Jack Kornfield and Trudy Goodman join together to speak on the art and heart of forgiveness, and how forgiveness is an expression of what it means to live with loving awareness.
This dharma talk from Jack Kornfield and Trudy Goodman on the art and heart of forgiveness was originally published on Dharma Seed
The Art of Forgiveness
Jack begins by exploring how we understand forgiveness and what we need to know to practice it wisely. He talks about how forgiveness doesn’t condone what happened, that forgiveness is for us and not the other person, and how, ultimately, forgiveness is a perspective we have to carry. For our own sake, we can’t put another human being out of our hearts.
“So, it doesn’t go the way you think it should go, but it’s really an act of mercy of your heart to say, ‘Alright, I can do this, I can forgive in some way.’ And a lot of it is forgiving of yourself; we’re so hard on ourselves, and we define our lives by our worst moment. As if that’s really the truth.” – Jack Kornfield
RamDev speaks about compassion and forgiveness in Healing at the Edge Ep. 52
The Heart of Forgiveness (30:35)
Trudy explores what it means to forgive. She talks about how forgiveness takes time, how it’s not always about an apology, but about acknowledging what was done, and how we can find the internal balance to meet what’s happening with compassion and equanimity. Through cultivating loving awareness, we can strengthen our capacity for forgiveness.
“But I want to encourage you, in your meditation, to feel free to use your imagination, to use your creativity. When you sit down to be with yourself and meditate, maybe you aren’t going to just follow your breath that day, maybe you’re going to radiate some compassion to yourself or to somebody else, maybe that’s what’s called for.” – Trudy Goodman
Forgiveness Meditation (59:25)
Trudy leads a meditation on forgiveness. She guides us through three sets of phrases, offering forgiveness to ourselves, to someone we’d like to forgive for hurting us, and to someone we’ve hurt ourselves. May all beings find their way back to loving awareness.
“I like to begin this practice with forgiving ourselves, because without that, it’s really hard to genuinely forgive anybody else.” – Trudy Goodman
Jack Kornfield talks about healing through loving awareness in Heart Wisdom Ep. 90
