Sharon Salzberg, cofounder of Insight Meditation Society in Barre, MA, will be at Brown University to present the Third Annual Mary Interlandi '05 Lecture on Contemplative Studies, “The Importance of Lovingkindness in a Stressful World,” on Monday, March 19, at 8:00 p.m., in 120 List Art Building, 64 College Street. In addition, Salzberg will lead a retreat workshop titled, "Lovingkindness,” the day before on Sunday, March 18, from 12:00 to 6:00 p.m., at Brown Hillel, 80 Brown Street. The Mary Interlandi '05 Memorial Lecture Fund is supporting the series.

Please Note: The Interlandi lecture is free and open to the public. The retreat requires pre-registration online at Brown's Contemplative Studies Initiative website. The $15 registration fee can be paid upon arrival at the retreat. Payment should be made in cash or by check (“Brown University ”). Because of space limitations, members of the Brown/RISD communities will be given priority for registration. [NOTE: As of 03/15, registration and the waiting list are full for the retreat.]

One of America’s leading teachers and authors on spirituality, Sharon Salzberg is cofounder of the Insight Meditation Society (IMS) in Barre, MA. She has played a crucial role in bringing Asian meditation practices to the West. The ancient Buddhist practices of vipassana (mindfulness) and metta (lovingkindness) are the foundations of her work. In 1969, Salzberg first encountered Buddhism during an Asian philosophy course at the State University of New York at Buffalo. It sparked an interest that took her to India in 1970 for an independent study program. The next year, she attended her first intensive meditation course in Bodh Gaya, India. Salzberg spent the next years engaged in intensive study with highly-respected Buddhist teachers. She returned to America in 1974 and began teaching vipassana meditation. In 1976, she established IMS, with Joseph Goldstein and Jack Kornfield, and it now ranks as one of the leading meditation centers in the Western world. Salzberg and Goldstein expanded their vision in 1989 by cofounding the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies. In 1998, they initiated the Forest Refuge, a long-term retreat center on the IMS property.

Salzberg has been a featured speaker, teacher, and contributor at a wide variety of events, including the 2005 Mind and Life Investigating the Mind Conference; 2005 Mind and Life Summer Institute; 2005 Sacred Circles Conference; State of the World Forum; Peacemakers Conference; Tricycle’s Buddhism in America Conference; Yoga Journal, Kripalu, and Omega Conferences; and Gethsemani Encounter, a dialogue on spiritual life between Buddhist and Christian leaders. She has served on panels with Nobel Laureates His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Jose Ramos Horta.

A frequent commentator on meditation, Salzberg’s writings have been included in anthologies, such as Meetings with Remarkable Women, Gifts of the Spirit, A Complete Guide to Buddhist America, Handbook of the Heart, The Best Guide to Meditation, From the Ashes—A Spiritual Response to the Attack on America, and How to Stop the Next War Now: Effective Responses to Violence and Terrorism. In addition, she is a contributing editor of Oprah’s O Magazine, and her works appear in such print and e-periodicals as Time, Yoga Journal, msnbc.com, Tricycle, Real Simple, Body & Soul, Self, Buddhadharma, More, and Shambhala Sun.

Today, Salzberg leads intensive retreats worldwide, as well as a variety of nonresidential programs, workshops, and classes. She resides in Barre, MA, and
New York City.

The Mary Interlandi '05 Memorial Lecture Fund honors this Brown undergraduate, who died at the age of 19½ in 2003. Interlandi had enormous passion for Buddhism, feminist theory, and eastern philosophy, which she was studying at the time of her death. Her family and friends established this fund to provide an annual lectureship, which would center on moral, ethical, spiritual, and/or world religions.

The lecture and retreat have been organized by Brown University's Office of the Chaplains and Religious Life and the Contemplative Studies Initiative (CSI).

For more information about the lecture, call 401.863.2344. All venues are handicap accessible.