of Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening, A Heart Full of Peace, One Dharma: The Emerging Western Buddhism, Insight Meditation: The Practice of Freedom, The Experience of Insight, and co-author of Seeking the Heart of Wisdom and Insight Meditation: A Correspondence Course.

Upcoming Events

Dreamscapes of the Mind: Joseph Goldstein and Dan Harris discuss poetry, creativity, and the Dharma in this free IMS Online event. Tuesday, November 12, 2024, 7-8:15 PM ET.

Contemplative Semester: A three-month immersion into meditation practice, community-building, and nature connection for 18-25 year olds, featuring:  four weeks of silent retreats, classes on Buddhist theory & practice, and living in community based on shared power & collaboration. Potash Hill, Vermont, Sept. 8 – Dec. 14, 2024.

Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris—March 18, 2024

Joseph and Dan discuss karma and past life, rebirth and Buddhism. Watch here.

Deep Transformation Podcast—March 14, 2024

In this conversation, Joseph describes how the leading edge of his practice never stops moving forward and how his understanding of the most basic ideas becomes ever more refined and liberating. Watch here.

Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris—November 9, 2023

Joseph and Dan discuss nirvana and how mindfulness can help you find it…and find happiness. Watch here.

Joseph Goldstein—Wisdom for Troubled Times

For many of us, the current environment, magnified by 24-hour news outlets and social media, has created a level of stress, fear and anger that impacts our lives and relationships. How can we meet these challenges with a clear mind and an open heart? IMS co-founder and renowned meditation teacher Joseph Goldstein discusses the two qualities of mind—equanimity and compassion—that enable us to unhook from reactivity and engage the world with purpose and hope.

Mindfulness: What It Is and Is Not

CFM Guest Lecture Series—November 19, 2014 at the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society, Shrewsbury, MA

Featured Books

Dreamscapes of the Mind: Poems and Reflections
View Publication
The Experience of Insight
View Publication
Insight Meditation: The Practice of Freedom
View Publication
Mindfulness Guide to Awakening
Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening
View Publication
Mindfulness: Six Guided Practices for Awakening (CD/Audio Download; Companion to the Book)
View Recording
A Heart Full of Peace
View Publication

I have two main aims in teaching. The first is to spread the dharma as widely as possible, offering it to as many different people as I can. The second is to teach a smaller number of people over sustained periods of time. This in-depth teaching engages my tremendous love for intensive, long-term meditation practice, where people can immerse themselves in the retreat experience and see how it transforms their understanding.

Joseph Goldstein