Sharon Salzberg (born August 5, 1952) is an author and teacher of Buddhist meditation practice in the West. In 1974, she co-founded the Insight Meditation Society at Barre, Massachusetts, with Jack Kornfield and Joseph Goldstein. Her emphasis is on vipassanā (insight) and mettā (loving-kindness) methods, and she has been leading meditation retreats around the world for several decades.
All of these methods have their origins in the Theravada Buddhist tradition, through teachings by Dipa Ma, Anagarika Munindra, Sayadaw U Pandita, and other Asian teachers. Her books include Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness (1995), A Heart as Wide as the World (1999), Real Happiness – The Power of Meditation: A 28-Day Program (2010), which was on The New York Times Best Seller list in 2011, the follow-up Real Happiness at Work (2013), and Love Your Enemies (co-written with Robert Thurman 2013). She runs a Metta Hour podcast, and contributes monthly to a column "On Being".
Early life
Born in New York City to a Jewish family, Salzberg had a troubled early life after her parents divorced when she was four and her father abandoned the family. At nine, her mother died and she went to live with her father's parents. Though her father returned when she was eleven, he soon overdosed and was subsequently hospitalized. He was placed in the mental health system, where he remained until his death. By 16, Salzberg had lived with five different families.
In her sophomore year at the State University of New York, Buffalo in 1969, Salzberg encountered Buddhism during a course in Asian philosophy. The following year, she took an independent study trip to India, and in January 1971 attended her first intensive meditation course at Bodh Gaya. In the next several years, she engaged in intensive study with various Buddhist teachers including S.N. Goenka. After returning to US in 1974, she began teaching vipassana (insight) meditation.
Career Salzberg is a student of Dipa Ma,Amy Schmidt, Dipa Ma: The Life and Legacy of a Buddhist Master. (USA); (Europe), p. 9. Anagarika Munindra, Sayadaw U Pandita and other Asian masters. She, Jack Kornfield and Joseph Goldstein founded the Insight Meditation Society at Barre, Massachusetts, in 1974. She and Goldstein co-founded the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies in 1989 and The Forest Refuge, a long-term meditation retreat center in 1998. In 1995 she published her best-known work, the metta meditation book Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness. Today, she is a notable teacher of the Vipassana movement. 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; )
Honors 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 2005 Investigating the Mind Conference, Panelist. Oprah Winfrey's O Magazine, Contributing Editor. On Being with Krista Tippett, Weekly Columnist.
Books Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness (1995) A Heart as Wide as the World: Living with Mindfulness, Wisdom, and Compassion (1999) Voices of Insight (2001) Faith: Trusting Your Own Deepest Experience (2003) The Force of Kindness: Change Your Life with Love and Compassion (2006) The Kindness Handbook: A Practical Companion (2008) Real Happiness – The Power of Meditation: A 28-Day Program (2010) Real Happiness at Work: Meditations for Accomplishment, Achievement, and Peace (2013) Love Your Enemies: How to Break the Anger Habit & Be a Whole Lot Happier, with Robert Thurman (2014) Real Love: The Art of Mindful Connection (2017) ISBN 978-1250076502 Real Change: Mindfulness to Heal Ourselves and the World (2020) ISBN 978-1250310576 Real Life: The Journey from Isolation to Openness and Freedom (2023) ISBN 978-1250835734 Finding Your Way: Meditations, Thoughts, and Wisdom for Living an Authentic Life (2023) ISBN 978-1523516391 Kind Karl: A Little Crocodile with Big Feelings (2025, children's book co-authored with Jason Gruhl and illustrated by Sébastien Mourrain) ISBN 978-1645472476
Audio publications Insight Meditation: A Step-By-Step Course on How to Meditate (2002), with Joseph Goldstein . Lovingkindness Meditation (2005) Guided Meditations For Love & Wisdom: 14 Essential Practices (2009) Unplug: An Interactive Kit for Giving Yourself a Break (2009)
Articles How Silence Can Help Us Unplug, huffpost.com How Doing Nothing Can Help You Truly Live, HuffingtonPost.com Meditation Practice: A Paradigm Shift, HuffingtonPost.com 12 Tips on Exploring Spirituality, Blogher.com The Benefits of Meditation , AARP.org Opening the Heart with Lovingkindness HuffingtonPost.com Buddha Nature, RebelBuddha.com What's Better for Creativity: Depression or Happiness?, HuffingtonPost.com
Interviews Under the Skin with Russell Brand: Will Spirituality Solve Our Global Problems?, itunes.apple.com Interview with on CBS Religion & Culture, cbsnews.com. Audio Interview Series, BuddhistGeeks.com Salzberg interview with Dan Harris, ABCNews.go.com Interview with Elisha Goldstein, Ph.D., HuffingtonPost.com Yoga and Buddhism's adaptation in the West, Ascentmagazine.com Salzberg discusses meditation, happiness & social media with Danny Fisher, ShambhalaSun.com Interview, PBS Religion & Ethics Newsweekly. February 18, 2011. Interview, latimes.com. February 19, 2011. Interview , healthyyourradio.com. February 23, 2011.
References
External links
Sharon Salzberg audio from the DIY Dharma site