Jack Kornfield – Heart Wisdom – Ep. 136 – The Sacred Pause

Planting seeds of faith, Jack weaves together Buddhist Sutta, teaching advice from Ram Dass, & an unknowing koan from his daughter—inviting us into the sacred pause of mystery & eternity.

Jack Kornfield shares a dharma talk on ‘The Sacred Pause’ – originally airing 3/22/21 from his ongoing Spirit Rock Monday night livestreams.

“And so, our meditation—our spiritual life—it’s not about becoming a good meditator. It’s about one breath at a time, one plant at a time, one day, one moment.” – Jack Kornfield

The Buddha, The Brahmin, & The Plow // Be Here Now with Beginner’s Mind

How do we tend ourselves and the world? Opening the session contemplating how we can gracefully enter the next stage of the world coming out of the pandemic, Jack shares an early Sutta from the first years of the Buddha’s wanderings in India. Relaying this wonderful allegory, Jack invites us to plow our inner garden, planting seeds of faith and tending them with wise effort, compassion, and truth. From here, he reanimates life-changing teaching advice from Ram Dass at Naropa University in the ’70s.

“I said, ‘I’m getting the hang of teaching in ways that really serve the different people who come… I try to find something that I can say to each one of them, where they are, that uplifts their heart, that gives them a sense of nourishment.’ Ram Dass paused, leaned back the way he did and smiled. He said, ‘Yes, and when you get good, you can say something so simple, elegant and true, that it resonates on all those levels at once.” – Jack Kornfield

Digging into the dirt with the ‘tending the garden’ metaphor, Jack Kornfield plants beautiful seeds, on Ep. 99 of Heart Wisdom

The Moon is Following Us // Pause & Be Present (10:28)

Sharing the wise koan of astonishment exclaimed by his daughter one early evening stroll when she was younger, “Daddy, look; the moon is following us! How does it know to do that?”—Jack invites us to become a conscious witness of the mystery, to take a step back to pause in the vast presence of eternity.

“The question is not the future of humanity, but the presence of eternity. Can we—in the midst of the great difficulties of our lives in this world, in the midst of the unbearable beauty of life—can we pause, and be present, and take a step back and be the witness—the loving awareness—and remember that who we are is consciousness itself having a human experience?” – Jack Kornfield

Krishna Das explores how we can best tend our inner gardens for a harvest of love, on Ep. 95 of Pilgrim Heart

Do You Take This Person As Is? // Working with Relationships (28:01)

Speaking to the nuances of working with relationships—romantic or otherwise—Jack shares how when he used to perform wedding ceremonies, he would ask the couple the question, “Do you take this person as is?” Through this lens, he shares personal tips for overcoming cabin fever for people sequestered together; before walking the podcast home by sharing how we can water seeds of positive social change and loving awareness.

“I see her now, and I see this whole arc of being and the mystery behind it, and the joys and sufferings she’s been through. When I step back and get quiet, and gaze in that way, instead of the judgment or the need, I just feel a gratitude and an ability to love and be present for the mystery of this other person.” – Jack Kornfield

Jack plants seeds, sharing how we can tend to ourselves and tend to the world, on Ep. 48 of Heart Wisdom

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