Heart Wisdom With Jack Kornfield

In this unique exploration of Dharma, Jack shares how we can transform our daily lives by looking into how the Buddha answered questions.Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/heartwisdom"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 KornfieldIn 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 o

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 kindIn 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

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 KornfieldIn 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 h

Exploring the liberating step of Right Attitude, Jack illuminates how we can break free from our automatic habits by becoming fully conscious of them.Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/heartwisdom"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 KornfieldIn 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 "con

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 KornfieldIn 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 roo

In response to the conflicts in the world, Jack offers a harmonizing guided meditation inviting us into peace, sanctuary, and the heart of refuge.Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/heartwisdom"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 KornfieldIn 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 worldThis episode is

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 KornfieldIn 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 trustThis episode is from the Spirit Rock Meditation Center Monday Night Dharma Talk and Meditation on 10/23/2023.Already downloaded by over 15k p

Jack explores how meeting our lives with a directness and simplicity helps bring the mind, body, and heart into unity.Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/heartwisdom"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 KornfieldIn 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 li

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 intricaciesDiscover the tra

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.Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/heartwisdomIn 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 BodhisattvaDiscover the transformative practice of teaching mindfulness in a new FREE 30-

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)Transfo

Executive Chairman of the Ford Motor Company, Bill Ford, joins Jack to discuss capitalism, Right Livelihood, and the next generation.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 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 FordIn 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 intentionTransform your life through Jack's Kor

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 GoldsteinIn 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 yourselfAbout 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),

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

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 KornfieldIn 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 KornfieldThis meditation was originally live-streamed by Spirit Rock Meditation Center for the Monday Night Dharma Talk on July 24, 20

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

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 KornfieldIn 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 li

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

In this lively episode, Jack dives into how mindfulness, awareness and intimacy help us engage with life more fully.Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/heartwisdom"Zen master Dōgen 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 KornfieldIn 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 i

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 KornfieldIn 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 min