Larry Rosenberg (born December 7, 1932) is an American

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

teacher who founded the Cambridge Insight Meditation Center in

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston ...

, in 1985. He is also a resident teacher there. Rosenberg was a professor of psychology at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...

and

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...

. In addition to teaching at the

Insight Meditation ''Samatha'' (Pāli; sa, शमथ ''śamatha''; ), "calm," "serenity," "tranquillity of awareness," and ''vipassanā'' (Pāli; Sanskrit ''vipaśyanā''), literally "special, super (''vi-''), seeing (''-passanā'')", are two qualities of the ...

Center in Cambridge, he is also a senior teacher at the

Insight Meditation Society The Insight Meditation Society (IMS) is a non-profit organization for study of Buddhism located in Barre, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1975, by Sharon Salzberg, Jack Kornfield, and Joseph Goldstein and is rooted in the Theravada tradition. I ...

in Barre, Massachusetts. Rosenberg was born to Russian-Jewish immigrants and grew up in Coney Island in a working-class family. His father, who had Marxist leanings, came from 14 generations of

rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...

s. Rosenberg got his BS at Brooklyn College and his

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

in social psychology from the

, where he also subsequently taught. He later became an

assistant professor Assistant Professor is an academic rank just below the rank of an associate professor used in universities or colleges, mainly in the United States and Canada. Overview This position is generally taken after earning a doctoral degree A docto ...

in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard. Disappointed with his experience with the academia, he turned to intensive Buddhist practice. A major turning point that influenced this decision was his introduction to the teachings of Jiddu Krishnamurti and

Vimala Thakar Vimala Thakar (born 15 April 1921 Ramnavmi day at Bilaspur and died on 11 March 2009 at Falgun Poornima at Mt. Abu) was an Indian social activist and spiritual teacher. Born into a middle-class family living at Akola city in Maharashtra state in In ...

. He received Zen training with Korean Master

Seung Sahn Seungsahn Haengwon (, August 1, 1927November 30, 2004), born Duk-In Lee, was a Korean Seon master of the Jogye Order and founder of the international Kwan Um School of Zen. He was the seventy-eighth Patriarch in his lineage. As one of the early ...

and Japanese Master Katagiri Roshi for eight years before coming to

Vipassana ''Samatha'' (Pāli; sa, शमथ ''śamatha''; ), "calm," "serenity," "tranquillity of awareness," and ''vipassanā'' (Pāli; Sanskrit ''vipaśyanā''), literally "special, super (''vi-''), seeing (''-passanā'')", are two qualities of the ...

Anagarika Munindra Anagarika Shri Munindra (1915 – October 14, 2003), also called Munindraji by his disciples, was an Indian Vipassanā meditation teacher, who taught many notable meditation teachers including Dipa Ma, Joseph Goldstein, Sharon Salzberg, and Su ...

was his first Vipassana teacher. His book ''Breath by Breath'' is a clear description of the practice of anapanasati (mindful breath meditation). His emphasis on the breath as an object of meditation was, in part, inspired by his encounter with the Thai meditation teacher

Buddhadasa Phra Dharmakosācārya (Nguam Indapañño) ( th, พระธรรมโกศาจารย์ (เงื่อม อินฺทปญฺโญ); ), also known as Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu ( th, พุทธทาสภิกขุ; , 27 May 1906 � ...

. Anapanasati also forms the basis of his teachings at the Cambridge Insight Meditation Center.

Books

* L. Rosenberg, ''Breath by Breath: The Liberating Practice of Insight Meditation'',

Shambhala Publications Shambhala Publications is an independent publishing company based in Boulder, Colorado. According to the company, it specializes in "books that present creative and conscious ways of transforming the individual, the society, and the planet". Man ...

, 2004. . * L. Rosenberg and D. Guy, ''Living In the Light of Death: On the Art of Being Truly Alive'', Shambhala Publications, 2001. * L. Rosenberg with Laura Zimmerman, ''Three Steps to Awakening: A Practice for Bringing Mindfulness to Life'', Shambhala Publications, 2013.

References

External links

Cambridge Insight Meditation Center

Dharma Seed , Larry Rosenberg's Dharma Talks
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rosenberg, Larry 1932 births American people of Russian-Jewish descent American Theravada Buddhists Jewish American writers Brooklyn College alumni Harvard Medical School faculty Living people Buddhist writers Converts to Buddhism Converts to Buddhism from Judaism Theravada Buddhist spiritual teachers University of Chicago alumni University of Chicago faculty People from Coney Island American non-fiction writers Mindfulness (Buddhism) 21st-century American Jews