Heart Wisdom with Jack Kornfield

Latest Episodes:

Ep. 302 – Awakening the Lion’s Roar Within: Poetry of Courage, Compassion, and Wonder Aug 20, 2025

Show notes

In this inspiring poetry-infused talk, Jack weaves Rumi’s wisdom on the camel, lion, and child of the spirit into a journey from devotion, to courage, to wonder—inviting us to awaken the Buddha’s Lion’s Roar within and remember the inner royalty of the heart.

Join the Year of Awakening with Jack Kornfield for a monthly group livestream Q&A hang with Jack, along with weekly modules and prompts to keep your life focused on awakening!

“Poetry and the sense of beauty that art awakens is to move from a small sense of our problems and difficulties to some greater perspective of the heart.” – Jack Kornfield

In this episode, Jack mindfully explores:

Rumi’s wisdom on The Camel, The Lion, and the Child of the Spirit
Healing our wounds, grief, and sorrows
Waking ourselves up from our trance
Touching our rage, fears, and longings with kindness and respect
Poetry of compassion, mystery, tenderness, and awakening
Letting yourself love what you love
Tenderness and seeing with the eyes of the Divine Mother and the great heart of compassion
Living a life of wakefulness
Rumi, bravery, and becoming a lion
Awakening the Buddha’s Lion’s Roar within
Uncovering your inner-royalty
Beginner’s mind and becoming a “child of the spirit”
Finding wonder and amazement in life
The mystery of sleep, dreams, and consciousness
Letting go of pity and reclaiming wonder in the present
The power of prayer and blessing

“You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk for a hundred miles on your knees through the desert, repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.” – Mary Oliver

This Dharma Talk from 4/15/1993 at Spirit Rock Meditation Center was originally published on DharmaSeed

About Jack Kornfield:

Jack Kornfield trained as a Buddhist monk in the monasteries of Thailand, India, and Burma, studying as a monk under the Buddhist master Ven. Ajahn Chah, as well as the Ven. Mahasi Sayadaw. He has taught meditation internationally since 1974 and is one of the key teachers to introduce Buddhist mindfulness practice to the West. Jack co-founded the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, with fellow meditation teachers Sharon Salzberg and Joseph Goldstein and the Spirit Rock Center in Woodacre, California. His books have been translated into 20 languages and sold more than a million copies.

Jack is currently offering a wonderful array of transformational online courses diving into crucial topics like Mindfulness Meditation Fundamentals, Walking the Eightfold Path, Opening the Heart of Forgiveness, Living Beautifully, Transforming Your Life Through Powerful Stories, and so much more. Sign up for an All Access Pass to explore Jack’s entire course library. If you would like a year's worth of online meetups with Jack and fellow community, join The Year of Awakening: A Monthly Journey with Jack Kornfield.

Stay up to date with Jack and his stream of fresh dharma offerings by visiting JackKornfield.com and signing up for his email teachings.

“To see with the eyes of a Buddha, to receive the world with the great heart of compassion, means living in the mystery of this present moment again and again.” – Jack Kornfield

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Ep. 301 – The Dharma of Poetry: Rumi, Beauty, Music, and the Art of Awakening Aug 13, 2025

Show notes

Exploring poetry, beauty, and art, Jack helps his dear listeners appreciate the harmonious dichotomy of all life experiences.

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Join the Year of Awakening with Jack Kornfield for a monthly group livestream Q&A hang with Jack, along with weekly modules and prompts to keep your life focused on awakening!

“Poetry and beauty are not a denial of the sorrows of the world, but a grace somehow that holds and understands them—the irony and the mixture of love and terror that make up life.” – Jack Kornfield

In this episode, Jack mindfully explores:

How art, beauty, music and poetry uplift the world to the sacred
Rumi’s poem, Tending Two Shops
Letting go of fear, opening into freedom
Poetry not as a denial of life’s struggles, but as a gracious way through
Being at home with oneself
Poetry from Siddhartha Buddha, Thich Nhat Hanh, Rumi, and more
Telling the truth, becoming nobody, and walking the path
Meditation and working with our ‘inner mob’ of voices
Relating to the ‘zoo’ of our lives with meditation
The three dimensions of Rumi’s spiritual poetry
Saying ‘yes’ to this too, even to what’s difficult
Walking this life and path in humbleness

“Sometimes the greatest political act is to turn on Mozart and turn off the news, or to walk by the ocean or in the hills during sunset, or to read a poem—to sense a possibility in the midst of all the 10,000 joys and sorrows of finding some peace or balance in this heart that can then be brought to the world around us.” – Jack Kornfield

This Dharma Talk from 4/15/1993 at Spirit Rock Meditation Center was originally published on DharmaSeed.

About Jack Kornfield:

Stay up to date with Jack and his stream of fresh dharma offerings by visiting JackKornfield.com and signing up for his email teachings.

“The source of much of the suffering in the world is the loss of attention, beauty, and connection with one another.” – Jack Kornfield

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Ep. 300 – This Very Place: Letting Go and Finding Freedom Aug 06, 2025

Show notes

In this rich and often humorous talk from the 1990s, Jack explores the art of letting go as the gateway to freedom, inviting us into the coolness of nirvana, and the wholeness found only here and now.

Join the Year of Awakening with Jack Kornfield for a monthly group livestream Q&A hang with Jack, along with weekly modules and prompts to keep your life focused on awakening!

“This freedom is not far away, the freedom of the heart is here, and it’s inviting. Nirvana is inviting.” – Jack Kornfield

In this episode, Jack mindfully explores:

The end of exile as a return to the present moment
Pure awareness and the cycles of life
Where is freedom found?
Letting go vs. letting be
The dignity of just being an earthworm
Nirvana as a public health measure
The coolness of nirvana and release from grasping
How ‘periodic nirvana’ keeps us alive
Ram Dass, Stephen Levine, surrender, and choosing your spirit
Bodhicitta as the heart of emptiness and compassion
Don Juan’s “controlled folly” and Zen paradox
Finding wholeness in grief, struggle, and beauty
Each moment as a chance for struggle or freedom
The goal of practice as keeping our beginner’s mind
This very moment as the only place of freedom

“If we allow ourselves to stay in the reality of the present, not only does there come a reclaiming of this life, but we also discover this emptiness or spaciousness that holds it all. No matter how painful, beautiful, exalted, or difficult—it arises and moves in its cycle back into wholeness.” – Jack Kornfield

This Dharma Talk recorded on desert retreat in the 1990s was originally published on DharmaSeed.

About Jack Kornfield:

Stay up to date with Jack and his stream of fresh dharma offerings by visiting JackKornfield.com and signing up for his email teachings.

“Just let go, let go, let go. I did nothing but this in my practice for years. Every time I tried to understand or figure things out, I’d say, ‘Let go, let go,’ until that desire would fade away. … Just be an earthworm who knows only two words, ‘Let go, let go…’” – Jack Kornfield

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Ep. 299 – The End of Exile: A Zen Love Story of Coming Home to Yourself Jul 30, 2025

Show notes

In this tender and illuminating talk, Jack shares a Zen love story and a path of mindful presence that brings us home—from the stories of the mind to the truth of the heart. Through embodied awareness, we discover that the end of exile begins with loving what is here now.

Join the Year of Awakening with Jack Kornfield for a monthly group livestream Q&A hang with Jack, along with weekly modules and prompts to keep your life focused on awakening!

Today’s podcast is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/heartwisdom and get on your way to being your best self.

“The end of exile is when we see all the stories of what should be, and what is, and what will be, passing through the mind, and we rest in some place of peace in the heart.” – Jack Kornfield

This week on Heart Wisdom, Jack heartfully ponders:

Freedom and the spiritual path
The Dharma’s ‘one taste’ of freedom
The Sure Heart’s Release
Present, past, future, and Being Here Now
Life’s often dreamlike quality
The evanescent present moment
Noticing the dreamlike quality of life
An enlightening Zen love story
Uncovering your true self
Overcoming exile with softness of heart
Mindfulness as the end of exile
Embodied awakening and finding liberation within the body and mind
Accepting and including all parts of ourselves
Mindfulness and reuniting with your body and feelings
Cultivating “mindfulness of mind” and forgiving its stories
Watching the mind, resting in the heart
Stories and poems on the end of exile in our lives
Finding true kindness through accepting sorrow

“The past disappears, the future isn’t here yet—all there is is this evanescent present moment that’s here for a moment and then changes.” – Jack Kornfield

This Dharma Talk recorded during a desert retreat on 04/05/1993 was originally published on DharmaSeed.

About Jack Kornfield:

Stay up to date with Jack and his stream of fresh dharma offerings by visiting JackKornfield.com and signing up for his email teachings.

“The real koan is: who is your true self?” – Jack Kornfield

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Ep. 298 – The Dalai Lama’s Message for Modern Times: How to Live with Courage, Compassion, and Integrity Jul 23, 2025

Show notes

From gender equity to joyful adaptation, Jack recounts how the Dalai Lama challenged teachers to reshape Buddhism for a modern world in need of heart.

This Dharma Talk recorded on 03/29/93 at Spirit Rock Meditation Center was originally published on DharmaSeed.

“Somebody said the Dalai Lama’s mind is like a diamond, and whichever facet, whichever direction he turns it to, it comes with clarity and beauty. Everything that he did had a sense of graciousness and beauty about it.” – Jack Kornfield

In this episode of Heart Wisdom, Jack holds a thought-provoking talk on:

Counseling, ethics codes, and teacher-training for a new era
Sectarianism vs. the shared heart of awakening
A dramatic call for gender equity: nuns, councils & training funded “on the spot”
Sylvia Wetzel’s meditative reflection: What if the Dalai Lama had always been a woman?
Humor & honesty: “rebirth control” and other Dalai Lama one-liners
Engaged Buddhism: arms sales, poverty, over-population, climate
Drafting a pan-Buddhist code of conduct; yearly councils of elders
Spirit Rock as a living experiment in consensus leadership
The invitation: awaken the Buddha-heart in every man, woman & child

“There is no price worth paying to hide what is wrong—tell the truth.” – H.H. the Dalai Lama

About Jack Kornfield:

Stay up to date with Jack and his stream of fresh dharma offerings by visiting JackKornfield.com and signing up for his email teachings.

“Use your heart to awaken that spirit of the Buddha in every being you meet—that’s all that really matters.” – Jack Kornfield

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Ep. 297 – Advice from the Dalai Lama: The Fragrance of Nirvana Jul 16, 2025

Show notes

Jack shares stories and insights from a rare gathering with the Dalai Lama on what really makes a teacher, and how compassion—not titles—spreads the Dharma.

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This time on Heart Wisdom, Jack thoughtfully explores these themes & topics:

Spring renewal at Spirit Rock & the wider Buddhist boom
1,000 U.S. meditation centers — a movement far bigger than any one sangha
The Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra on gathering “in harmony and concord”
The Dalai Lama: compassion over conversion; students over titles
What really authorizes a teacher? (Hint: their students’ freedom)
“Spy on your teachers” — trusting slowly & wisely
The scent-test of liberation: recognizing authentic peace
“Bodhisattva off-duty?” — practice everywhere, even with late-night TV temptations
Spiritual life as engagement with, not escape from, difficulty
Interdependence: why true emptiness embraces every creature
Speaking out against spiritual misconduct & retraumatization
The wounded student, the wounded teacher — bringing psychology into Dharma

This Dharma Talk recorded on 03/29/93 at Spirit Rock Meditation Center was originally published on DharmaSeed.

“The Dalai Lama said, ‘Nirvana has a wonderful scent—like flowers.’ You can tell it when you're around someone connected with nirvana. You can tell it around places where there’s that fragrance of peace, well-being, and liberation.” – Jack Kornfield

“Deep down, what matters is only the spirit of compassion—only what benefits beings in every form, in every realm on this earth. Don’t think about how to spread Buddhism. It doesn’t matter if there are even one or two more Buddhists. The only thing that matters is the well-being of each person and the well-being of the earth that we live on.” – Jack Kornfield quoting H.H. the Dalai Lama

Photo via Wikimedia Commons

About Jack Kornfield:

Stay up to date with Jack and his stream of fresh dharma offerings by visiting JackKornfield.com and signing up for his email teachings.

“Only the benefit you bring to others proves the depth of your own practice.” – Jack Kornfield

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Ep. 296 – The Beautiful World We Can Be: Trust, Joy, Imagination & Transformation Jul 09, 2025

Show notes

What if the blueprint for a more beautiful world is already within you? Jack explores how trust, joy, and imagination awaken transformation—from the inside out.

Join the Year of Awakening with Jack Kornfield for monthly livestream Q&A hangs with Jack, and weekly lessons and reflections to keep your year focused on awakening. Use code AWAKEN50 for 50% off entry.

