Heart Wisdom with Jack Kornfield

Exploring the great mystery of life and existence, Jack shares enlightening insights on the playful nature of wisdom.

Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to recieve 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/heartwisdom

"The beautiful thing is, wisdom is gracious." ? Jack Kornfield

Fresh from an adventure in Costa Rica, Jack offers wisdom on:

Spelunking the great mystery of life Wisdom as inherently gracious and playful Balancing compassion with emptiness How to speak with suffering people Joanna Macy and the "Great Turning" of human civilization Ram Dass, Ajahn Chah, and Stephen Levine "Central Casting" and the human experience How Jack and his colleagues handle their own aging

"It's all empty and it all matters." ? Jack Kornfield

"Meditation is not about gaining or attaining something, it's about seeing the world with the heart of wisdom." ? Jack Kornfield

This Dharma Talk was originally recorded on 2/19/2024 for the Spirit Rock Monday Night Dharma Talk and Meditation. Register to join Jack's next livestream at JackKornfield.com/events

Learn to live beautifully with Jack Kornfield and Dr. Dan Siegel in their new online journey starting April 15, Living Beautifully: Transformative Science and Mindfulness Practices to Cultivate a Wise Heart

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Offering compassion for our human flaws, Jack relays how to stop being so loyal to our suffering, and helps uncover the heart of the Buddha living within each of us.

Learn to live beautifully with Jack Kornfield and Dr. Dan Siegel in their new online journey, Living Beautifully: Transformative Science and Mindfulness Practice to Cultivate a Wise Heart

In this episode, Jack mindfully explores:

Living the Divine Abodes to uncover the heart of the Buddha within yourselfHow to live in loving kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity/peaceRam Dass, the Chicken and Rice Man, and selfless serviceHow the circle of compassion is not complete until it includes self-compassionViktor Frankl and the boundless freedom of the human spiritDavid Roche and The Church of 80% SincerityMoving beyond looks and into the reality of unconditional loveTurning off the news and doing something enjoyableHow to stop being so loyal to your suffering

This Dharma Talk from 12/10/2007 at Spirit Rock Meditation Center was originally published on DharmaSeed.

?You can search the tenfold universe as the Buddha and not find a single person more worthy of love and care than the one seated right here in your own body.? ? Jack Kornfield

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Shining light on the Divine Abodes, Jack shares how we can navigate the world from the goodness of our hearts.

Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to recieve 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/heartwisdom

"Luminous, says the Buddha, is this heart and mind." ? Jack Kornfield

In this episode, Jack mindfully explores:

The Divine Abodes (Brahmaviharas) as qualities of the Awakened HeartNavigating the world from the goodness of our heartsLoving kindness, compassion, joy, equanimity/peaceWhat is possible for us as human beingsDiscovering who we really are and what really mattersStories of Jack's Buddhist teacher, Maha GhosanandaThe spirituality of neuroscience's "Mirror Neurons."Sharon Salzberg, Metta practice, and the power of attentionRam dass, and the heart as the doorway to love

Learn to live beautifully with Jack Kornfield and Dr. Dan Siegel in their new online journey, Living Beautifully: Transformative Science and Mindfulness Practices to cultivate a Wise Heart

"What we give our attention, that place will flower and blossom. So if we give our attention to love, it grows." ? Jack Kornfield

"Loving Kindness is like the rain that falls on all things, the just and the unjust, equally without discrimination. That love, when it grows within our heart, has a quality of nurturance, moisture, opening ,sweetness and constancy to it. It's an expression of the heart that's unencumbered by fear." ? Jack Kornfield

This Dharma Talk from 12/10/2007 at Spirit Rock Meditation Center was originally published on DharmaSeed.

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Jack shares miracle stories and personal lessons from Dipa Ma ? the luminous, compassionate and unshakeable spiritual master.

Want to learn how to follow the Buddha?s path to freedom in the modern world? Sign up for Jack?s new online course Walking the Eightfold Path with Jack Kornfield. The live version begins March 18! Sign up here: https://bit.ly/3T7Aafp

"You had a sense from this very sweet, mild-mannered old lady of a kind of unshakable inner strength, an incredible sense of stillness and strength in her being." ? Jack Kornfield

In this episode, Jack lovingly reflects on:

His times with the great yogi and spiritual master, Dipa Ma Barua Miracle stories and spiritual lessons of Dipa Ma How the suffering in Dipa Ma's life drew her to Buddhism and meditation Dipa Ma's siddhis (spiritual/psychic powers) and compassionate shining heart A life-changing story of Jack being blessed by Dipa Ma Her grandmotherly loving kindness Dipa Ma's favorite spiritual questions

"Dipa Ma's teaching was to always keep people in your heart, to give of your love to the people, and the earth and the world around." ? Jack Kornfield

"Of all of the possibilities that one can do with the heart and mind, Dipa Ma was a great master of them." ? Jack Kornfield

This Dharma Talk from 11/01/1989 at Spirit Rock Meditation Center was originally published on DharmaSeed.

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Talking Kabir, breakups, LSD, and Ram Dass, Jack shares how we can unfurl from the suffering of our expectations in order to live the mystery.

Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/heartwisdom

"Awareness has this quality of allowing change or openness to take place, because you're not trying to make it a certain way... you're observing it." ? Jack Kornfield

In this episode, Jack mindfully explores:

- Kabir and waking up in this very life

- Grief, breakups, disappointment, and letting go

- How expectation creates suffering

- Meditation and "manufacturing the light"

- Expectations, battling reality, and opening to the mystery

- How the mind measures, but the heart loves

- What Ram Dass told Jack about dealing with the death of his father

- Moving past the content of mind, and truly experiencing life

- The essence of Buddha's practice of mindfulness

- Labeling/noting feelings as a way to release them

- Albert Hoffman and LSD

- Relationships and how to make commitment without expectation

Want to learn how to follow the Buddha?s path to freedom in the modern world? Sign up for Jack?s new online course Walking the Eightfold Path with Jack Kornfield. The live version begins March 18! Sign up here: https://bit.ly/3T7Aafp

"Now, what's interesting to discover in meditation, is as you pay attention inside, it's the mind which measures, the mind with thought. The heart doesn't measure, the heart doesn't have that capacity, actually." ? Jack Kornfield

"This is an amazing thing?bodies, and life, and cars, and planets hanging in space, and big balls of fire that we name stars and no one knows where they come from...beetles, insects, and strange things. What is this? So we sit and make ourselves a little bit quiet in order to turn the heart and the mind together to face directly this reality, this changing reality of birth and death, of change of life." ? Jack Kornfield

This Dharma Talk from 10/10/1988 at Insight Meditation Society was originally published on DharmaSeed.

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Going back to the basics, Jack explores how we can skillfully navigate our dynamic mood states by experiencing them as clouds of the mind.

Want to learn how to follow the Buddha?s path to freedom in the modern world? Sign up for Jack?s new online course Walking the Eightfold Path with Jack Kornfield beginning March 18!

"Moods are actually kind of mysterious and quite impersonal. They're like the weather. It's been kind of cool this year, then we get our rainstorms, and the sun comes in between, and the wind comes and dies down, and we don't have any control over it whatsoever. It just comes. It's due to certain conditions." ? Jack Kornfield

In this episode, Jack compassionately illuminates:

Experiencing moods as clouds or weather?arising and passing naturally from impersonal sets of conditions The six flavors of experience in Buddhism Finding the middle ground between acting on feelings and suppressing them The "vipassana romance" and understanding the "siren call" of desire Diffusing desire with humor, mindfulness, and noting Moving past attachment and aversion by leaning into them Techniques for overcoming doubt Letting go and becoming more happy and more live

"The optimist wakes up and says, 'Good morning, God!' And the pessimist wakes up and says, 'Good God! Morning...' It's the same experience, but the mood somehow changes it." ? Jack Kornfield

"One sits and practices, and let's these experiences come and fill us. We bow to them, name them, soften in the heart and say, 'Okay, show me your stuff, give me the whole thing.' And you know what happens after a while? If you make this spaciousness in the heart and that still point, at some point it ends. Because everything does. You say, 'Wow that was a big storm of desire, wasn't it?' And there you are, and there's this sense of freedom that comes that that's not who we are most fundamentally." ? Jack Kornfield

The Dharma Talk from 4/1/1988 at was originally published on DharmaSeed.

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Illuminating the subtle but crucial difference between codependence and compassion, Jack outlines how to set boundaries and live from our unique truth.

