Steve Armstrong, a beloved teacher, practitioner, and longtime steward of the Insight Meditation Society, died on December 23, 2025, at his home on Maui, with his wife, Kamala Masters, at his side. His passing is deeply felt across the IMS community and throughout the wider world of insight meditation, where Steve’s steady presence, generosity of spirit, and decades of service shaped countless lives.
Steve began studying the Dhamma and practicing insight meditation in 1975, learning with teachers who helped establish the American vipassana tradition, including Joseph Goldstein, Sharon Salzberg, and Jack Kornfield. From the early years of IMS onward, he became woven into the life of the organization—not only as a teacher, but as someone who helped build and sustain the community.
Over the years, Steve served IMS as executive director, board member, and senior teacher of the annual Three-Month Retreat, a role he held faithfully for decades. Longtime staff and teachers remember him as someone who moved easily between leadership and humility, offering both organizational steadiness and deep practice guidance. Earlier in his life at IMS, he also worked in facilities and maintenance; among the many things he crafted by hand were several of the original wooden elements in the old meditation hall, as well as a wooden stand still cherished in one staff office today.
After more than a decade of intensive retreat practice and service, Steve traveled to Burma, where he ordained as a monk for five years under the guidance of Sayadaw U Pandita, who was then the senior guiding Sayadaw at the Mahasi Center. There, he undertook rigorous training in vipassana and metta meditation, later studying Buddhist psychology (abhidhamma) in Australia. These years of deep monastic practice informed the clarity, precision, and warmth that students came to recognize in his teaching.
In later years, Steve played a pivotal role in preserving and transmitting the Mahāsi Sayadaw lineage to Western practitioners. As managing editor of Manual of Insight, a project U Pandita encouraged Steve to undertake, he assembled and guided an international team of monastic and lay translators, editors, and scholars. Published by Wisdom Publications in 2016 and sponsored by the Vipassana Metta Foundation, the 700-page volume has become a foundational reference for insight meditation practitioners worldwide.
Returning to lay life in 1991, Steve taught meditation retreats throughout the United States and internationally for more than thirty years, offering the Buddha’s teachings with a grounded emphasis on insight, kindness, and everyday application. Alongside his wife, teaching partner, and lifelong companion of more than 32 years, IMS Emeritus Guiding Teacher Kamala Masters, he co-founded the Vipassana Metta Foundation and helped develop Ho‘omalamalama, a Dhamma sanctuary and hermitage on Maui. There, Steve planted hundreds of trees, tended the land, and supported a vision of practice rooted in care for the earth and care for the heart.
Steve’s compassion extended well beyond retreat halls. Through the Myanmar Schools Project, which he directed for many years, he helped build and support schools, clinics, nunneries, and monastic communities in Burma—an expression of Dhamma lived through service.
Those who practiced with Steve often speak not only of his teaching, but of his humanity. At a recent IMS staff meeting, colleagues recalled his quiet humor, his habit of weaving Grateful Dead lyrics into Dharma talks, and his fondly remembered “bedtime stories” during the final sitting of retreats—teachings offered with such warmth that no one wanted to miss them. For many, Steve and Kamala were the teachers on their very first retreat.
In recent years, Steve lived with serious illness, meeting it with the same patience, honesty, and kindness that characterized his teaching. His death, though following a long period of declining health, came as a surprise to many. The outpouring of love from students, colleagues, and friends reflects the depth of connection he fostered over a lifetime of practice.
As Kamala shared in a message to family and friends on CaringBridge on January 4, 2026:
“My heart is heavy to let you know that my husband, Steve Armstrong, peacefully passed away with me supporting him by his side. His cremains were respectfully interred into the earth with the sharing of merit and prayers for continuing his journey with the Dhamma in his heart.”
A private ceremony was held at the Maui Dhamma Sanctuary, their home and a place of deep meaning for both of them.
Steve is survived by Kamala Masters, his partner in life and in the Dhamma. Together, they shared a deep commitment to practice, service, and integrity that continues to inspire the IMS community and the wider sangha.
Our hearts go out to Kamala and to all who are holding Steve in love and gratitude.
Those who wish to share condolences or reflections are warmly invited to do so on Steve and Kamala’s CaringBridge page.
With gratitude, we share a short, informal closing reflection by Steve—an extemporaneous talk he often offered at the end of the day on retreat. Listen below:
