Board of Directors

Jack Kornfield trained as a Buddhist monk in the monasteries of Thailand, India and Burma. He has taught meditation internationally since 1974 and is one of the key teachers to introduce Buddhist mindfulness practice to the West. He began his training after graduating from Dartmouth College in Asian Studies in 1967. Then he joined the Peace Corps and was assigned to the Public Health Service in northeast Thailand, which is home to several of the world’s oldest Buddhist forest monasteries. He met and studied under the Buddhist master Ven. Ajahn Chah, as well as the Ven. Mahasi Sayadaw of Burma. After returning to the United States, Jack co-founded the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, with fellow meditation teachers Sharon Salzberg and Joseph Goldstein. He is also a founding teacher of the Spirit Rock Center in Woodacre, California, where he currently lives and teaches. Over the years, Jack has taught in centers and universities worldwide, led International Buddhist Teacher meetings with the Dalai Lama and worked with many of the great teachers of our time. He holds a Ph.D. in clinical psychology.

His books have been translated into 20 languages and sold more than a million copies. They include, A Wise Heart: A Guide to the Universal Teachings of Buddhist Psychology, A Path with Heart; After the Ecstasy, the Laundry; Teachings of the Buddha; Seeking the Heart of Wisdom; Living Dharma; A Still Forest Pool; Stories of the Spirit, Stories of the Heart; Buddha’s Little Instruction Book; The Art of Forgiveness, Lovingkindness and Peace and his most recent book, Bringing Home the Dharma: Awakening Right Where You Are.

Gulwinder “Gullu” Singh teaches Dharma and secular mindfulness, is a corporate real estate attorney and a dedicated Dharma practitioner with particular interest in integrating the insights and cultivation from retreat practice into daily life and work. While he learned meditation as a child, he found his own practice in 1993 in Transcendental Meditation, which he used to navigate the intense work stress of being an attorney. In 2006, at his first retreat at Spirit Rock, Gullu found his spiritual home in Vipassana and Theravada Buddhism. Since then, he has cumulatively done over 200 days of silent meditation retreat including the Spirit Rock one and two month sits.

Gullu is deeply inspired to share meditation as a path to cope more effectively with the challenges of life and to inject more sanity, compassion, wisdom and well-being into the world.