Sharing spiritual wisdom on meditation, abundance, intimacy, and the astral body, Jack helps us cultivate the courage to recognize truth.
Want to learn how to follow the Buddha’s path to freedom in the modern world? Sign up for Jack’s new online course Walking the Eightfold Path with Jack Kornfield beginning March 18!
“In one important sense, meditation is an exercise in truth, an exercise in opening to what is true, to what is here in front of us in the most direct and obvious ways.” – Jack Kornfield
In this episode, Jack compassionately illuminates:
- Meditation as an exercise in truth
- Jesus and the Buddha following their deepest inner truths
- Dharma and direct seeing from the heart
- Buddhism’s three characteristics of life: impermanence, suffering, selflessness
- Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche’s view on the rebirth of our bad habits
- The difference between our physical ‘fear body’ we inhabit during the day, versus our expansive ‘astral body’ we expand into at night
- Mindfulness, spaciousness, and Buddha Nature
- Abundance and intimacy in spirituality
- The 16th Karmapa as the Dharma King
- A beautiful (and funny) story of an end-of-life guided meditation
This Dharma Talk from 7/11/1990 at was originally published on DharmaSeed.
“Somebody asked Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, the Tibetan Lama, ‘If there’s no self, what is it that is reborn in Buddhism?’ He smiled and said, ‘I hate to tell you this, but what’s reborn is your bad habits.'” – Jack Kornfield
“To note what’s present is the first task. The second task is to see or sense what happens to it. These are both important. So, sadness comes and you note, ‘Ah, here’s the feeling of sadness.’ And then you name it for a while, you stay with it and see what it does, ‘Sad…sad…sad.’ Maybe you name it five to ten times and it disappears. Then itching comes and you name, ‘Itching…itching…’ You don’t just name it and hurry back to your breath. You name it and see what it does, ‘Itching…itching.’ Then, it spreads and your whole face is tingling, ‘Tinging…tingling… I’m gonna die if I don’t scratch this… Dying…dying…’ Then if you stay with it, dying passes, tingling passes, itching passes. If you let yourself stay with things, naming them as long as they are there and seeing them happen, they show their true nature—which is to arise, change, and pass.” – 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
Art via Master1305