How a Group of Broke 20-Somethings Accidentally Launched the Mindfulness Movement | Jack Kornfield, Joseph Goldstein and Sharon Salzberg

July 10, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

The Accidental Founding of the Mindfulness Movement

In December 1974, five broke twenty-somethings walked into a Catholic novitiate in Barre, Massachusetts, and saw a sign on the town green that read "Tranquil and Alert." They took it as an omen. That property—eighty rooms, a swimming pool, a tennis court, and eighty acres—was listed at $850,000. Steven Schwartz, channeling his Jewish grandfather's negotiating instincts, offered $125,000. They settled at $150,000. They did not have the money. They had no business plan, no organizational experience, and no idea whether anyone would come. Fifty years later, the Insight Meditation Society (IMS) has become the seedbed of the Western mindfulness movement, and its founders—Sharon Salzberg, Joseph Goldstein, Jack Kornfield, Jacqueline Mandel, and Steven Schwartz—are still trying to figure out what they started.

The Dharma Protects Those Who Protect the Dharma

Continue reading the full summary in the app — free to try.

Read Full Summary →

Free • No credit card required

Listen to Audio Summary Open in App

Never miss an episode of 10% Happier with Dan Harris

Get every new episode summarized in your inbox — free, ~5 minutes to read.

No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.

What you'll learn

1 (05:17) **The Origin Story and the $150,000 Novitiate** - The five founders recount how a group of broke, recently-returned-from-Asia 20-somethings stumbled into buying a massive Catholic novitiate in Barre, Massachusetts.
2 (14:14) **"The Dharma Protects Those Who Protect the Dharma"** - Joseph recounts the miraculous last-minute funding that closed the deal, illustrating the core operating principle of the endeavor.
3 (18:40) **The "Jew and the Lotus" Question** - Dan Harris asks about the striking number of Jewish co-founders, prompting a discussion on the diverse motivations for seeking the Dharma.
4 (26:55) **Learning to Run an Organization (Without Adult Supervision)** - The founders describe the painful 20-year learning curve of building a functional non-profit, from co-signed loans to debates over Buddhist iconography.
5 (34:48) **The Legal Genius of Being a "Church" with No Lineage** - Steven Schwartz explains how he legally incorporated IMS to gain tax benefits while simultaneously ensuring no single Asian teacher or tradition could control the center.
6 (37:37) **Key Cultural Innovations: Team Teaching and Lay Teachers** - The founders discuss the deliberate choices that made IMS distinct from its Asian roots and more suited to the West.
7 (41:32) **The Emotional Hurdle of Leaving a First Teacher** - Jacqueline Mandel shares a deeply personal story of the loyalty conflict between her first teacher, S.N. Goenka, and the multi-lineage approach at IMS.

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Guests on this episode

Sharon Salzberg

Show Notes

The time the Dalai Lama went bowling in their basement, the time a stranger showed up with exactly the $15,000 they were missing — and more behind-the-scenes stories from 50 years of IMS.

In 1975, a handful of young Americans fresh back from years of intensive practice in India and Burma pooled together $150,000 they didn't have and bought a former Catholic novitiate in rural Massachusetts. Fifty years later, the Insight Meditation Society has become one of the most consequential institutions in the history of Buddhism in the West — the place where Jon Kabat-Zinn had the idea that became Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, and where, as one longtime yogi put it, the whole thing has run for half a century "without any adult supervision whatsoever."

For IMS's 50th anniversary, Dan sits down with four of its founding teachers — Jack Kornfield, Joseph Goldstein, Sharon Salzberg, and Jacqueline Mandell — along with Steven Schwartz, who helped get the organization built in the first place. Together they trace the founding story, the early years of $25-a-month stipends and "window wars," the accidental birth of the mindfulness movement, and what they hope IMS looks like 1,000 years from now.

For more on the Insight Meditation Society, including how to support their new retreat center, you can visit dharma.org.

Get the 10% with Dan Harris app here

Follow Dan on social: Instagram, TikTok

Subscribe to our YouTube Channel

Join Dan, Sebene Selassie and Jeff Warren for Meditation Party, a 3-day immersive retreat at the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, NY, October 16–18, 2026. Register here.

To advertise on the show, contact [email protected] or visit https://advertising.libsyn.com/10HappierwithDanHarris