In this dharma talk, Jack Kornfield offers wisdom and inspiration amidst the chaos of today’s world and explores how suffering is not the end of the story, but the beginning.
Suffering Is Not the End of the Story
How do we live amidst the chaos of the multiple crises happening in the world today? Jack explores how suffering is not the end of the story, we can also be witness to the bravery and possibilities of life. He talks about the Four Noble Truths, what liberation really means, and the vastness of mindful loving awareness.
“So the point of liberation is not to transcend this world, to find some peaceful bliss, to run away to some cave. The point of liberation is to see the mystery that’s here and now, the sense of the sacred, the imminence of life, and like the Buddha wandering the dusty roads of India, to discover that exactly where we are can also be the place of peace and Nirvana, of wellbeing.” – Jack Kornfield
A Liberated Heart (19:10)
Jack talks about the interdependent nature of our species, and how there’s no spiritual bypass around it. He invites us to live from a liberated heart, saying who we are is consciousness itself. He explores how consciousness creates duality, and how we have to be able to hold it all, the good and the bad. The heart bears witness to the 10,000 joys and the 10,000 sorrows.
“So when you sit and meditate, you find both the suffering, that part of the story, and the liberation from that suffering, the other part of the story.” – Jack Kornfield
Sharon Salzberg talks about responding to suffering in the time of Coronavirus on Metta Hour Ep. 120
Suffering is the Beginning of the Story (39:02)
Jack talks about the mind, and how it is filled with stories we believe about fear, confusion, and anger. But the choice is ours, we don’t have to believe them. There is a world of kindness out there, and the only place we’re going is here and now. When we open our hearts to suffering, it turns out that suffering is only the beginning of the story, not the end.
“Our task is to love it all – because this is the end of the story. The end of the story is the loving heart, that this is who you are and this is what matters.” – Jack Kornfield
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