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"Codependence means being an accomplice, a kind of complicity with someone who's acting in a self-destructive way, being dependent on their behavior, or supporting it somehow for your own security." ? Jack Kornfield

In this episode, Jack sheds mindful light on:

The subtle but crucial difference between compassion and codependenceTrying to fix it or save someone instead of allowing them to taste the fruits of their karmasFeeling locked into supporting someone's destructive behaviorThe lack of feeling secure leading to needing to over-controlNeeding to fix someone else's problems because we can't live with it in ourselfHow we are all accomplices to a codependent societyMother Teresa and seeking to love the world instead of trying to fix itThe necessity of balancing compassion practice with equanimity practiceThe spiritual importance of disharmony and the value of sufferingBoundaries and the ability to say "no"Ownership, possessiveness, and the trouble with believing our rolesThe Bhagavad Gita and acting from our hearts without attachment to the fruit of the actionLiving our our unique truth amidst the mystery

Want to learn how to follow the Buddha?s path to freedom in the modern world? Sign up for Jack?s new online course Walking the Eightfold Path with Jack Kornfield beginning March 18!

"We are all heirs to our own karma, we have created our own lives. We can love and assist others, but in the end, no one can create a life for someone else, no one can change another person's fate. We are the ones that create what will happen for us." ? Jack Kornfield

"Can we seek to love the world instead of trying to fix it? It is possible to be in a codependent relationship with the ills of the society, so we have to start looking within ourselves. What does it mean to do good? Mother Teresa taught in her work in Calcutta in the death and dying centers, 'We're not social workers. Our work is not to take people off the streets and clothes them and feed them. The government could do that. Our work is to bring to the people that we touch the spirit and the love of God that has touched us. The rest of it is just the vehicle to communicate that spirit.' It's a very different way of approaching solving a problem.'" ? Jack Kornfield

This Dharma Talk from 9/1/1989 at was originally published on DharmaSeed.

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Sharing spiritual wisdom on meditation, abundance, intimacy, and the astral body, Jack helps us cultivate the courage to recognize truth.

Want to learn how to follow the Buddha?s path to freedom in the modern world? Sign up for Jack?s new online course Walking the Eightfold Path with Jack Kornfield beginning March 18!

"In one important sense, meditation is an exercise in truth, an exercise in opening to what is true, to what is here in front of in the most direct and obvious ways." ? Jack Kornfield

In this episode, Jack compassionately illuminates:

Meditation as an exercise in truth Jesus and the Buddha following their deepest inner truths Dharma and direct seeing from the heart Buddhism's three characteristics of life: impermanence, suffering, selflessness Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche's view on the rebirth of our bad habits The difference between our physical 'fear body' we inhabit during the day, versus our expansive 'astral body' we expand into at night Mindfulness, spaciousness, and Buddha Nature Abundance and intimacy in spirituality The 16th Karmapa as the Dharma King A beautiful (and funny) story of an end-of-life guided meditation

"Somebody asked Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, the Tibetan Lama, 'If there's no self, what is it that is reborn in Buddhism?' He smiled and said, 'I hate to tell you this, but what's reborn is your bad habits.'" ? Jack Kornfield

"To note what's present is the first task. The second task is to see or sense what happens to it. These are both important. So, sadness comes and you note, 'Ah, here's the feeling of sadness.' And then you name it for a while, you stay with it and see what it does, 'Sad...sad...sad.' Maybe you name it five to ten times and it disappears. Then itching comes and you name, 'Itching...itching...' You don't just name it and hurry back to your breath. You name it and see what it does, 'Itching...itching.' Then, it spreads and your whole face is tingling, 'Tinging...tingling... I'm gonna die if I don't scratch this... Dying...dying...' Then if you stay with it, dying passes, tingling passes, itching passes. If you let yourself stay with things, naming them as long as they are there and seeing them happen, they show their true nature?which is to arise, change, and pass." ? Jack Kornfield

This Dharma Talk from 7/11/1990 at was originally published on DharmaSeed.

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Illuminating the deepening levels of spiritual practice, Jack explores how to let life breathe while setting your heart on gold.

Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/heartwisdom

?What we?re doing in practice is feeling the actuality of how life is pulsing, moving, flowing and swirling, fast and slow, rhythmically, within our own body, within our own direct experience.? ? Jack Kornfield

In this episode, Jack mindfully explores:

How to let life breathe while setting your heart on goldThe importance of balancing our concentration, effort, and equanimityHow the quality of presence can help the gold of the heart and mind shineRiding the body?s rhythm of breath as our main focus of attention and restTo feel of how life is pulsing, moving, and flowing through our experienceWorking with our loneliness, suffering, grief, fear, and longingsAwakening into the present moment to see past the body of fearHow recognizing spaciousness and impermanence helps us overcome our difficultiesThe power of trust, letting go, and letting life breathe

?People sometimes feel like it?s not worth it to practice. In the beginning it seems like you?re here 2% of the time, but if you continue and look honestly, you might be here 4% of the time. In one way, that?s discouraging statistically that you?re off 96%, but in another way it says you are now here alive and present twice as much as you were two days ago.? ? Jack Kornfield

?The insight into the true path comes when we discover that we?re not trying to hold onto a single thing, not a perception, not a pleasant experience, not the calm of meditation?those are all parts of the waves of experience that rise and pass in space. The idea isn?t to hold your breath when you get something good to see how long it can stay, that doesn?t work very well. The idea is to let all of life breath. As we do, we let go moment by moment, more fully. We learn to trust, like the goldsmith, blowing on it, sprinkling water, softening, cooling, and a lot of time just giving presence so it?s beauty can start to show.? ? Jack Kornfield

This episode from 10/09/1983 at Insight Meditation Society was originally published on DharmaSeed.

Want to learn how to follow the Buddha's path to freedom in the modern world? Sign up for Jack's new online course Walking the Eightfold Path with Jack Kornfield beginning March 18!

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Wrapping the world in the heart of loving kindness, Jack offers a meditation to help us into presence, relaxation, & loving awareness.

Jack originally shared this guided meditation for the Spirit Rock Monday Night Dharma Talk and Meditation. If you would like to join Jack online for his next livestream, register here.

"Living in loving kindness opens the doorway to happiness and joy." ? Jack Kornfield

In this episode, Jack leads a guided meditation to help us:

Enter into presence, relaxation, kindness, and loving awarenessWrap the world and our experiences in the heart of loving kindnessLearn what it feels like to truly wish well for others and yourselfUse the power of our imagination to visualize and experience transformative blessingsGradually and incrementally extend our metta to encapsulate all sentient beingsOffer our hearts and direct our loving kindness to those suffering throughout the worldTake the "advanced class" by extending our metta to those causing sufferingListen to our intuition and allow our heart to direct itselfLive in happiness and joy, and bring loving kindness to all we touch

"Extend the feeling of loving kindness across the world, to those in difficulty, the families the children who are fleeing danger in so many places?Myanmar, Sudan, Ukraine, Gaza, Palestine, Israel?across the world. You picture them?the families the children?and send rays of love, metta, and strength, 'May you be safe and protected, may you find ease and graciousness, may you be held in loving kindness, and in whatever ways you can, may you be happy.'" ? Jack Kornfield

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In this brand new Dharma Talk, Jack sings a redemption song inviting us to lay down our suffering and anger so we can open to the heart of compassion.

Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/heartwisdom

"These teachings of redemption point to the wondrous possibility that the conflicts that plague the world can be transformed by the nobility of heart." ? Jack Kornfield

In this episode, Jack mindfully shares:

Real tear-jerking stories of redemption of the human heart If there is a possibility of return from all the conflicts in the world today Contemplating who we push out of our hearts The value of offering compassion and loving kindness Not letting the suffering of the world poison our hearts and turn us against whole groups of people How without compassion and wisdom, we project it out on "them" How Buddhist teachings of impermanence lead to the possibility of redemption The transformative miracle of neuroplasticity Putting down thoughts of blame and turning towards a peaceful heart How good stories can help us break the trance and bring us into the present moment The way Ram Dass helped Jack, Sharon Salzberg and Joseph Goldstein work through a period of conflict How the world is full of second chances and redemption is possible

"What is the value of the gaze of compassion and loving kindness? It's the consciousness, it's the conscience that leads us to a wiser and more humane life. And with the most terrible dictators and terrorists, the warlords that we see causing so much suffering in this world?we have to do all we can to stop that suffering, but it's also important not to let it poison our hearts, not to let it in any way demonize our hearts to turn against whole groups of people, or give way to despair." ? Jack Kornfield

"It's not just the grass that keeps growing, your body keeps renewing itself. Everything is in change. Consciousness is a waterfall, a river, an ocean of recreation again and again, inviting new patterns in illumination and the possibility of redemption. You can trust this power and align yourself to it." ? Jack Kornfield

This lecture from Jack originally took place for the Spirit Rock Live: Monday Night Dharma Talk and Meditation. If you would like to join Jack online for his next livestream on Feb 19, register here!