“In the chrysalis, as the caterpillar imagines itself into the butterfly, there’s a message: trust that transformation is possible. Not only is it possible—but from the heart, you can help shape it. You can make a difference.” – Jack Kornfield

In this episode, Jack mindfully explores:

What brings us joy in this life?
Trust, morals, justice, and taking the long view
Enlightenment and cultivating a trusting heart
The imaginal cells of the butterfly
How your voice, joy, imagination, and trust can truly make a difference
Stories on trust, love, and making a difference
Mindful presence and the Awakened Heart
Sangha/Satsang, community, and helping each other
Imagining a beautiful new world together
Feeling yourself as a playful child of the spirit
Spelunking the great mystery of life and the universe
Adding your make-weight of hope to the world
Allen Ginsberg’s poem Howl
Bringing our joy, love, tenderness and compassion to the world
The big questions: how to hold suffering, and those causing suffering
The power of protest, standing up, letting go of fear, and embracing the strength of joy
Questions and Responses on how to navigate modern times skillfully and joyfully with trust, balance, love, gratitude, equanimity, and compassion

“Trust that you make a difference, and that each one of us makes a difference.” – Jack Kornfield

This episode was recorded on 04/07/2025 for the Spirit Rock Meditation Center Monday Night Dharma Talk and Guided Meditation.

“We’re in this together, we can awaken together, and we can support our hearts, minds, and the beautiful world that we can be—it’s in us as part of our imaginal cells.” – Jack Kornfield

About Jack Kornfield:

Stay up to date with Jack and his stream of fresh dharma offerings by visiting JackKornfield.com and signing up for his email teachings.

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

Ep. 295 – The Sweet and Radical Joy of Living in the Way Jul 02, 2025

Show notes

Jack invites us to walk the path of joy—no matter the circumstances—showing how living joyfully and tenderly is a courageous, radical, and transformative act.

Today’s podcast is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/heartwisdom and get on your way to being your best self.

“What I’ve seen in visiting refugee camps is that they don’t want you to come in feeling depressed—they have enough of that themselves. They’re not looking for people who are frightened, worried, or downhearted. What they long for is someone who can bring a sense of uplift, possibility, and joy.” – Jack Kornfield

In this episode, Jack mindfully explores:

Living joyfully with a positive attitude
Joy as a necessary quality of enlightenment
How can we have joy in times of chaos, disruption, and suffering?
Joy as a true service to others and the world
Uplifting others through our joy and positivity
Wavy Gravy and the Transformative Power of Joy
How suffering is not the end of the story; it’s the beginning of the Four Noble Truths
Bringing joy, beauty, and humor to our protesting, activism, and standing up for what matters
Being hopeful despite the outside circumstances, and emphasizing compassion, sacrifice, courage, and kindness
The joy and playfulness of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu
How we can bless and heal each other with our joy
Living in joy, love, health and peace even amidst hate, affliction, and troubles
Experiencing the sweet joy of living in the way
The radical joyful presence of Ajahn Chah and Maha Ghosananda
Risking delight
Jack’s rapturous experience of meditative bliss
Learning to step out of the battle and embrace life
Thich Nhat Hanh and the practice of smiling
Becoming a make-weight of joy, tipping the scales to hope
Unshakeable integrity, generosity, gratitude, and tenderness
Tuning in with nature, relationships, and the mystery
Father Gregory Boyle and the possibility of transformation and renewal

This episode was recorded on 04/07/2025 for the Spirit Rock Meditation Center Monday Night Dharma Talk and Guided Meditation.

“Be joyful though you have considered all the facts.” – Wendell Berry

“Live in joy and love even among those who hate. Live in joy and health even among the afflicted. Live in joy and peace even among the troubled. Look within, be still, free from fears and attachments. Know the sweet joy of living in the way.” – The Dhammapada

About Jack Kornfield:

Stay up to date with Jack and his stream of fresh dharma offerings by visiting JackKornfield.com and signing up for his email teachings.

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

Ep. 294 – The Secret of Love and Attachment: Wise Relationships, Vulnerability, and the Joy of Nirvana Jun 18, 2025

Show notes

Sharing deep spiritual secrets of love and attachment, Jack transforms our unhealthy attachments into Wise Relationships through vulnerability, inner joy, and shared humanity.

