Exploring the liberating step of Right Attitude, Jack illuminates how we can break free from our automatic habits by becoming fully conscious of them.
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“There’s a strength of heart that comes when we don’t just follow our habit. It’s a strengthening of heart that brings a sense of wellbeing or purity.” – Jack Kornfield
In this episode, Jack mindfully explores:
- Right Attitude / Right Thought as one of the steps on the Buddha’s Noble Eightfold Path
- The three aspects of Right Attitude: openness/exploration, renunciation/effort, love/non-harming
- Working with our unique personality in this incarnation
- The importance of adding fire to our spiritual practice
- Breaking free from our automatic habits by bringing conscious awareness to them
- Ram Dass and becoming a “connoisseur or your neurosis”
- Transforming our life from automatic pilot to being fully conscious
- The story of Larry Brilliant helping cure smallpox and what he learned about surrender and interconnectivity
This Dharma Talk from 07/01/1984 at Spirit Rock Meditation Center was originally published on DharmaSeed.
“I think love really manifests when things get difficult. That’s when you really know it. That’s the fire that melts whatever barriers we ever have in our hearts. And our hearts want to be melted. The pain isn’t so bad; it’s much better than having it still solid and barricaded.” – Jack Kornfield
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.
Dive into Jack’s ongoing dharma offerings and transformational online courses on the new JackKornfield.com
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
Photo via Prostock-studio