Insight Meditation

by Joseph Goldstein

Book by Goldstein, Joseph

Genres: Philosophy

184 pages, Hardcover

Published October 12, 1993

About the author

Joseph Goldstein (born 1944) is one of the first American vipassana teachers (Fronsdal, 1998), co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society (IMS) with Jack Kornfield and Sharon Salzberg, contemporary author of numerous popular books on Buddhism (see publications below), resident guiding teacher at IMS, and leader of retreats worldwide on insight (vipassana) and lovingkindness (metta) meditation.

While the majority of Goldstein's publications introduce Westerners to primarily Theravada concepts, practices and values, his 2002 work, "One Dharma", explored the creation of an integrated framework for the Theravada, Tibetan and Zen traditions.

Reviews

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the sections on meditation and loving kindness the most, the parts that included stories about supernatural powers not so much. The sections on death and parents were also informative. The book is set up where the chapters can each be read as a separate essay, so it would be an easy to read bedtime book.

[Robert Kipa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Useful companion to address key issues that arise while on retreat, and beyond.

Most of the advice is recycled throughout, though, and what is already a short book could have been even shorter. I appreciate this book mostly due to the context within which I read it - on retreat, under teacher guidance to address particular areas such as pain, expectations, and desire. Had I read it elsewhere, two stars.

TL;DR: Open to your experience. Investigate stuff that keeps coming up with warmth and curiosity. Stuff is just stuff. Keep going. There’s nowhere to go. Fun.