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Insight Meditation: The Practice of Freedom

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A leading meditation teacher and the co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society offers “an intelligent, thorough, startlingly clear” overview of Buddhism and Western vipassana practice” ( Los Angeles Times )

In Insight Meditation , Joseph Goldstein provides an overview of Buddhist practice and its context generally while focusing on vipassana meditation specifically. He covers what the path itself is composed of, how to practice, what freeing the mind is all about, how karma works, the connection between psychology and dharma practice, and a look at what selflessness really is. The concluding chapter is a detailed exploration of how to practice in the world, touching on topics like the art of communication, family relationships, work and livelihood, dying, and how to really be of benefit to others.

179 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

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About the author

Joseph Goldstein

81 books484 followers
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.

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5 stars
592 (47%)
4 stars
413 (33%)
3 stars
192 (15%)
2 stars
31 (2%)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 80 reviews
Profile Image for Fergus, Quondam Happy Face.
1,111 reviews17.7k followers
April 6, 2024
When I read this book in 1992 I was teetering at work under an inordinately heavy project load.

My clerks were no help. My burgeoning pile of files was growing more complex and abstruse in its weightiness and complexity day by day, and back then I didn't think I needed help. I proudly refused to delegate.

With Project Managers and Directors and a bevy of technicians now continuously hounding me from their variegated and disparate spheres of expertise, I felt harried and cornered as a tired fox at bay.

So who was writing the script for all this nightmarish scenario?

My section head. And I figure now she simply had it in for smokers.

I - alas - was one of 'em!

You see, we smokers congregated at the greasy spoon in the lobby of our building. Indoor smoking hadn't yet been banned in our fair city. And if we smoked, we were expected to order food or drink.

So, even if it was a coffee or bottle of spring water, by the time we were done we'd have smoked at least two cigarettes. Time clearly wasted, to the big boss. And so she PILED the work on us.

Did I hear someone out there say she was only adding more fuel to the utter fiery conflagration of stress we faced daily?

You're right. But hers was a humanoid brain conducting cerebral time/motion studies on us poor trapped lab rats!

And of course we started chain smoking.

But come Five PM, I was ready to chill out at home.

Goldstein's book had come highly recommended by my sister, who studied meditation, so I tried it.

Wow, did I love Goldstein's warm and human approach to this dry discipline.

It was an approach my bosses clearly lacked in any department! The book expanded my mind, and aided and abetted my more HUMAN relationships with my subordinates.

And it worked so well that a coupla years later I started SHARING my files with them.

And know what?

It musta relaxed me so much, that another five years later...

I was finally able to quit smoking for good.
Profile Image for D.S. West.
Author 1 book9 followers
July 7, 2013
Of the books on Buddhist meditation I've consulted so far, this one goes at the front of the pack. I had Goldstein pressed against my nose on four days of long walks between my apartment and Main Street in Longmont, Colorado. I understand why much of the advice for meditation is vague, given the nature of the practice (and the need to avoid "project" thinking), but it's hard to understand why some writers tried to write a book on the subject in the first place. Goldstein takes a different approach. The functional advice for meditation is scant, but the question of "Why meditate?" is explored at length and in depth. Issues such as morality, karma, and the relationship between self and emotion are addressed beautifully.

I'm sad to see this book done. Goldstein hails from the vipassana/insight school on the sutrayana side of Buddhism. I'm immediately moving to a book on tatrayana. It should be interesting to see how the philosophies overlap and contradict one another...

That was an aside. In terms of this book, allow me to say it's a pleasure to read, sitting or standing. (If you're among the motorists who had to put up with me this week, accept my deepest apologies. I aspire to metta. I read this book--now I know what that means, and now that I know what it means, I healthy-desire it.)
Profile Image for Rosie Nguyễn.
Author 5 books6,180 followers
February 24, 2017
Hay lắm. Ai quan tâm tới thiền thì nên đọc. Tác giả sách này là một trong những người viết sách về thiền nổi tiếng nhất ở phương Tây, theo học trực tiếp nhiều thiền sư nổi tiếng của châu Á từ Goenka đến U Pandita Sayadaw. Ông cũng từng giảng dạy nhiều khóa thiền, và có nhiều thiền sinh khá nổi theo học. Nhà báo Dan Harris, tác giả quyển 10% Happier là thiền sinh của ông này.

