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
Great pain, when it is honored from the heart, opens into great understanding.
We must especially learn the art of directing mindfulness into the closed areas of our life.
There is no higher happiness than peace.
To meditate is to discover new possibilities, to awaken the capacities of us has to live more wisely, more lovingly, more compassionately, and more fully.
We can easily become loyal to our suffering … but it's not the end of the path.
In this world there are two great sources of strength. One rests with those who are not afraid to kill. The other rests with those who are not afraid to love.
It is the basic principle of spiritual life that we learn the deepest things in unknown territory. Often it is when we feel most confused inwardly and are in the midst of our greatest difficulties that something new will open. We awaken most easily to the mystery of life through our weakest side. The areas of our greatest strength, where we are the most competent and clearest, tend to keep us away from the mystery.
The wholeness and freedom we seek is our true nature, who we really are.
To let go in the deepest recesses of the heart, to release all struggle and wanting, leads us to that knowing which is timeless.
The unawakened mind tends to make war against the way things are.
We need energy, commitment, and courage not to run from our life nor to cover it over with any philosophy—material or spiritual.
Everyone and everything is in some degree or other our teacher.
Yet I knew that spiritual practice is impossible without great dedication, energy, and commitment.
Built on the foundation of concentration is the third aspect of the Buddha’s path of awakening: clarity of vision and the development of wisdom.