Bernie Glassman

Bernie Glassman, Roshi, a Zen teacher and social activist for three decades, is internationally recognized as a leader of Buddhism in the West, an originator of socially engaged Buddhism, and the founder of Zen Peacemakers. He began practicing in the tradition of the Zen Buddhist monastery model and evolved to become a leading proponent of social engagement as spiritual practice. The former abbot of Zen communities in New York City and Los Angeles, Glassman is the first dharma successor to Taizan Maezumi.

As one of the more creative forces in Western Buddhism, Glassman has developed many new paths, practices, liturgies, and organizations to serve people who fall between the cracks of society. He is a nonprofit community developer, founder of the Greyston Foundation in Yonkers, New York, and is well known for integrating Zen practice with social, economic, and educational initiatives.

An accomplished academic and successful businessman with a doctorate degree in applied mathematics, Bernie Glassman is author of Bearing Witness, Infinite Circle, and Instructions to the Cook. He teaches engaged Buddhism, spiritually based social entrepreneurship, and other topics at the Maezumi Institute and at Harvard Divinity School.

What People are Saying About Bernie Glassman

“Glassman is a very profound and skilled teacher who manages to illuminate some very difficult Zen subjects.”
— Spirituality & Health magazine

“Glassman’s style and thinking are like thick, polished glass: clear, compact, and strong. Marrying metaphor, illustration, and abstraction, he reaches into the heart of many essential concepts, reminding us firmly that, among other things, ‘we don’t practice to become enlightened...we practice because we are enlightened.’”
—Publishers Weekly