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In this lively session, Jack illuminates how we can begin to open the heart through the transformational power of self-acceptance.

"Acceptance is the ground out of which true insight and understanding comes. It's an essential aspect of our practice. If we don't accept some aspect of ourself?some feeling, some physical sense of ourself aspect, some mental sense of ourself?then how are we to learn about it if we condemn it? How are we to discover it's nature? How are we to become free in relationship to it? Self-acceptance is not all of the practice, but it's a foundation and spirit which allows for attention and mindfulness to work." ? Jack Kornfield

In this episode, Jack mindfully illuminates:

Transforming ourself and our practice through self-acceptance How true acceptance allows the practice of attention and mindfulness to work Don Juan, attention, non-self, and "dissolving the world" The power of accepting our non-acceptance Practice as a process of opening the heart and mind Dipa Ma as an embodiment of loving kindness, metta The gradual transformational created through the careful continuity of 'noting' Overcoming and integrating doubt, anger, guilt, and pain Resting in the present and the natural calming of the heart and the mind Impermanence and the Five Aggregates The spiritual question of 'free will versus determinism' Meditation and looking at our intentions Moving poems by Thich Nhat H?nh and Hanshan

"Practice is a process of opening both the heart and the mind. To open the heart is to allow ourselves to begin to experience whatever there is in our being?in our walking, in our moving, in our eating?with a kindness, with a softness." ? Jack Kornfield

"You can sit, and the intention to get up will arise, and if you really notice with continuity and care, you can notice maybe the attention to standup and walk because you're uncomfortable, or the intention to go take tea, or the intention to go to the bathroom. And if you notice sometimes you'll see the intention arise as that quality, 'About to do something...', and you note it, and it disappears, and there you are still sitting there. You watch the breath for a while and the intention comes again, and you begin to see how intention functions, and that it too is impersonal. It's not something you can say is, 'I, me, or mine.'" ? Jack Kornfield

This Dharma Talk from 10/16/1983 at Insight Meditation Society was originally published on DharmaSeed.

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In this episode of Heart Wisdom, Jack illuminates the law of karma and shares how we can overcome habits in order to live a life of awareness.

Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/heartwisdom

"To live a life of awareness asks a lot of us?it asks that we know ourselves, know our feelings, and know our hearts." ? Jack Kornfield

In this episode, Jack compassionately outlines:

How to move past our karmas to live a life of awareness Listening inside to find integrity with our words, actions, and hearts Buddha's emphasis on working with our feelings to find freedom How not to get caught in reaction to the 'Eight Worldly Winds' Understanding the law of karma and law of change Overcoming our habits and shaping our future with awareness Understanding our motivations in our actions Discerning between feelings in the body and our mind's stories Diffusing overpowering emotions with awareness

"The first part of karma is simply that things keep changing, and that how we respond to them creates our future. What's in our hearts that motivates us, creates how the future will be." ? Jack Kornfield

"Wisdom?understanding, living wisely?comes from the cultivation of awareness." ? Jack Kornfield

This talk from New Years Day 1/1/1988 at Spirit Rock Meditation Center was originally published on DharmaSeed.

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In this New Years episode exploring how we can revolutionize our lives by becoming aware of our feelings, Jack talks clear seeing and gives instructions for an eating meditation.

"If you become aware of your feelings, they don't last very long. We feel like we're angry for a day, or sad for a week, or happy for a month, or grieving for a while?as if those feelings lasted that long. But if you look closely and you let yourself feel what's here and pay attention, feelings rarely last more than thirty seconds, maybe a minute, and then then turn into something else. Guaranteed. If you have some feeling that feels like it's lasted much longer than that, you haven't paid attention to it." ? Jack Kornfield

In this episode, Jack mindfully illuminates:

The practice of awareness, mindfulness, and paying attention Working with the inevitability of change, impermanence, and death Clear seeing, clear comprehension, and integrity Mindfulness of the process of eating, food, diet, and hunger Instructions for an 'eating meditation' Discerning the voices in our head and choosing the most skillful one to follow Using 'noting' and 'tracking' to become aware of our feelings and diffuse their grip on us

"When we remember that things change, when we can see it in front of us from moment to moment, it effects deeply the way that we live. If we know that things are really fleeting, it brings a quality or a care to our attention to know where we are. Because we realize that this may be the only time?in fact it is the only time?that we'll be in this day, in this moment, in this circumstance. So one tends to live less automatically if we remember the fact of change, of impermanence and death." ? Jack Kornfield

This talk from New Years Day 1/1/1988 at Spirit Rock Meditation Center was originally published on DharmaSeed.

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Bestselling author, Yung Pueblo, and reporter, Dan Harris, join Jack to dive into how to love without grasping, Ram Dass's humor at his own predicament, and how to meditate when you are freaking out.

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"The point of meditation practice isn't to withdraw from the world or become a monastic, but it's the possibility to live and take the activities of our life and bring them alive through loving kindness, compassion, and care for yourself and others. People sometimes think if I'm supposed to serve, I have to take care of everybody else, but the circle of compassion is only complete when it also includes yourself." ? Jack Kornfield

In this episode, Jack, Yung Pueblo, and Dan Harris dive into:

Jack and Yung Pueblo's connection to create Wisdom Ventures to bring compassion and right livelihood to business How the circle of compassion is only complete when you also include yourself Ram Dass' vulnerability, and how having a sense of humor about one's own predicament and being amused at our neurotic humanness is actually what truly liberates us Meditation as an act of care and listening which allows intuition and understanding The importance of community and why meditating in groups holds a different and usually higher resonance than meditating alone Skillful ways to handle conflict and difficult situations How to love family, partners, and friends openhandedly rather than with attachment and grasping

"Meditation is not a grim duty, it's meant to be an act of care. And we live in a culture that's forgotten how we can take care of ourself. And one part of that care, even though at first it feels unfamiliar, is just to be quiet for a little bit and listen. Then there are things in us that we know?intuitions and understandings that come for how to navigate our life from what really matters." ? Jack Kornfield

This conversation originally aired on the Ten Percent Happier Podcast with Dan Harris. If you enjoy this, Dan Harris has a new series ? Non-Negotiables in the New Year ? where he interviews celebrities and dharma experts to discuss their time tested, research-backed advice to get you through the new year and beyond. Listen here!

About Yung Pueblo:

Diego Perez is a meditator and #1 New York Times bestselling author who is widely known on Instagram and various social media networks through his pen name, Yung Pueblo. Online he has an audience of over 3 million people. His writing focuses on the power of self-healing, creating healthy relationships, and the wisdom that comes when we truly work on knowing ourselves. Learn more at YungPueblo.com

About Dan Harris:

A skeptical journalist, Dan Harris had a panic attack on live TV that sent him on a journey that led him to try something he otherwise wouldn't have considered: meditation. He went on to write the best-selling book, 10% Happier. The show features interviews with top scientists, celebrities and experts in the field of mindfulness. And Dan's approach is seemingly modest, but secretly radical: happiness is a skill you can train, just like working your bicep in the gym. For more Dan check out podcast, Ten Percent Happier, and visit his website TenPercent.com

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In this new Dharma Talk, Jack explores how we can navigate the suffering of the world's conflicts with compassion, understanding, and peace.

This episode is from the Cloud Sangha Community Talk on Dec. 13, 2023. If you would like to join Cloud Sangha to steep in spiritual community, they are offering a 2-week free trial here.

