Jack Kornfield – Heart Wisdom – Ep. 185 – Grey Matter with Michael Krasny

This week, Jack joins Michael Krasny for a conversation diving into mindfulness, loneliness, compassion, gratitude, suffering, meditation, and the Dharma.

jk - BH

“With mindfulness you learn to live in the present. If you walk down the street and you’re spending all your time thinking about that conversation you had and the tasks you have to do, you miss the people walking by, you miss the clouds after that rainstorm, the colors of the sunset—the lavender, red, and orange that’s reflected in the windows and puddles—you miss your life. Mindfulness becomes liberating in that way.” – Jack Kornfield

In this episode, Jack and Michael discuss:
  • Ram Dass and the idea of “being here now” in regards to suffering, depression, and suicidal thoughts
  • Overcoming loneliness, isolation, and grief by reaching out and connecting with others
  • Wrapping ourselves in the infinitely compassionate cloak of of Quan Yin or Mother Mary
  • How compassion and mindfulness practices regulate our body away from the ‘fight, flight, freeze’ response
  • Vipassana meditation, the mindful loving witness, and bringing it back into the world
  • Planting seeds with your conscious effort and peaceful heart, but not being attached to the outcome
  • How mindfulness liberates us to be fully present for the beautiful nuances of our lives
  • The difference between pain (inevitable) and suffering (optional)
  • The various meanings of the word “Dharma,” and it’s relation to truth
  • Making friends with our inner-critic and judging mind
  • Consciousness, gratitude, and the Great Mystery

“We have the capacity to hold our sorrows and our measure of suffering with compassion rather than judgment, rather than fear, almost as if you could wrap yourself with the cloak of Quan Yin—the Goddess of Infinite Compassion—or Mother Mary, so that you know that you’re not alone, and that we’ve done this.” – Jack Kornfield 

Sharon Salzberg, Raghu Markus, and Noah Markus join forces to explore emotions and mindfulness, on Mindrolling Ep. 437
About Michael Krasny:
Michael Krasny is best known in the San Francisco Bay Area as the three decades host emeritus of KQED Forum, the public radio call-in program that featured distinguished guests to discuss news and public affairs, current events, culture, health, business and technology. He and KQED Forum received countless journalism awards over the years. He started his interview career at KTIM-FM and then at KGO. Krasny was a San Francisco State faculty professor of English, an adjunct professor at UCSF and USF, and a visiting lecturer at dozens of other schools, programs and companies. He wrote four works of non-fiction and is working on a fifth. Considered “A Bay Area Treasure” by so many, Krasny continues in retirement to interview opinion-shapers of all kinds on his recently launched weekly podcast, Grey Matter with Michael Krasny. For more visit www.greymatter.show
About Jack Kornfield:

Jack Kornfield trained as a Buddhist monk in the monasteries of Thailand, India, and Burma, studying as. a monk under the Buddhist master Ven. Ajahn Chah, as well as the Ven. Mahasi Sayadaw. He has taught meditation internationally since 1974 and is one of the key teachers to introduce Buddhist mindfulness practice to the West. Jack co-founded the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, with fellow meditation teachers Sharon Salzberg and Joseph Goldstein and the Spirit Rock Center in Woodacre, California. His books have been translated into 20 languages and sold more than a million copies.

Listen to more from Jack:
Tune into Ep. 109 of Heart Wisdom: This Too Shall Pass
Learn about Living with a Peaceful Heart in Ep. 91 of Heart Wisdom
Check out Ep. 90 of Heart Wisdom to learn about Healing Through Loving Awareness
Listen to more Stories That Open the Mind, Mend the Heart and Lead to Joy with Jack Kornfield in Ep.92 of Heart Wisdom
Tune into Ep. 102 of Heart Wisdom: The Wisdom of the One Who Knows
Check out Ep. 1 of Heart Wisdom to gain wisdom on Impermanence

Art via Jorm Sangsorn

Jack Kornfield