Forty years ago, “mindfulness” wasn’t part of America’s lexicon, and meditation certainly wasn’t a subject that came up at cocktail parties. Sharon Salzberg helped to change that. She’s one of the spiritual pioneers who brought Buddhism to the West and integrated its concepts into mainstream culture, and her relatable wisdom now inspires a worldwide audience.
Who She Is
Sharon Salzberg is an influential thinker and speaker, a popular meditation teacher, and a New York Times bestselling author. She co-founded the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, in 1975, and has written ten books: Real Happiness and Lovingkindness are meditation classics, and Real Love: The Art of Mindful Connection was released in 2017. She’s a monthly columnist for On Being, an award-winning website, a contributor to The Huffington Post, and the host of her own podcast, Metta Hour. She is also a familiar voice on everything from the TEDx circuit to conference panels with the Dalai Lama.
What She Teaches
Salzberg teaches meditation and mindfulness practices with a modern, secular perspective. She focuses on two types of meditation that have roots in ancient Buddhist teachings—vipassana, or insight, which examines the true nature of reality; and metta, or loving-kindness, a practice that encourages love for all beings. She addresses the range of human experience and its everyday struggles, and offers practical outlets for contemplation and growth.
Why You’ll Love Her
Every time Sharon Salzberg speaks, it feels like a conversation, not a lecture. She doesn’t speak at you. Maybe it’s because she too, like all of us, is still on the path to knowing; each day is a lesson, each moment an opportunity to start over, pay attention, and learn. Oftentimes Salzberg’s Dharma talk involves a tale from her own experience—for example, an email snafu earlier that day that gave way to a new understanding of patience, or some other utterly human situation that everyone in the room can relate to. She is comfortable with her words and often deeply funny, and she answers the sometimes very heavy questions she receives with unflinching evenness. There is no place for abstract philosophy in Salzberg’s talks.
In her video series “Street Lovingkindness” (see link below), she takes the formal meditation practice of loving-kindness off the cushion and out into the world. Her constant voice in current affairs also keeps her teachings relevant. Salzberg often partners in dialogue with other thought leaders; a recent exchange with author and Zen priest Rev. angel Kyodo Williams, explored the relationship between spirituality and activism.
How She Found the Spiritual Path
For Salzberg, a spark of recognition flashed deep inside her when she heard the Buddha’s teachings on suffering during an Asian studies course at the State University of New York at Buffalo when she was seventeen. It was the first time anyone had acknowledged the universality of suffering—that we all experience it, and that we all have the ability to free ourselves through meditation. Salzberg grew up under a cloak of tremendous suffering. Her parents divorced when she was four, and five years later, her mother began hemorrhaging one night when the two of them were home alone. An ambulance whisked her away and Salzberg never saw her again. Her father reappeared, then overdosed on pills. Salzberg wrote in her book Faith that it seems like she spent most of her childhood “curled up in bed, lost in a separate shadowed existence built of sadness.” No one talked about loss, grief, shame, or self-hatred.
The Buddha’s words ignited a sense of possibility, and during her sophomore year of college, Salzberg set off to India to learn more. In 1971, in Bodh Gaya, India—site of the bodhi tree where the Buddha reached enlightenment—Sharon Salzberg attended her first intensive ten-day Vipassana retreat led by renowned meditation teacher S.N. Goenka. There she met other seekers, including Ram Dass, Krishna Das, Jack Kornfield, Mirabai Bush, and Joseph Goldstein, who would become close friends and equally influential figures in Western spirituality. On the last day of the retreat, Goenka introduced the concept of metta, and Salzberg felt something click—it was the first time she understood the concept of unconditional love.
Many other important teachers influenced Salzberg’s path, but it was Dipa Ma, an Indian-born teacher of the Burmese meditation tradition, who predicted her rise to public acclaim: “You understand suffering,” she told her. “That’s why you should teach.”
When Salzberg returned to America, she and her friends began offering lectures and leading meditation retreats. The Insight Meditation Society rose out of a need for a permanent retreat center, and it’s now one of the most respected destinations for meditation studies in the world.
Learn Now
Sharon’s Street Lovingkindness video series takes the formal meditation practice of loving-kindness (aka metta) off the cushion and into your life. Explore a new way to interact with the world around you. By expanding your circle of kindness you can discover deeper connections and joy right where you are.
Where You Can Find Her
Salzberg lives in Barre, Massachusetts, and New York City. She leads retreats at the Insight Meditation Society and at locations throughout the country. Visit www.sharonsalzberg.com/events to view her calendar.