"I think that we are afraid somehow that our own heart is not big enough to hold the tears and suffering of the world." ? Jack Kornfield

In this fresh episode, Jack compassionately elucidates:

How compassion is built into us and is absolutely natural Why the only side Jack is choosing is the side of peace Ajahn Chah's monastery as a zone of peace during wartime Opening our heart big enough to hold it all, connecting with the Mother of the world Pausing, living from our best intention, listening with an open heart, and mending what we can How when love meets suffering, it transforms into compassion Seeing the world through the eyes of compassion, and taking a stand for love How hatred never ceases by hatred, but by love alone is healed A powerful guided meditation practice in opening to the heart of compassion How not to get swallowed up by the collective suffering Turning off the news, stepping out of the war, and becoming a place of peace, compassion, and loving awareness Dealing with pain, death, regrets, and "what if's" Being vulnerable and opening communication with estranged relations Acting beneficially without attachment to the results of our actions

"It's not your job to fix the world or to stop all the wars. It's your job to do your part, to stand for what matters, to speak and act in a way that represents compassion and love for everyone, to plant seeds to mend the places that you can." ? Jack Kornfield

"Love, when it meets suffering, changes to a different quality, which is compassion. It's that quivering of the heart when we feel in ourself other's struggles and difficulties. It's the resonance with them, and the natural upwelling of, 'How can I help?' ? Jack Kornfield

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In this unique exploration of Dharma, Jack shares how we can transform our daily lives by looking into how the Buddha answered questions.

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"This talk on the way the Buddha answered questions is not to give you another talk on Buddhist history, but to connect us with the ancient timeless endeavor of practice, of awakening, and the ways human beings over many centuries have worked with the development of their understanding." ? Jack Kornfield

In this illuminating episode, Jack highlights:

How the way Buddha answered questions is relevant to living in our modern times Buddha's ancient sutras, talks, and Q&As, and how those teachings have touched the world Buddha's vision of mind and ability to understand the psyche, how it gets entangled, and how we can become free The "one taste" of Dharma and our capacity for inner-freedom Illuminating the reality of non-self How the teachings of the Dharma turn the mind back to one's own personal experience The radical way of seeing the world through a lens that is not, "I, me, mine." How to live fully whether we have one life or many lives to live Buddha's view of the "world on fire" and how to work with this in our daily lives How to work with contradictions along the spiritual path Continuity and carrying our practice and presence into the day in an enjoyable way

"The essence of Dharma is how we love moment to moment." ? Jack Kornfield

This Dharma Talk from October 1983 at Insight Meditation Society was originally published on DharmaSeed.

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In Jack's heartfelt final talk at Insight Meditation Society, he explores heart and mind, wholeness and emptiness, and how the only way to be free is to let go of it all.

"When I was first studying Buddhism and meditating, even as it got a lot deeper, it was a clearing of the mind?mind becoming more silent, fewer thoughts, starting to see with a vision of clarity how things really arise, pass, and are truly ownerless. There's a kind of coolness to that vision, just like on a hot summer day when you go into a place and the cool breeze comes, and it cools off at night. That kind of vision of openness, of spaciousness of mind, and the clarity to see, has a sweetness, a sweet kind

In this heartfelt episode, Jack mindfully explores:

The significance of this session as his last Dharma Talk at Insight Meditation Society before leaving to California to found Spirit Rock Meditation Center Jack's connection as a founding teacher of IMS alongside other Be Here Now Network teachers and podcasters, Sharon Salzberg and Joseph Goldstein How sangha?spiritual community?has a way of naturally calibrating itself and the students/teachers within it The sweet coolness and spacious clarity which comes from spiritual practice Suzuki Roshi and the wisdom of 0 and 1, emptiness and wholeness A moving story of service and renewal from a Ram Dass book How the only way to be free is to let go of all of it, absolutely everything The question Jack will ask himself when his body is dying: whether I've lived fully and loved well What the Buddha said about love

"The only way to be free is to let go of all of it." ? Jack Kornfield

"What I imagine I'll ask myself when I die is: whether I've lived fully?but even more than that?whether I've loved very well." ? Jack Kornfield

This Dharma Talk from 03/18/1984 at Insight Meditation Society was originally published on DharmaSeed.

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Illuminating the benefits of taking spiritual retreat, Jack highlights the importance of meeting our practice with great faith, great courage, and great questioning.

Join Jack with Trudy Goodman, Krishna Das, Anne Lamott and more, live online from Maui in the virtual Ram Dass Legacy Retreat: Love and Renewal 11/29 - 12/3!

"It's not a question of practicing and losing weight, or getting rid of our neurosis or figuring out our mother, father, husband, or wife trip; but it's really to get the bottom of the question of life itself: Who are we? What makes up our experience? And to ask that question, to come to the end of our questioning requires a kind of passion, a kind of urgency, to see, to know." ? Jack Kornfield

In this episode, Jack mindfully illuminates:

The history and importance of taking spiritual retreat in Eastern traditions What it was like for Jack to take spiritual retreat with Burmese Buddhist teacher, Mahasi Sayadaw, and his Thai Buddhist teacher, Ajahn Chah Instructions for meditation and how to apply them properly to the retreat experience Moving beyond our psychological melodrama so we can gain deeper insight into the processes of mind Gurdjieff and using the fire of practice to transform our inner-world into a single whole Using our time wisely within the great mystery of this precious human birth Meeting our meditation practice with great faith, great courage, and great questioning The Diamond Sutra and how to live with a heart of light

"You say that practice is difficult. This is thinking. Practice is not difficult. If you say it's difficult this means you're examining yourself too much?examining your situation, your condition, your opinion?so you say practice is difficult. But if you keep the mind that is before thinking and planning, then practice is not difficult." ? Jack Kornfield quoting a Zen Master

This Dharma Talk on 10/07/78 from Insight Meditation Society was originally published on DharmaSeed.

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Exploring the liberating step of Right Attitude, Jack illuminates how we can break free from our automatic habits by becoming fully conscious of them.

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"There's a strength of heart that comes when we don't just follow our habit. It's a strengthening of heart that brings a sense of wellbeing or purity. Because we begin to train ourselves that we don't have to follow all our habits and all our desires." ? Jack Kornfield

In this episode, Jack mindfully explores:

Right Attitude / Right Thought as one of the steps on the Buddha's Noble Eightfold PathThe three aspects of Right Attitude: openness/exploration, renunciation/effort, love/non-harmingWorking with our unique personality in this incarnationThe importance of adding fire to our spiritual practiceBreaking free from our automatic habits by bringing conscious awareness to themRam Dass and becoming a "connoisseur or your neurosis"Transforming our life from automatic pilot to being fully consciousThe story of Larry Brilliant helping cure smallpox and what he learned about surrender and interconnectivity

"I think love really manifests when things get difficult. That's when you really know it. That's the fire that melts whatever barriers we ever have in our hearts. And our hearts want to be melted. The pain isn't so bad; it's much better than having it still solid and barricaded." ? Jack Kornfield

Join Jack and friends live ONLINE from Maui Nov. 29 - Dec. 3 at the 3rd Annual Ram Dass Legacy Retreat in this 5-day virtual livestream event. Learn more and register here.

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Connecting the Buddha's wisdom with the teachings of Don Juan, Carlos Castaneda's infamous Yaqui shaman, Jack explores how to become a spiritual warrior.

Learn the Dynamic Art of Guided Meditation in this Masterclass with Jack Kornfield! Sign up for the on-demand version before Nov. 15 to take part in two live Q&A sessions with Jack!

"There's a mysterious beauty that surrounds those individuals who live their lives as warriors, as men or women of knowledge." ? Jack Kornfield

In this episode, Jack mindfully illuminates:

How Buddha's factors of enlightenment (qualities of awakening) connect with Don Juan, Carlos Castaneda's infamous teacher and Yaqui shaman and sorcererDon Juan's wisdom of the 'Way of the Warrior' in relation to BuddhismThe qualities of living as a spiritual warrior: impeccability/wholeness, wise effort/energy, courage/investigation, controlled-folly (play/lightness), strength/concentration, and steadfastness/unshakeablenessShamanism and cutting through our sense of separation into the root of consciousnessFinding inner-freedom by learning how to stop our internal dialogue

"The basic difference between an ordinary person and a warrior is that a warrior takes everything as a challenge, while an ordinary person takes everything as a blessing or a curse." ? Carlos Castaneda (Author of The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge)

This talk from 12/31/1983 at Insight Meditation Society was originally published on DharmaSeed.

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In response to the conflicts in the world, Jack offers a harmonizing guided meditation inviting us into peace, sanctuary, and the heart of refuge.

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"I breath in peace and breath out peace to all those who are amidst the troubles of this world?the conflicts, the refuges, the violence and the fear. I send you a peaceful breath. May we be peaceful together." ? Jack Kornfield

In this timely episode, Jack leads a harmonizing guided meditation to help us:

Find a mindful, balanced, and compassionate response to the conflicts and tragedy's happening throughout the world todayTurn our awareness to the present moment, merging mind, body, and spiritExtend our consciousness, compassion, and mindful loving awareness around the planet, it's people, and environmentsSend out peaceful healing breaths to all those who are amidst the troubles of the world

This episode is from the Spirit Rock Meditation Center Monday Night Dharma Talk and Meditation on 10/23/2023.

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In this powerful new Dharma Talk touching on current events, an emotional Jack offers a heart of refuge amidst the world's conflicts.

"There's a liberation amidst birth and death, joy and sorrow, war and peace, that is beyond it all. This is the sacred openness of love and awareness itself.? ? Jack Kornfield

In this emotional episode, Jack touches into:

The terrors of the ongoing wars in Gaza, Ukraine, DarfurHow constant news media effects our emotions and wellbeingLearning to live from the 'heart of refuge' which the Buddha offersWhat does it mean to be a refugee? How can we help create sanctuary?The importance of outsiders opening to the suffering of all humans rather than taking sidesHow the Buddha's mindful loving awareness overcomes Mara's aggression, greed, and doubtThe ways we can open ourselves to forgiveness, compassion, community, safety, love, and trust

This episode is from the Spirit Rock Meditation Center Monday Night Dharma Talk and Meditation on 10/23/2023.

Already downloaded by over 15k people, visit dharmamoon.com/ebook to get YOUR free copy of The Art of Teaching Mindfulness!

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Jack explores how meeting our lives with a directness and simplicity helps bring the mind, body, and heart into unity.

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"The spirit of the practice is a unification of the mind with the body and the heart, bringing them all together into one. In that unification, or collectedness, then it becomes possible, when the mind isn't wandering in fantasy of past or future, to see directly and clearly.? ? Jack Kornfield

In this Dharma Talk, Jack mindfully illuminates:

Buddha's simple wisdom: "In the seen, there is only the seen. In the heard, there is only the heard. In the sensed, there is only the sensed. In the thought, there is only the thought." Meeting our practice and the world with a directness and simplicity; bringing the mind, heart, and body into unity Cultivating an "excruciatingly" precise awareness and paying careful attention so we can see our life process in a new way The three-sided crystal of impermanence, unsatisfactoriness/insecurity, and selflessness Suzuki Roshi and the blissful wisdom of simplicity

This Dharma Talk 9/29/1983 at the Insight Meditation Society was originally published on DharmaSeed.

Learn the Healing Art of Guided Meditation in this Masterclass with Jack Kornfield! Sign up for the on-demand version before Nov. 15 to take part in two live Q&A sessions with Jack! 

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In this riveting episode, Jack shares hilarious personal stories illuminating lessons from his life as a forest monk in Thailand.

"The spirt was you just did it, and you worked with whatever came up as your practice. Living the life of a monk meant taking what came to you and working with it, whether it was difficult or easy.? ? Jack Kornfield 

In this riveting episode, Jack dives into:

What it was like living as a forest monk in Thailand at Ajahn Chah's forest monastery The wisdom he learned through experiencing Ajahn Chah's four-part teachings on surrender, opening up to see clearly, working with the mind, and gaining balance/perspective The two levels of Dharma practice: using Dharma to feel comfortable, and using Dharma to get free Ajahn Chah's rascally yet direct interactions with students, including one with Ram Dass Working with attachments and aversions in order to overcome them and grow spiritually Learning how to let go and not get caught in the mind's lures, traps, and intricacies

Discover the transformative practice of teaching mindfulness in a new FREE 30-page ebook by Senior Buddhist teacher and Emmy award-winning musician, David Nichtern. 

With its blend of humor, wisdom, and accessible approach, The Art of Teaching Mindfulness ebook is a must-read for anyone interested in sharing the life-changing practices of mindfulness with others.

Already downloaded by over 15k people, visit dharmamoon.com/ebook to get YOUR free copy of The Art of Teaching Mindfulness!

This episode from Insight Meditation Society on 6/7/1981 was originally published on DharmaSeed.

"Meditation practice is where you are sitting. It's not to go to some other place, or have the ideal setting, or have your coffee, or have your quiet little room. Where you are is your practice." ? Jack Kornfield

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Illuminating the Way of the Bodhisattva, Jack shares wisdom from St. Teresa of Calcutta, Elizabeth Kübler-Ross, Ajahn Chah, and Sueng Sahn on walking the spiritual path.

This vintage episode from April 10, 1977 at Camp Cedar Glen was originally published on DharmaSeed.

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In this vintage episode, Jack mindfully illuminates:

The selfless service, love, and wisdom of Saint Mother Teresa of CalcuttaElizabeth Kübler-Ross's unshakeable compassion and revolutionary work around death and dyingHow his teacher Ajahn Chah's Thai monastery was an island of peace and possibility amidst war and conflictWhat the story of Korean Zen Master, Seung Sahn, getting a job at a laundry mat teaches us about non-attachment to selfCompassion, the spiritual path, and the Way of the Bodhisattva

Discover the transformative practice of teaching mindfulness in a new FREE 30-page ebook by Senior Buddhist teacher and Emmy award-winning musician, David Nichtern. 

With its blend of humor, wisdom, and accessible approach, The Art of Teaching Mindfulness ebook is a must-read for anyone interested in sharing the life-changing practices of mindfulness with others.

Already downloaded by over 15k people, visit dharmamoon.com/ebook to get YOUR free copy of The Art of Teaching Mindfulness!

"The power that a human being who?s really committed to truth and love has to transform people around them is quite remarkable." ? Jack Kornfield

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In this flowing question and answer session, Jack helps his students mindfully navigate topics like loneliness, intention setting, meditating with ADD, meeting our shame with nobility, and dealing with jerks.

"The spiritual path is really step by step. If you think of it as long, you can get lost and overwhelmed. But if you realize that you're not going from here to there, you're going from there to hear, the path leads you back to this moment and to a more tender heart.? ? Jack Kornfield 

In this question and answer session, Jack and his students mindfully explore:

A do-it-yourself intention setting ceremonyWhat it's like to practice meditation with ADDThe benefits of going on spiritual retreat both in-person and onlineHow to handle being triggered by "jerks," politics, greed, hate, and injusticeMeeting our shame and regret with nobility and growthFinding patience and trust for the spiritual pathSpirituality and how to deal with difficult familyThe importance of satsang (sangha, spiritual community)

Transform your life through Jack's Kornfield's most powerful stories in this brand new 10-hour journey! Live session begin this October!

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Executive Chairman of the Ford Motor Company, Bill Ford, joins Jack to discuss capitalism, Right Livelihood, and the next generation.

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?To be successful in business you have to have values, you have to stand by those values, and you can't compromise those values. But you also have to have the tools to do that. Whether it's meditation or other forms of self-exploration, you have to have a way to shed the stress and to really dive into what's important.? ? Bill Ford

In this episode, Jack and Bill mindfully navigate:

How we can make business and work a force for good The stakes and rewards of servant leadership Capitalism, Right Livelihood, and the Next Generation Navigating tough decisions and bringing out the best in others Compassionate leadership in a cold economy Living with empathy and from our highest intention

Transform your life through Jack's Kornfield's most powerful stories in this brand new 10-hour journey! Live session begin this October!

"What's the point of your life if there isn't some well-being woven into it? It's not meant to be a grim duty. Some people take meditation as a grim duty. That doesn't make it happy, and it doesn't actually serve you in some deep way." ? Jack Kornfield

This conversation was originally recorded for the Inner-MBA program presented by Sounds True.

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In this hilarious episode, Jack Kornfield, Trudy Goodman, and Bonnie Duran, DrPH, share stories on becoming empowered to solve your own problems.

Transform your life through Jack's Kornfield's most powerful stories in this brand new 10-hour journey! Live session begin on Sept 28th!