Về sách, viết đơn giản, dễ hiểu, giải quyết nhiều vấn đề vướng mắc về thiền và cuộc sống. Có những cái mình không rõ hoặc còn băn khoăn khi ngồi thiền thì đã tìm thấy lời giải thấu đáo trong quyển này. Phong cách viết nhẹ nhàng dễ chịu, thể hiện tính cách của một con người điềm đạm khiêm tốn và hiểu biết. Thích sách viết kiểu vậy. Thật tuyệt.
Profile Image for Kevin.
1,600 reviews34 followers
October 11, 2017
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.
Profile Image for Simon Meißner.
12 reviews
November 6, 2022
In diesem Buch werden grundlegende Fragen über die Vipassana Meditation geklärt. Dies passiert auf eine verständliche Weise mit vielen praktischen Hinweisen.
Ich empfehle jedem, der sich intensiver mit Meditation, Mindfulness und der Theorie dahinter beschäftigen möchte, dieses Buch zu lesen.

"In the cherry blossom's shade
there's no such thing
as a stranger."

Leute meditiert! :D
Profile Image for Paweł.
310 reviews40 followers
April 3, 2022
Trochę wprowadzenie, trochę poradnik, a po części zbiór własnych doświadczeń i anegdot ilustrujących niektóre techniki. Pozycja raczej dla początkujących albo po prostu zainteresowanych tematyką, acz nie praktykujących.
Bardzo ładnie wydana, przyjemna pod względem wizualnym i tu duże brawa dla Czarnej Owcy.
Świetnie mi się ją czytało.
Za zawartość ***
Za przyjemność czytania ****
February 5, 2011
There is nothing like a Jew who has become a Buddhist to guide you on your spiritual journey. I highly urge you to read this book, and I am only 50 pages in-- how's that for a recommendation!
Profile Image for Tom Cummings.
54 reviews7 followers
June 17, 2020
This is a short book, under 200 pages, but don’t let its brevity fool you. It contains more useful teaching about practicing meditation and following the path of Buddhism than many books twice its length. It was first published in 1993, when its author, the esteemed American dharma teacher Joseph Goldstein, had already been leading retreats and giving dharma talks for nearly twenty years. He writes in a gentle conversational style that no doubt reflects the ease he had developed over his two decades (at that point in time) of speaking in front of so many audiences of meditators and retreatants.

But again, don’t let the accessible style of the writing fool you. For even as you’re reading along with such ease and pleasure, you will repeatedly find yourself suddenly grappling with some distinctly uneasy, and perhaps even unpleasant, topics – such as impermanence, selflessness, and karma. However, in Goldstein’s experienced hands, we grapple with these challenging concepts without ever losing our grip, and we come away with a better grasp and a deeper understanding of all three of them.

And when he’s not teaching us about the fundamentals of Buddhism, Goldstein is instructing us on the more practical aspects of meditation. Of particular value are the two chapters “How to Practice” (advice for sitting as a practitioner on the meditation cushion) and “Practice in the World” (advice for living as a practitioner off the meditation cushion).

It’s been twenty-five years since this brief but invaluable book first appeared, and it is every bit as timely and as useful today as it was then. As we know from the law of impermanence, nothing lasts forever. But this book’s relevance will surely last for a very long time.
Profile Image for L.
16 reviews
July 16, 2009
Great book on various aspects of the practice of Vipassana meditation by one of the founders of this style of Buddhism in the West; I like the way it's organized by topic in easily digestible short snippets on each. It doesn't need to be read from start to finish; I view it as more of a reference or something to inspire my own practice.
Profile Image for Amos Smith.
Author 12 books13 followers
September 17, 2015
This is a solid book on meditation. A concept from this book that always stuck with me... When we observe our emotions in meditation we don't over-identify with them. If we experience anger, we don't say "my anger." If we experience grief we don't say "my grief." We simply say "anger" or "grief." This is the path of meditation in the beginning--to identify what is going on, then let it go. We get wrapped up in negative emotions when we over-identify with them, instead of just letting them go.
-Amos Smith (author of Healing The Divide: Recovering Christianity’s Mystic Roots)
Profile Image for Pouya.
42 reviews1 follower
September 13, 2021
If you love his talks, there could be little reason as why not to like this book as it is pretty much a collection of well edited version of his good advice about meditation practice (obviously, with a great spice/taste of Buddhism). And the nice thing is that you don't need to read the chapters in sequence since they are kinda standalone.
Profile Image for Wilson Li.
6 reviews1 follower
October 13, 2023
Here are some of the quotes in the book I resonated with:

“When we lose ourselves in thought, identification is strong. Thought sweeps up our mind and carries it away, and in a very short time we can be carried far indeed. We hop a train of association, not knowing that we have hopped on, and certainly not knowing the destination. Somewhere down the line we may wake up and realize that we have been thinking, that we have been taken for a ride. And when we step down from the train, it may be in a very different mental environment from where we jumped aboard. When we do not know that we are thinking, our thoughts carry us into so many different worlds.”

“All of the harmful actions that people do, all of the things that cause suffering—where are they rooted? They are rooted in deep ignorance, in not understanding the suffering being caused, and not understanding the karmic fruits being created for themselves in doing such actions.”
Profile Image for Jon Gauthier.
129 reviews237 followers
February 28, 2018
I regularly read this before daily sittings (whenever I'm meditating at home rather than with a group). An outstanding guide to the Insight/Vipassana take on Buddhist meditation practice. Goldstein's writing is flowing and affable – it calms me down and reminds me why I am spending all this time sitting in the first place.
Profile Image for Falina.
528 reviews17 followers
April 20, 2019
I've been really into meditation lately, and I like to read things to motivate myself when I'm developing a habit. This book had some interesting points that I will probably revisit, but overall I found it dry and inaccessible.
Profile Image for Mary Ann.
208 reviews
June 11, 2020
Like many other Buddhist teachers, Goldsmith is accessible and wise. Unlike some, he packs enormous power and insight (smile) into brief offerings about life's common roadblocks. For me, two of the most memorable are readings about guilt and anxiety. The insights I got from him were life changing.....no exaggeration! This is another book I will never be finished reading, and hope others find on their journey.
Profile Image for Gabrielle Jarrett.
Author 2 books20 followers
January 18, 2023
Goldstein's book is not "amazing. It is very well written and very accessible. It's a good primer on meditation and making small life changes to bring happiness and peace. It is also an excellent refresher for those who have been meditating for a long time and need a inspiration. The chapters are short and concise and kept my interest.
Profile Image for Tom Otvos.
21 reviews
December 19, 2014
Not having read Joseph Goldstein before, I was pleasantly surprised. He has quite an earthy style that I found very likeable. The book is a whirlwind tour of vipassana, but my favourite parts were sections 2 and 3, "How to Practice" and "Freeing the Mind". Both sections had a lot of useful little tips that seemed to resonate with me, the latter section being particularly useful as it discusses how to deal with specific hinderances. Also kind of nice is that each chapter is literally no more than 2-3 pages, so it makes for very focused reading and I can see myself using this as a future reference.

Later sections were a little less practice-based, and dealt with issues like karma, psychology, and "practicing in the world", all of which remained interesting but a bit less so in my current stage of practice.
Profile Image for Cindywho.
953 reviews4 followers
September 3, 2007
It's full of nice short discussions of aspects of meditation and dharma - short enough for my attention span, but heady enough that maybe my unconscious thought it was too much and had me mistakenly return the book to the library before I was finished! Luckily, it was still on the shelf when I went back for it. (October 27, 2006)
Profile Image for Jonathan.
497 reviews2 followers
December 26, 2013
some bits were insightful, but I guess I've read enough books on Buddhist practice that little of this was new or revelatory to me.
Profile Image for Mark.
25 reviews
November 13, 2017
Not my cup of tea. If you are looking for practical woo-free "insight on insight meditation", you will want to look elsewhere. Possibly more interesting to the intermediate practitioner?
Profile Image for Reading Cat .
355 reviews16 followers
February 28, 2021
I might be underwhelmed by this book because I've literally been doing vipassana style meditation for years now so this felt a little like...repetitious to me? Even basic?

But that was the intent of the book, so for its presumed audience (and this is my instructor's fault for assigning a book with the wrong audience), it is a good, very digestible introduction to insight meditation. I particularly like the latter sections, where he discusses meditation and psychotherapy. He, clearly, thinks the two are mutually supportive--one is not a replacement for the other. And I know some people have argued about other books on the topic of forgiveness of difficult or abusive parents or relationships--he deals with that here. He also has, though buried, some nice concise thoughts. Like: in his comments on jealousy: "If we condemn ourself for being jealous, we simply strengthen a feeling of not being good enough. We become even more tied up in the painful, fiery knot, and we find it very difficult to cut ourselves free" That is a great deal to sit with--that self judgement reinforces the ego self, and suffering.

He also discusses the idea of self in East and West--in the West, we tend to conflate self with ego--what Cherie Huber would call the 'conditioned mind'--the jumpy monkey that wants and craves and needs most desperately to prove that it exists. The self, your self, is the self observer self. To survive in the world, we need a self--we do need some form of ego, but we need to be aware of the boundaries of ego--when are we letting the conditioned mind run the show? That is a nice bridge, I think, that's not often discussed in these texts.
Profile Image for David Maywald.
90 reviews
August 2, 2023
Insight Meditation: The Practice of Freedom
by Joseph Goldstein

I loved reading this book, with it’s very short chapters (2-4 pages each) and length at 170 pages. It was a wonderful refresher for my previous readings and practice of meditation.

Goldstein has enormous personal/spiritual experience to draw on, and his stories are fascinating. This is a moderately advanced book, and I wouldn’t recommend it for beginners.

“The way our mind and body works is the same in each of us: anger, fear, love, and compassion feel the same in all people; our bodies all get old and die. From a growing awareness of ourselves, we come to a much deeper sense of our commonality with others.”

There are seven sections:
- What Is the Path?
- How to Practice
- Freeing the Mind
- Psychology and Dharma
- Selflessness
- Karma
- Practice in the World

The book refers to three-month retreats, which are a huge commitment to practising meditation. I’ve found much different ways to engage in recent years: micro-meditation during dead time and while waiting (such as in a lift or between meetings); meditation while walking in nature, exercising, or riding a bike; and calm centred meditation at the end of the day before having restful sleep (clearing the mind and managing stress).

I can highly recommend this book, especially for intellectually curious readers and people who are taking their meditation to another level.
Profile Image for Mohammad Ali Abedi.
433 reviews38 followers
September 30, 2018
I learned about Joseph Goldstein from Dan Harris’ book, podcast, and his meditation app. On the podcast, I liked the one interview they had together, and in the app, his guided meditations are good.

Joseph Goldstein seems to be a great meditation teacher, but I can’t say I loved his book. I think for some people, being a face to face teacher, or talking, might be easier than writing.

I felt that the book did not really have a structure and just felt like a collection of different thoughts on the practice and his experiences.

Even thinking about it while writing this, I can’t really remember much from the book that stayed with me.
Profile Image for Ryan.
135 reviews
January 31, 2020
This is one of THE books from one of THE masters of western Buddhist meditation. I was underwhelmed and bored most of the time while reading this, however. Maybe I’ve read too much on meditation or maybe I just don’t identify with the Buddhist approach as much as I do with secular meditation. Maybe Goldstein’s gift is in speaking and leading face to face meditation sessions and dharma talks. I generally prefer to read books straight through rather than as daily devotion or independent essays. At times I found this book to be too simplistic and at other times I found it too heavy and boring for my taste. Just not my cup of tea.
Profile Image for Jon Bash.
113 reviews20 followers
March 10, 2017
Much shorter than his more recent, massive "Mindfulness," this one reads more like one of Thich Nhat Hanh's little books, with 1-4 page chapters with little bits of wisdom strung into larger sections on a theme. Didn't hit me with as many "truth bombs" as the aforementioned "Mindfulness," but I think that might be partially due to timing. Some bits of metaphysical nonsense, but it's to be expected. Mostly deals with actual concrete reality of our day-to-day experience. It's great mostly. I'd definitely recommend it.
Profile Image for Robert Kipa.
46 reviews7 followers
November 5, 2020
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.
Profile Image for Lenny Husen.
977 reviews22 followers
June 18, 2023
a solid 4 out of 5. Essays on various aspects of the Dharma, the Buddhist path. Educational, written from the perspective of the author and his decades of study and meditation. I liked that the chapters were short and it helped to read a chapter or two each night before going to sleep.
It was written unevenly/averagely in places, but overall an excellent addition to The Resilience Shelf.
I definitely will keep this and return to the sections I highlighted. This is a book to return to once a year or as needed to deepen concepts in the subject matter.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 80 reviews

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