Zen Master Bernie Glassman is a world-renowned pioneer in the American Zen Movement. He is a spiritual leader, published author, accomplished academic and successful businessman with a PhD in Applied Mathematics. He is the founder of the Zen Peacemakers.
Having spent decades teaching Zen and working in Socially Engaged Buddhism, he is now spending the early years of his ’70s giving workshops and serving in socially engaged projects around the world.
In 1982, Roshi Bernie Glassman, now the best-known American Buddhist social activist, opened a bakery in the Bronx to employ his Buddhist students. Bernie became increasingly aware of local low-income community needs in neighboring Yonkers, a city that borders the Bronx and contains the largest concentration of poverty in affluent Westchester County.
Bernie moved Greyston Bakery to southwest Yonkers in 1987, declaring an open door hiring policy. Out of this hiring policy a new and larger mission grew. Greyston Foundation developed holistic, comprehensive-services and rapidly became one of the most successful examples of social enterprise in the United States. Today, Greyston serves over 2,200 community members annually. Greyston’s integrated network consists of for-profit and not-for-profit entities that provide jobs, workforce development, low-income housing, supportive services, childcare, after-school programs, comprehensive HIV health care and housing, community gardens and a new bakery facility that supplies the ice cream industry with brownie chips.
Zen master Bernie Glassman compares Jeff Bridges’s iconic role in The Big Lebowski to a Lamad Vav—one of those men in Jewish mysticism who “are simple and unassuming, and so good that, on account of them, God lets the world go on.” His buddy Jeff puts it a different way: The wonderful thing about The Dude, he says, is that he’d always rather hug it out than slug it out.
For more than a decade, Academy Award–winning actor Jeff Bridges and world-renowned Roshi Bernie Glassman have been close friends. In The Dude and the Zen Master,they offer an intimate glimpse into the conversations between a student and his teacher, a shared philosophy of life and spirituality, and the everyday wisdom of Buddhism. Inspiring, insightful, and often hilarious, The Dude and the Zen Master captures a freewheeling dialogue about life, laughter, and the movies, from two men whose charm and bonhomie never fail to enlighten and entertain—and their remarkable humanism reminds us of the importance of doing good in a difficult world.
Bernie Glassman is a keynote speaker and industry expert who speaks on a wide range of topics such as Socially Engaged Buddhism, Social Entrepreneurship and Spirituality and The Dude and The Zen Master. The estimated speaking fee range to book Bernie Glassman for your event is $20,000 - $30,000. Bernie Glassman generally travels from and can be booked for (private) corporate events, personal appearances, keynote speeches, or other performances. Similar motivational celebrity speakers are Roshi Joan Halifax, Gaur Gopal Das, Marti MacGibbon, Terri Britt and Steve Rizzo. Contact All American Speakers for ratings, reviews, videos and information on scheduling Bernie Glassman for an upcoming live or virtual event.
This website is a resource for event professionals and strives to provide the most comprehensive catalog of thought leaders and industry experts to consider for speaking engagements. A listing or profile on this website does not imply an agency affiliation or endorsement by the talent.
All American Entertainment (AAE) exclusively represents the interests of talent buyers, and does not claim to be the agency or management for any speaker or artist on this site. AAE is a talent booking agency for paid events only. We do not handle requests for donation of time or media requests for interviews, and cannot provide celebrity contact information.
If you are the talent and wish to request a profile update or removal from our online directory, please submit a profile request form.