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“The secret is, the opposite of attachment is not detachment, but love. Because true love does not seek to possess or control, it doesn’t separate or fear what is there. True love is the ability to be present without grasping. From this place, love offers its blessings.” – Jack Kornfield

In this episode, Jack mindfully explores:

Transforming unhealthy clingings into Wise Attachment
Not getting stuck in our ideas and views
The global price of collective addiction and attachment
Moving past our attachment to our sense of separateness
The big spiritual question—who are we really?
His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and keeping a healthy curiosity around death
Lowering our defenses and helping others lower their defenses around us
Parenting with trust and connection rather than clinging and control
The good side of attachment—connection, well-being, mirroring
Transforming low-self-esteem and the body of fear into self-confidence and openness
Using spiritual practice to open to a love that includes our full humanity
Finding the true possibilities that the spiritual path offers
Resting in our being—how not to seek and chase, and how not to run away and hide
Touching our incompleteness, our brokenness, with compassion
Expanding our heart and connecting with our shared humanity
Uncovering within us our inner knowing, The One Who Knows
How to be true to yourself, and make a light of yourself
Meditation as an invitation into vulnerability
Moving from unhealthy attachment into Wise Relationship
How Being Here Now, our capacity to be present, transforms our life
Nirvana as the absence of struggle with the world as it as

Please help support Jack's daughter Caroline's Oasis Legal Services in their mission to help persecuted LGBTQ+ Asylum Seekers gain citizenship and safety in the U.S.

“We want to be loved, we want to be held, and it’s so hard to be vulnerable. Meditation is an invitation to that vulnerability, the rawness and openness of the heart. Not because it’s good for us, but because it moves us back to the truth that we are held. If we can sit and open, we’ll discover that this universe that has given birth to us really does hold us.” – Jack Kornfield

This episode recorded on 03/08/1993 at Spirit Rock Meditation Center was originally published on DharmaSeed.

“Nirvana, which is the absence of suffering, doesn’t mean that the world goes away. Nirvana is the absence of struggle with the world as it is.” – Jack Kornfield

About Jack Kornfield:

Stay up to date with Jack and his stream of fresh dharma offerings by visiting JackKornfield.com and signing up for his email teachings.

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

Ep. 293 – Discovering the Great Way: Freedom from Attachment Jun 11, 2025

Show notes

Exploring the ancient Zen teaching of the Great Way, Jack guides us toward freedom from attachment, clarity beyond preferences, and the liberating joy of letting go.

“The Great Way is not difficult for those who have no preferences. When attachment and hatred are both absent, everything becomes clear and undisguised. Make the smallest distinction; however, and heaven and earth are set infinitely apart. If you wish to see the truth, then hold no opinion for or against anything.” – Third Zen Ancestor

In this episode, Jack mindfully explores:

Finding freedom from attachment by learning to let go
Can we meditate society’s problems away?
What does it mean to seek wisdom, compassion, freedom?
The Third Patriarch of Zen
Finding the Great Way and seeing the truth
Moving past our opinions and preferences
How our desires blind us and manufacture our reality
Suffering, impermanence, grasping, and not relying on reality
The path to liberation from our grasping and fears
The joy of letting go of our attachments and relaxing into what is
Training ourselves to have an obedient mind of the Buddha
Is there appropriate or wise attachment?
Clarifying the full spectrum of attachment
How to get out addiction and the Realm of the Hungry Ghosts
Dealing with attachment to our isolation, our separateness
Commitment as a healthy devoted attachment
Seeking a Wise Relationship to ourselves, others, and the world
The slippery slope of pleasure, into desire, into habit, into need
Wise attachment vs unwise attachment
The full spectrum of attachment and love

“Go where you wish—cave, monastery, India, Tibet, do what you like—your mind goes with you, that’s the problem.” – Jack Kornfield

This episode recorded on 03/08/1993 at Spirit Rock Meditation Center was originally published on DharmaSeed.

About Jack Kornfield:

Jack is currently offering a wonderful array of transformational online courses diving into crucial topics like Mindfulness Meditation Fundamentals, Walking the Eightfold Path, Opening the Heart of Forgiveness, Living Beautifully, Transforming Your Life Through Powerful Stories, and so much more. Sign up for an All Access Pass to explore Jack’s entire course library. If you would like a year's worth of online meetups with Jack and fellow community members, join The Year of Awakening: A Monthly Journey with Jack Kornfield.

Stay up to date with Jack and his stream of fresh dharma offerings by visiting JackKornfield.com and signing up for his email teachings.

“Often we think attachment is only to other people and things, but often what we are attached to is our own isolation, our own separateness.” – Jack Kornfield

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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