Gil Fronsdal has practiced Zen and Insight Meditation since 1975 and has a PhD in Buddhist Studies from Stanford University. Gil was trained as a Vipassana teacher by Jack Kornfield and is part of the Vipassana teachers' collective at Spirit Rock Meditation Center. He was ordained as a Soto Zen priest at the San Francisco Zen Center, and in 1995 received Dharma Transmission from Mel Weitsman, the abbot of the Berkeley Zen Center. He has been the primary teacher for the Insight Meditation Center, in Redwood City, California and the Insight Retreat Center in Santa Cruz, California. He is a husband and father of two sons. He has also translated the Atthakavagga, verses containing some of the earliest teachings of Buddhism. It is published as The Buddha Before Buddhism: Wisdom from the Early Teachings.