?The Buddha's enlightenment solved the Buddha's problem, now you solve yours.? ? Joseph Goldstein

In this episode Jack, Trudy, and Bonnie mindfully explore:

The powerful lesson encased within Bonnie's first one-on-one session with Joseph Goldstein Empowerment, personal understanding, and spiritual awakening Hilarious stories from Jack on his teacher Ajahn Chah involving enlightenment, Jesus, and the wisdom of not-knowing Trudy's two-sided spiritual lesson on aging, impermanence, and presence Dealing with uncertainty and learning to trust yourself

About Bonnie Duran, DrPH:

Bonnie Duran, DrPH, (mixed race Opelousas/Coushatta) is a Professor Emeritus in the Schools of Social Work and Public Health at the University of Washington (UW), in Seattle. Before, during and after completing her doctoral degree at UC Berkeley, she has worked in public health and social care research, education and practice with a focus on Native Americans/Indigenous peoples and other communities of color for over 35 years. Dr Duran has conducted studies of mental disorder prevalence, risk and protective factors, victimization, and treatment seeking/ barriers to care among people attending Indian Health Service (IHS) facilities and probability samples from the Tribal Colleges and University?s within the largest rural Tribal Nations in the U.S. In partnership with communities, she has adapted and developed Indigenous interventions for system level, community and individual health and wellbeing.

About Trudy Goodman:

Trudy is a Vipassana teacher in the Theravada lineage and the Founding Teacher of InsightLA. For 25 years, in Cambridge, MA, Trudy practiced mindfulness-based psychotherapy with children, teenagers, couples and individuals. Trudy conducts retreats and workshops worldwide.

Learn more about Trudy?s offerings at trudygoodman.com

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Reflecting on what it means to live in a wise society, Jack shares stories on how we can handle difficult topics ? cancer, abortion, women's rights, prison, and war ? with a mutual respect.

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?How much respect do you give to those you disagree with? And what would they feel from you? Not that you have to have the same ideas, but is there that spirit of respect? Can you see the secret beauty behind their eyes? Can you see them all with a heart open even if you disagree?? ? Jack Kornfield

In this episode, Jack mindfully explores:

What the truth of interdependence means to tending a wise society How Buddha, Dharma, and meditation connect with politics and community A story of enlightenment about 'The Rabbi, the Abbot, and The Messiah' Quieting the mind, opening the heart, mutual respect, and listening deeply The compassion of Quan Yin, and the Dharma as medicine for the world Gracefully handling topics like cancer, abortion, women's rights, the prison system, and war

Transform your life through Jack's Kornfield's most powerful stories in this brand new 10-hour journey starting Sept 28th!

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Jack shares a guided meditation on relaxing into the ocean of air we find ourselves in when we open to the present moment.

Transform your life through Jack's Kornfield's most powerful stories in this brand new 10-hour journey starting Sept 28th!

?You become a connoisseur of breathing for this moment, attentive to this remarkable breathing in and out of the atmosphere, keeping you alive, exchanging with all.? ? Jack Kornfield

In this episode, Jack leads a guided meditation helping us:

Tune into embodied presence Invite in relaxation, ease and calm Become mindful of the body breathing itself Use noting to move past waves of emotions and thoughts

"As you sense each breath, you can whisper softly in the background of your mind, 'Ease, calm,' and allow the embodied presence that is feeling this breath to invite you into a place of stillness, breath by breath." ? Jack Kornfield

This meditation was originally live-streamed by Spirit Rock Meditation Center for the Monday Night Dharma Talk on July 24, 2023.

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Illuminating the concept of mudita ? sympathetic joy ? Jack helps us cultivate authentic happiness for those around us, and leads a guided meditation on the topic.

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"Spiritual joy is the innate capacity for the heart to take pleasure and wonderment in this life and in the happiness of others, a kind of sympathetic joy." ? Jack Kornfield

In this episode, Jack mindfully navigates:

Mudita as a spiritual/sympathetic joy and generosity of spirit which take s pleasure in the happiness of others Rumi, the ocean of poetry, channeling, listening, and inspiration Seeing the beauty in the the light, eyes, and world around us Spirituality, happiness, and taking responsibility for your heart The Buddha's lens that joy and beauty are crucial factors of enlightenment A guided meditation partner practice to cultivate mudita (sympathetic joy) and metta (loving kindness)

This Dharma Talk from 12/03/2001 at Spirit Rock Meditation Center was originally published by DharmaSeed.

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Jack returns to explore the nature of Dharma as universal, immediate, timeless, beneficial, protective, and available to all.

"The Dharma is universal, it's immediate, it's open-handed, it's to be experienced by each person for themselves directly, it's timeless. The truth of life is here to be discovered for any individual with eyes open to see." ? Jack Kornfield

In this episode, Jack mindfully navigates:

Sufis introducing the Dance of Universal Peace to Jack's retreat of Buddhists Dharma as universal, immediate, timeless, beneficial, protective, and available to all The various meanings of 'Dharma': the teachings, the physical/emotional elements of the world, personal destiny/path, and Universal Laws/Truth How Joseph Goldstein accidentally found his teacher Munindraji while on the way to take LSD under the Bodhi Tree Karma, impermanence, duality, selflessness, attachment, metta (loving kindness), and the preciousness of life The Vipassana paradox of Tibetan Dream Yoga

"The Dharma protects those who follow it like a great umbrella in the rainy season." ? Jack Kornfield

This Dharma Talk from 12/05/1987 was originally published on DharmaSeed.?

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Getting vulnerable about the hungers which afflict our lives, Jack helps us into the nirvana beyond the illusion of incompleteness.

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?In Sanskrit or Pali the word is ?Trishna,? which means thirst, desire, wanting. It?s exaggeration, or the realm that it manifests in in the greatest way, is called ?The Realm of the Hungry Ghosts.? Hungry Ghosts are pictured as these beings who have huge stomaches and tiny little mouths, so that it?s never possible to get enough in there to ease that hunger.? ? Jack Kornfield

In this episode, Jack vulnerably navigates:

Hunger, abundance, deprivation, indulgence, addiction, and the illusion of incompletenessFeeling idiotic, depressed, needy, judgmental, sad, lonely, hungry, etcTrishna?thirst, desire, wanting?and the Realm of the Hungry GhostsSamsara and the propulsion of endless wanderings of seperation/seekingAjahn Chah and being with what is, rather than struggling against itRelating wisely and tenderly to Buddha?s First Noble Truth of sufferingNirvana as the end of cyclical grasping and the illusion that we are incomplete

?Nirvana is the end of cyclic existence, which is to say, the end of grasping and going around in circles looking for something that you are, but haven?t yet touched?the end of the illusion that we are incomplete.? ? Jack Kornfield

This Dharma Talk from 02/01/1987 was originally published on DharmaSeed.

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In this lively episode, Jack dives into how mindfulness, awareness and intimacy help us engage with life more fully.

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"Zen master D?gen said that to be mindful, to be awake, to pay attention, is the same as intimacy?intimacy with your lover, with your friends, or the sky and the trees, the drought, the grasses, your neighbors, the rhythms of the seasons, your children or parents." ? Jack Kornfield

In this episode, Jack mindfully illuminates:

Spiritual practice as a path with heart about connecting our spiritual life and worldly life Using breath to relate with nature and life as movement and a process of change Understanding the movements of mind and using mindfulness to live more fully A story involving Jack, a Zen master, and a glass of sake at Naropa How mindfulness, awareness and intimacy are synonymous The way Jack personally deals with and gets intimate with loneliness in his life Meditation as teaching the art of appreciation for what's in front of us The art of getting intimate with our fear to engage with life more fully

"To enter into one thing in a very personal and immediate way?not with your mind, but your whole being?is to touch everything." ? Jack Kornfield

This Dharma Talk from Spirit Rock in January 1989 was originally published on DharmaSeed.

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Navigating the body's river of sensations, Jack helps us into the still-point of freedom amidst life's cycles of change.

"If our goal in spiritual practice is some state, some open state, it would be in spiritual life like buying already open flowers instead of buds, or like adopting an adult instead of a child. To awaken the heart of a Buddha requires us to find the deepest respect and compassion for things as they are, for they way things are. There isn't anything you can hold onto in that because it's always changing. There is no enlightened retirement. The way things are includes the cycles of stillness and action, the times of raising a family or being a renunciate, making money or retiring?and finding somehow a way to be with what is, with the truth of change." ? Jack Kornfield

In this episode, Jack mindfully elucidates:

The Dalai Lama's view on the Big Bang Theory How when we open deeply to our feelings, we recognize the body as a flowing river of sensation The Buddha's 'Eight Worldly Winds' and using mindfulness and Right Effort to navigate life's cycles of expansion and contraction Ram Dass, Be Here Now, and the "rollercoaster of highs and lows" of spiritual practice Finding freedom in the still-point amidst the cycles of change Trusting ourselves and the universe enough to let go into the mystery

"Life is a process of expansion and contraction. We breathe, and as we sit in meditation you notice there are long and short breaths, cool, fast, deeper ones and shallow ones. If you let it breath itself it has all these rhythms of the body opening and closing all the time. Then you pay attention to sensations in the body. At first it feels like tension, pain, hot, or cold, but the more deeply you listen with your inner-awareness, that which we call pain, tension, hot, or cold, becomes pulsing, throbbing, needles, pinpricks, swirling movement. The more deeply we feel, the more our body shows itself to be a river of sensation." ? Jack Kornfield

This Dharma Talk from Spirit Rock on 4/23/1989 was originally published on DharmaSeed.

