Exploring Nibbana: A Conversation with Joseph Goldstein

Instructor(s): Joseph Goldstein and William Edelglass

Program Description:

At different times in our lives and meditation practice, we may get glimpses of something beyond our ordinary, conventional reality, touching a space that transforms our vision of who we are and what the world is. And these intimations can provide a powerful impetus to our practice as we begin to taste the possibility of freedom. Although we may have many selfless moments in our lives, it is the experience of Nibbana that finally uproots the delusion of self-centeredness. Given that it is the clearly stated goal and aim of the Buddha’s teaching, the noble end of what makes the Eightfold Path noble, it seems important to explore the meaning and experience of Nibbana. Please join us for this conversation with Joseph Goldstein, co-founder of the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies (BCBS), and William Edelglass, BCBS Director of Studies. Joseph and William will explore different approaches to Nibbana as discussed in Joseph’s recent article published in the Insight Journal, and how even as we work to alleviate the societal causes of suffering, we can also strive to realize the ultimate refuge and help others find this peace. 

About the Instructor(s):
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  Joseph Goldstein

  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.

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  William Edelglass

  William Edelglass is Director of Studies at the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies.  He also teaches at Smith College, where he is the Director of the Five College Tibetan Studies Program in India, and is adjunct professor at the Central University for Tibetan Studies in Sarnath, India.  His scholarship explores questions in Buddhist studies, environmental humanities, and philosophy.  William has practiced in several different Buddhist traditions and has taught widely in dharma centers, academia, as a wilderness guide, and in several Tibetan academic institutions in India.  William’s most recent book is The Routledge Handbook of Indian Buddhist Philosophy.