Ready to begin or deepen your meditation practice? Join Dan Harris and world-class meditation teachers on the 10% with Dan Harris app here: https://app.danharris.com/membership Fifty years ago, a group of 20-something Americans just back from India — with almost no organizational experience and definitely no money — somehow ended up buying an 80-room former Catholic novitiate in rural Massachusetts and turning it into the retreat center that would go on to reshape American Buddhism. If you meditate today, there's a decent chance you can trace the causal chain back to what these five people did in the mid-1970s. To mark the 50th anniversary of the Insight Meditation Society (IMS), Dan sits down with all five co-founders: Sharon Salzberg, Jack Kornfield, and Joseph Goldstein (all frequent guests on this show), along with Jacqueline Mandel and Steven Schwartz, who were right there at the beginning and are appearing on the show for the first time. In this episode: – How the property (an 80-room novitiate, 80 acres, swimming pool, tennis court) got negotiated down from $850,000 to $150,000 – The Barre town motto — "Tranquil and Alert" — that they took as an omen – The $15,000 that dropped out of the sky at the exact right moment – "The dharma protects those who protect the dharma" — Joseph on the phrase that has held up over 50 years – The Jewish-Buddhist question — three Schwartzes, a Goldstein, and a Salzberg walk into a retreat center – The IRS drama of registering as a "church" without a single lineage – Why IMS's founding was actually unusual: no Asian teacher at the helm – Team teaching, lay teachers, and the feminist push that changed American dharma – Taungpulu Sayadaw giving a talk with a fan in front of his face (and his all-time-great advice: "just take more vacations") – The Dalai Lama going bowling at IMS in 1979 – The window wars, the moss garden trysting sign-up sheet, and the $25/month first staff stipend – Jon Kabat-Zinn's lightbulb moment sitting at IMS — the one that eventually became mindfulness-based stress reduction – Funniest memories, including the observation that "IMS has flourished without any adult supervision whatsoever" If you'd like to support IMS or learn about the new retreat center they're building, visit https://www.dharma.org. Subscribe to watch more 10% Happier videos: https://www.youtube.com/tenpercenthappier Follow Dan Harris on Social Media: https://www.instagram.com/danharris/ https://www.tiktok.com/@danbharris https://www.facebook.com/DanHarrisABC https://twitter.com/danbharris https://www.linkedin.com/in/dan-harris-91ba5716b/ 0:00:00 Even Buddhists fight — what IMS's founding actually looked like 0:04:00 The property — an 80-room Catholic novitiate for $150,000 0:07:00 Steven negotiates from $850K down to $150K 0:10:00 "Tranquil and Alert" — Barre's motto as an omen 0:12:00 The $15,000 that dropped out of the sky 0:15:00 "The dharma protects those who protect the dharma" 0:18:00 The Jewish-Buddhist connection 0:24:00 "Should we have Buddhas in public places?" 0:29:00 Why IMS's founding was unique — no Asian teacher at the helm 0:34:00 Team teaching, feminism, and figuring out an American dharma 0:41:00 Taungpulu Sayadaw with the fan (and "just take more vacations") 0:44:00 The Dalai Lama went bowling at IMS in 1979 0:46:00 The window wars, the moss garden, and the trysting sign-up 0:52:00 Jon Kabat-Zinn's lightbulb moment at IMS 1:05:00 The funniest memories — including "no adult supervision" #10PercentHappier #InsightMeditationSociety #IMS50