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Illuminating the art of paying attention, Jack shares hilarious stories and mindful insights around how we can let go into the present.

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"To learn the art of paying attention requires some practice, that we learn how to sit and steady ourselves, to steady our bodies, and listen with a steadiness of heart, to actually be with what is here in our experience?pleasant and unpleasant, beautiful and ugly. That's what sitting is about, really, is to sit and be with the 10,000 joys and 10,000 sorrows, to see them, feel them, and let ourselves be as we are." ? Jack Kornfield

In this episode, Jack artfully illuminates:

How your spiritual path is truly in your own hands; other's can point the way, but you must walk itThe Buddha's four aspects of Right EffortLearning the art of paying attention, and applying this to sit with life's 10,000 joys and sorrowsThe Samurai way of going through the path of fireJack's hilarious personal experience solving koans on Zen retreatsLetting go into the present moment (while still acting in the world)

"As one Zen master says, 'Just put it down, put everything down. Just be here and forget about the past and future. That's enough.'" ? Jack Kornfield

This Dharma talk from March 13, 1989 at Spirit Rock Meditation Center was originally published on DharmaSeed

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In this Independence Day focused episode, Jack reflects on how we can foster true freedom and independence through using a spiritual rudder.

"The Buddha, in the last bit of his life, said, 'When I'm gone, don't follow or place all of your reliance on elders or teachers, but rather follow the Dharma, the universal law, and know these things for yourself. Know the forces of grasping, hatred, and ignorance. Really know what they are. Let yourself see them, and know that it is possible to find freedom from these. If it weren't possible I wouldn't tell you about it. Then as you live your life, be aware of what brings goodness, what brings freedom from grasping, hatred, and delusion. Nourish that which brings that freedom, sustain it and support it." ? Jack Kornfield

In this episode, Jack dives into:

The ideals of the U.S., versus its reality and history What it means to be independent, what it means to be free Learning what your "spiritual rudder" is to steer you in the midst of this Kali Yuga Buddha's advice on following the Dharma, and your Way, rather than following others Our spiritual rudder as synonymous with truth, love, integrity, and our Buddha Nature True freedom as freedom from the pull and sway of outside circumstances Real loving kindness, real metta, as timeless, fearless, and free

This Dharma talk given by Jack on July 4th, 1994 was originally published on DharmaSeed.

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Hop in the Sauna with Jack Kornfield and Prince Ea, as they steep deeply into topics of spirituality, fear, meditation, compassion, and staying awake in the world.

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"People say the world is going to hell in a hand-basket, but that's only half the story. There is a lot of suffering that really needs our honest compassion and tending, but it also needs hope. If you go into a refugee camp and you're depressed and worried; they don't need that, they already have plenty of that. They need somebody that comes in and says, 'We human beings can make the world better." ? Jack Kornfield

In this episode, Jack and Prince Ea steam in:

Meeting all facets of the world with optimism and hope Why we should never underestimate the human heart Mindful presence, loving awareness, and waking up to who we are Overcoming fear and not buying into the scare tactics used in politics What it was like for Jack to meet and learn from Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj The story of Jack becoming a Buddhism monk and finding Vipassana meditation Unpacking compassion as a verb, rather than empathy which is inactive

About Prince Ea:

Prince Ea is a film maker, speaker, human optimization researcher, and creator who has touched the hearts, minds and souls of millions of people worldwide. By producing creative, inspirational and thought provoking content, Prince has accumulated over 1 billion views on Facebook alone and even more on a combination of other platforms. For more info, please princeea.com

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Jack joins CEO of OpenAI's ChatGPT, Sam Altman, onstage with Soren Gordhamer at Wisdom 2.0 to talk artificial intelligence, spirituality, ethics, and the future of humanity.

Sam Altman is the co-founder and CEO of OpenAI and ChatGPT. Soren Gordhamer is the founder of Wisdom 2.0.

Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/heartwisdom

In this episode, Jack, Sam, and Soren explore:

How A.I. technology will impact our world and the future of humanityThe ways Sam's meditation practice is influencing his tech careerPotential benefits and pitfalls of opening artificial intelligence onto the worldIf we can instill values, ethics, and morals into A.I.How Sam created OpenAI to allow a collective democratic process for how A.I. evolvesDoes artificial intelligence technology have a sense of self?Learning how humanity can best utilize these evolving toolsHow A.I. can aid our spiritual practice

"What are people going to do in the post-A.I. world when we all have tremendous resources, we've solved a lot of inequities in the world, and we have a lot of time on our hands? Well, there are a lot of people who need a lot of spiritual practice, and we're gonna have that time." ? Sam Altman

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Plunging further into last week's topic, Jack offers vulnerable perspectives on how sexuality and relationships play into our life and practice.

"If one wants to understand karma, or one wants to understand virtue, ethics, or morality?which are equally important and profound in developing a spiritual life?the way to do it is very simple: it's beginning to know, observe, feel, and understand what's going on in our hearts as we act." ? Jack Kornfield

In this episode, Jack vulnerably explores:

Understanding karma, virtue, intention and action How so much of our sadhana and practice comes through our relationships Learning about ourselves and the universe through sex and relationship Sex and relationship as a form of opening and surrender, as well as commitment, offering, acceptance, growth, and healing Desire, grasping, reality, love, and the present moment Relationships as a place to find the foundations of mindfulness The nature of love as expression, growth, and unity

This episode from 1987 at Spirit Rock Meditation Center was originally published on DharmaSeed.org

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Exploring the relationship between spirituality and sexuality, Jack offers reflections and perspectives on ways to dance with the sexual energy in our lives.

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"In a way, sex is a mirror. How your sexuality goes in a particular day or week is pretty much a reflection of the rest of your heart, mind, spirit, and being. In that regard, it's just like meditation?you sit down, close your eyes, and you get to see what's there: frustration, anger, happiness, or love. Sexuality serves the same way, physically, but even more so emotionally." ? Jack Kornfield

In this episode, Jack mindfully explores:

The relationship between spirituality, sexuality, and our lives Why sexuality is such a major part of our culture Our underlying fear of true intimacy Suzuki Roshi's koan of "How do you realize Buddha while making love?" The Four Foundations of Mindfulness in relation to our sexuality Wounds, trauma, healing, and the body Using relationships in a skillful way to grow Tantra, breath, and going beyond ourselves

"If you look at our culture, television and mass media, sex is such a big part of it. Why is it such a big thing in our culture and our lives? Because, in part, it's a vehicle to go beyond ourselves." ? Jack Kornfield

This Dharna talk from 1987 at Spirit Rock Meditation Center was originally published on DharmaSeed.org

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Directly following Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche's death, Jack offers perspectives on the life and dharma of one of spirituality's most impactful and controversial figures.

"Lama Govinda said that of all the young tulkus, of all the young incarnate lamas to leave Tibet, there was none as bright as Trungpa Rinpoche?bright in the sense of his field of his being and his energy. Lama Govinda, even at a point when he wasn't very happy with the way Trungpa Rinpoche was behaving, said that he still had to admit there was no one who walked across the Himalayas and came out who had that light more than Trungpa." ? Jack Kornfield 

In this episode, Jack dives into:

A celebration of the life, teachings, and impact of Chögyam Trungpa RinpocheThe Vimalak?rti Sutra, and how certain Bodhisattvas teach as householders so that their message can be best understood by the worldHow Jack being invited to teach alongside Ram Dass, Sharon Salzberg, and Joseph Goldstein on the faculty of Trungpa's Naropa University in Boulder, CO sparked their teaching careers in the WestLama Govinda's view on Trungpa's innate radiant brightness and his "lion's roar"The traditions, trainings, and spirit of Shambala through the metaphor of the rising sunMeeting our life and practice with an openness and fearlessnessBuddhist personality types and their unique seeds of awakeningTrungpa's discipline for practice, and his deep devotion for his teachers and dharma lineagePing-ponging between Ram Dass's and Trungpa Rinpoche's dueling Bhakti and Buddhism sessions the opening summer at Naropa

"Trungpa Rinpoche gave himself as fully to the West as any Buddhist teacher that I know that has come. And in a more remarkable way, he absorbed our culture, our language, our customs, who we are, into himself and said, 'Alright, let's play! Let's take the seed of the Dharma and really make it sparkle and alive in the West.'" ? Jack Kornfield

 This Dharma Talk on 4/01/1987 at Spirit Rock Meditation Center was originally published on DharmaSeed.org

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Rewiring our brains around difficulties, emptiness, fear, and longing, Jack highlights how we can connect our practice with our deepest love.

