Heart Wisdom with Jack Kornfield

Latest Episodes:

Ep. 232 – Stop Being Loyal to Your Suffering Apr 02, 2024

Show notes

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 yourself
How to live in loving kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity/peace
Ram Dass, the Chicken and Rice Man, and selfless service
How the circle of compassion is not complete until it includes self-compassion
Viktor Frankl and the boundless freedom of the human spirit
David Roche and The Church of 80% Sincerity
Moving beyond looks and into the reality of unconditional love
Turning off the news and doing something enjoyable
How 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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Ep. 231 – The Divine Abodes: Navigating the World from the Goodness of our Hearts Mar 26, 2024

Show notes

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 Heart
Navigating the world from the goodness of our hearts
Loving kindness, compassion, joy, equanimity/peace
What is possible for us as human beings
Discovering who we really are and what really matters
Stories of Jack's Buddhist teacher, Maha Ghosananda
The spirituality of neuroscience's "Mirror Neurons."
Sharon Salzberg, Metta practice, and the power of attention
Ram 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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Ep. 230 – The Inspiration of Dipa Ma Mar 20, 2024

Show notes

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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Ep. 229 – Expectations Mar 12, 2024

Show notes

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

"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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Ep. 228 – Clouds of the Mind Mar 05, 2024

Show notes

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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Ep. 227 – Codependence and Compassion, What's the Difference? Feb 27, 2024

Show notes

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

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

"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 codependence
Trying to fix it or save someone instead of allowing them to taste the fruits of their karmas
Feeling locked into supporting someone's destructive behavior
The lack of feeling secure leading to needing to over-control
Needing to fix someone else's problems because we can't live with it in ourself
How we are all accomplices to a codependent society
Mother Teresa and seeking to love the world instead of trying to fix it
The necessity of balancing compassion practice with equanimity practice
The spiritual importance of disharmony and the value of suffering
Boundaries and the ability to say "no"
Ownership, possessiveness, and the trouble with believing our roles
The Bhagavad Gita and acting from our hearts without attachment to the fruit of the action
Living 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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Ep. 226 – The Courage to Recognize Truth Feb 20, 2024

Show notes

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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Ep. 225 – Letting Life Breathe Feb 13, 2024

Show notes

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 gold
The importance of balancing our concentration, effort, and equanimity
How the quality of presence can help the gold of the heart and mind shine
Riding the body’s rhythm of breath as our main focus of attention and rest
To feel of how life is pulsing, moving, and flowing through our experience
Working with our loneliness, suffering, grief, fear, and longings
Awakening into the present moment to see past the body of fear
How recognizing spaciousness and impermanence helps us overcome our difficulties
The 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!

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Ep. 224 – Loving Kindness Guided Meditation Feb 07, 2024

Show notes

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 awareness
Wrap the world and our experiences in the heart of loving kindness
Learn what it feels like to truly wish well for others and yourself
Use the power of our imagination to visualize and experience transformative blessings
Gradually and incrementally extend our metta to encapsulate all sentient beings
Offer our hearts and direct our loving kindness to those suffering throughout the world
Take the "advanced class" by extending our metta to those causing suffering
Listen to our intuition and allow our heart to direct itself
Live 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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Ep. 223 – Redemption Song Jan 30, 2024

Show notes

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!

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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