Jack Kornfield
Jack Kornfield
Jack Kornfieldis a bestselling American author and teacher in the vipassana movement in American Theravada Buddhism. He trained as a Buddhist monk in Thailand, Burma and India, first as a student of the Thai forest master Ajahn Chah and Mahasi Sayadaw of Burma. He has taught meditation worldwide since 1974 and is one of the key teachers to introduce Buddhist Mindfulness practice to the West. In 1975, he co-founded the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, with Sharon Salzberg and...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionReligious Leader
Date of Birth16 July 1945
CountryUnited States of America
What would we have to hold in compassion to be at peace right now? What would we have to let go of to be at peace right now?
The Sufis have a saying: "Praise Allah, and tie your camel to a post." This brings together both parts of practice: pray, yes, but also make sure that you do what is necessary in the world.
Compassion is our deepest nature. It arises from our interconnection with all things.
True love is not for the faint-hearted.
In all practices and traditions of freedom, we find the heart's task to be quite simple. Life offers us just what it offers, and our task is to bow to it, to meet it with understanding and compassion.
Skill in concentrating and steadying the mind is the basis for all types of meditation.
Samadhi doesn’t just come of itself; it takes practice.
Refraining from stealing: care with material goods. Undertake for one week to act on every single thought of generosity that arises spontaneously in your heart.
The grief we carry is part of the grief of the world. Hold it gently. Let it be honored. You do not have to keep it in anymore. You can let go into the heart of compassion; you can weep.
When we take time to quiet ourselves, we can all sense that our life could be lived with greater compassion and greater weakness.
It is not enough to know that love and forgiveness are possible. We have to find ways to bring them to life.
Breathing meditation can quiet the mind, open the body, and develop a great power of concentration.
Whenever we forgive, in small ways at home, or in great ways between nations, we free ourselves from the past.
It is hard to imagine a world without forgiveness. Without forgiveness life would be unbearable. Without forgiveness our lives are chained, forced to carry the sufferings of the past and repeat them with no release.