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"When you get afraid or things are difficult, fear is simply the signal that you're about to learn something new. When you feel afraid it's like the little light comes on that says, 'About to grow.'" ? Jack Kornfield

In this episode, Jack contemplates and explores:

The times in our lives where we feel truly connected to our heartsAjahn Jumnian, motivation for practice, spiritual thirst, and working with addictionBringing awareness to the truth of emptiness and nature of joy and sorrowReincarnation and seeing everyone in the world as your mothers, fathers, and childrenFinding that what we really want is simple heart connectionEmptiness, longing, and feeding the hungry heartStillness and living from our fundamental nature of love and caringThe difficulties in life as part of the spiritual pathSeeing life as a continuous flow of mistakes to learn from, and fear as a signal that you are about to grow

"To study emptiness means to accept without resisting, to not push away or not distract ourselves from the emptiness that's within us that we half-feel and keep trying to fill up through all of our sense of longing and deficiency. Instead, it's to sit and say, 'Alright, let me feel that longing, that emptiness, that space, that deficiency. Let me feel how deep it is, how big it is, and not just try to fill it right away.' When we stop running and feel that, then something new comes alive in us." ? Jack Kornfield

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Mindfully retelling ancient Buddhist Dharma stories, Jack reflects on what it means to live with a wise heart.

"For someone who wants to break free inside of the forces of ignorance, delusion, habit, and sleepwalking?you must really see that there's something greater than just getting through each day, and devote yourself in some fashion to it." ? Jack Kornfield

In this episode, Jack opens us to:

Modern retellings of ancient Buddhist Dharma storiesThe courage and mystery of the heartThe law of karma and the power of intentionThe compelling nature of spiritual practiceBuddha's past life as a lion living on an island with an elephant friendDiscovering what is love, and what is goodness in the heartLearning to listen to where our actions comes from

"Find a place in yourself?in your being, your heart?that really wants to understand what life and death is about, that wants to live in a different way. Let that be the source of your inspiration, the source of your guidance." ? Jack Kornfield

This Dharma Talk from 3/23/86 at Spirit Rock Meditation Center was originally published on DharmaSeed.org

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In this vintage Dharma Talk, Jack illuminates Buddhism's Three Characteristics of Life: stress, non-self, and impermanence.

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 "Somehow we believe our concepts, that we'll be here forever, that our life is really going to go on and on. Or we believe our advertising, the idea from the culture that if you get 'this' you'll be able to hold onto it and it will make you happy. It's just not true. Happiness is a matter of the heart; not something we can grasp or hold." ? Jack Kornfield

In this episode, Jack mindfully explores:

Knowledge, love, patience, and a spirit of constancyBeing here now and living in mindfulness in the present momentBuddhism's Three Characteristics of LifeAnicca: impermanenceAnatta: non-selfDukkha: stress/sufferingTrue happiness as a matter of the heartHow you can't stop the waves, but you can learn how to surfThe original truth of self and freedom

This teaching is part of a 4-week long Yoga of Heartfulness online course featuring teachings from Ram Dass and friends. Learn more about this 10 hour course: Ram Dass' Yoga of Heartfulness

This flowing lecture from 4/18/1985 was originally published on DharmaSeed

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Jack returns with a cosmic Dharma Talk exploring expansion and contraction in relation to impermanence as the root of spiritual practice.

"The law of change is the brown rice and vegetables of spiritual practice, it's the root of our direct experience of life." ? Jack Kornfield 

In this episode, Jack takes us on a cosmic journey through:

The basic fundamentals of Dharma teachings on how to live wisely in our practiceA trippy interstellar perspective flip through a simple intergalactic thought experimentLife?this capacity to be conscious and aware?as a process of expansion and contractionThe law of change, impermanence, as the "brown rice and vegetables" of spiritual practiceSpiritual practice as a way to find freedom and compassion within ourselvesLearning to live in the present of how it is, rather than how we wish it would be

 

This Dharma Talk from Spirit Rock Meditation Center on 6/20/1994 was originally published on DharmaSeed.

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This week, Jack joins Michael Krasny for a conversation diving into mindfulness, loneliness, compassion, gratitude, suffering, meditation, and the Dharma.

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"With mindfulness you learn to live in the present. If you walk down the street and you're spending all your time thinking about that conversation you had and the tasks you have to do, you miss the people walking by, you miss the clouds after that rainstorm, the colors of the sunset?the lavender, red, and orange that's reflected in the windows and puddles?you miss your life. Mindfulness becomes liberating in that way." ? Jack Kornfield

In this episode, Jack and Michael discuss:

Ram Dass and the idea of "being here now" in regards to suffering, depression, and suicidal thoughtsOvercoming loneliness, isolation, and grief by reaching out and connecting with othersWrapping ourselves in the infinitely compassionate cloak of of Quan Yin or Mother MaryHow compassion and mindfulness practices regulate our body away from the 'fight, flight, freeze' responseVipassana meditation, the mindful loving witness, and bringing it back into the worldPlanting seeds with your conscious effort and peaceful heart, but not being attached to the outcomeHow mindfulness liberates us to be fully present for the beautiful nuances of our livesThe difference between pain (inevitable) and suffering (optional)The various meanings of the word "Dharma," and it's relation to truthMaking friends with our inner-critic and judging mindConsciousness, gratitude, and the Great Mystery

 

"We have the capacity to hold our sorrows and our measure of suffering with compassion rather than judgment, rather than fear, almost as if you could wrap yourself with the cloak of Quan Yin?the Goddess of Infinite Compassion?or Mother Mary, so that you know that you're not alone, and that we've done this." ? Jack Kornfield 

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Uncovering how to live with a peaceful heart, Jack maps the inner landscapes of meditation, and shares how we can use listening to find The Way.

?A peaceful heart is not a withdrawal from life, but rather coming back into ourselves to remember the place that neither grasps nor judges and hates.? ? Jack Kornfield

In this episode, Jack mindfully explores:

What it means to live with a peaceful heartMoving beyond the grasping of attachment and aversionLiving in the world from a place of wisdomThe inner landscapes of meditationGreed, hatred, delusion, and revengeInterdependence, connection, and BodhicittaImpermanence and the wisdom of insecurityThe Goddess of Peace and the Goddess of JusticeWise response and transmuting sufferingBodhisattvas and compassionBuddha and the boundless infinity of loveListening to embody The Way

This flowing Dharma Talk from Jack on 10/01/2001 was originally published on DharmaSeed.org

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Jack returns for an illuminating Dharma Talk exploring the deep human longing for the wedding of body and spirit.

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"The invitation of spiritual life, of awareness or mindfulness?we could call it a sacred attention?is not to hurry up, fix, or make this human realm perfect or better. Nor is it to ignore it, but rather to awaken to what is each day as we meet it in our bodies, in our hearts, in our minds, in our family, in our community on this earth ? to see it how it is, and to illuminate it with the heart, to illuminate it with our understanding and compassion, to find the basket of spirit that is here, and let that spirit shine in this human realm." ? Jack Kornfield

In this episode, Jack dives into:

- An old African wisdom story of a shepherd, his cattle, a dark forest, a lover, and a magic basket

- Life, death, void, silence, and opening to the great mystery

- Perception, consciousness, and Buddha's wisdom that mind is the principle element of creation

- Listening, truth, timelessness, and The One Who Knows

- The balance and connection between spirit and form

- Rumi and the deep human longing to wed body and spirit

- Buddha and the teachings of compassion

- Breath, wholeness, and the eternal present

- Moving past the fear body by breaking through the myth of seperation

This Dharma Talk from Spirit Rock Meditation Center on 09/11/2000 was originally published on DharmaSeed.org

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