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Jack Kornfield

Jack Kornfield Quotes

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Famous Jack Kornfield Quotes

“The purpose of spiritual life is not to create some special state of mind. A state of mind is always temporary. The purpose is to work directly with the most primary elements of our body and our mind, to see the ways we get trapped by our fears, desires and anger, and to learn directly our capacity for freedom.”

FreedomAddictionObsessionRecovery
Book:A Path with Heart: A Guide Through the Perils and Promises of Spiritual Life
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“Mature Spirituality is not based on seeking perfection, on achieveing some imaginary sense of purity. It is based on the capacity to let go and to love. To open the heart to all that is. Without ideals heart can turn the sufferings and imperfections we encounter into the path of compassion. In this nondealistic practise the divine can shine through even in acts of ignoarnce and fear, inviting us to wonder at the mystery of all that is. We can protect one another, yet in this there is no judgement, no blame. For we seek not to perfect the world perfect our love for what is on this earth.”

SpiritualityLetting GoPerefection
Book:Bringing Home the Dharma: Awakening Right Where You Are
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“Consider undertaking the vows and practice of a Bodhisattva. In taking these vows you will join with the hundreds of thousands of Buddhists in the west and millions in Asia who have done so. As is traditional, you might seek out a Buddhist center or temple and take the Bodhisattva vow in the presence of a teacher. Or, if you cannot do so, you can take them at home. Create a sacred space and place there the images of Bodhisattvas or Buddhas who have gone before you. If you wish, invite a friend or friends to be your witness. Sit quietly for a time and reflect on the beauty and value of a life dedicated to the benefit of all. When you are ready, add any meaningful ritual, the lighting of candles, the taking of refuge. Then recite your vows. Here is one traditional version, but there are many others: Suffering beings are numberless, I vow to liberate them all. Attachment is inexhaustible, I vow to release it all. The gates to truth are numberless, I vow to master them all. The way of awakening is supreme, I vow to realize… You can modify the language of these vows so that they speak your deepest dedication. Then you can repeat them every time you sit in meditation, to direct and dedicate your practice.”

EnlightenmentAwakeningBodhisattva VowJack KornfieldThe Wise Heart
Book:The Wise Heart: A Guide to the Universal Teachings of Buddhist Psychology
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“Forgiveness sees wisely. It willingly acknowledges what is unjust, harmful, and wrong. It bravely recognizes sufferings of the past, and understands the conditions that brought them about.Forgiveness honors the heart's greatest dignity. Whenever we are lost, it brings us back to the ground of love.Without forgiveness our lives are chained, forced to carry the sufferings of the past and repeat them with no release.”

HeartPastSufferingLostOur LivesConditionsHonorDignityReleaseAcknowledgeRepeatsUnjustChained
Author:Jack Kornfield
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“When I sit with students, I do not just want to help them solve their problems. I want to find a moment with each person where their mind stops and their eyes open. I want us to be together as if we were lying in a field on the underside of the earth on a clear summer night, held only by the magnet of gravity, looking down into a bottomless sea of stars. I want us to remember together the beauty all around us.”

IfsWantMindPersonsMomentsHelpingProblemEyeEarthTogetherRememberLyingNightStarsClearSeaFieldsStudentsSummerSolveGravityWant UMagnetLooking DownSummer Nights
Author:Jack Kornfield
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“Compassion arises naturally as the quivering of the heart in the face of pain, ours and another's. True compassion is not limited by the separateness of pity, nor by the fear of being overwhelmed. When we come to rest in the great heart of compassion, we discover a capacity to bear witness to, suffer with, and hold dear with our own vulnerable heart the sorrows and beauties of the world.”

WorldHeartPainFacesSufferingCompassionBearsSorrowCapacityDearArisePityVulnerableWitnessOverwhelmedSeparatenessBeauty Of The WorldGreat HeartsBeing Overwhelmed
Author:Jack Kornfield
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“Expressing gratitude to our benefactors is a natural form of love. In fact, some people find loving kindness for themselves so hard, they begin their practice with a benefactor. This too is fine. The rule in loving kindness practice is to follow the way that most easily opens your heart.”

PeopleWayHeartHardFactsFormNaturalPracticeKindnessFineGratitudeLoving KindnessExpressing GratitudeBenefactorsForms Of LoveNatural Forms
Book:The Wise Heart: Buddhist Psychology for the West
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“Finding a way to extend forgiveness to ourselves is one of our most essential tasks. Just as others have been caught in suffering, so have we. If we look honestly at our life, we can see the sorrows and pain that have led to our own wrongdoing. In this we can finally extend forgiveness to ourselves; we can hold the pain we have caused in compassion. Without such mercy, we will live our own life in exile.”

IfsWayLooksHas BeensPainSufferingCompassionOur LivesSorrowEssentialsFindingsTasksMercyCaughtHonestlyExileWrongdoing
Book:Bringing Home the Dharma: Awakening Right Where You Are
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“Indifference pretends to create peace, but it is based on not caring, a silent resignation. It is a movement away, a separation fed by a subtle fear of the heart. We pull back, believing that what happens to others is not our concern. Our courage leaves us. Indifference is a misguided way of defending ourselves.”

WayBelieveHeartHappensMovementConcernSilentCaringSeparationIndifferenceSubtleFedsResignationMisguidedNot Caring
Book:The Art Of Forgiveness, Loving Kindness And Peace
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“What brings the karmic result from the patterns of our actions is not our action alone. As we intend and then act, we create [our] karma: so another key to understanding the creation of karma is becoming aware of intention. The heart is our garden, and along with each action there is an intention that is planted like a seed. The result of the patterns of our karma is the fruit of these seeds.”

HeartActionUnderstandingResultsCreationKeysBecomingGardenIntentionFruitPatternsSeedsKarmaOur Actions
Book:A Path With Heart: The Classic Guide Through The Perils And Promises Of Spiritual Life
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“Strength of the Heart comes from knowing that the pain that we each must bear is part of the greater pain shared by all that lives. It is not just 'our' pain, but 'the' pain and realizing this awakens our universal compassion”

HeartPainRealizingCompassionKnowingGreaterBearsUniversal
Book:A Path With Heart: The Classic Guide Through The Perils And Promises Of Spiritual Life
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“The near enemy of love is attachment. Attachment masquerades as love. It says, “I will love this person because I need them.” Or, “I’ll love you if you’ll love me back. I’ll love you, but only if you will be the way I want.” This isn’t love at all - it is attachment - and attachment is rigid, it is very different from love.”

IfsWayWantNeedsPersonsDifferentLove IsEnemyLove YouAttachmentMasquerade
Book:Bringing Home the Dharma: Awakening Right Where You Are
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“Even time is a concept. In reality we are always in the eternal present. The past is just a memory, the future just an image or thought. All our stories about past and future are only ideas, arising in the moment. Our modern culture is so tyrannized by goals, plans, and improvement schemes that we constantly live for the future. But as Aldous Huxley reminded us in his writings, "An idolatrous religion is one in which time is substituted for eternity...the idea of endless progress is the devil's work, even today demanding human sacrifice on an enormous scale.”

WritingHumansIdeasMomentsStoriesRealityTodayPastCultureGoalMemoriesProgressPlansSacrificeModernEternalDevilConceptsEternityImprovementScalesEndlessEnormousSchemesHuxleyModern CultureLive Futures
Author:Jack Kornfield
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“Taking the one seat describes two related aspects of spiritual work. Outwardly, it means selecting one practice and teacher among all the possibilities, and inwardly, it means having the determination to stick with that practice through whatever difficulties and doubts arise until you have come to true clarity and understanding.”

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Author:Jack Kornfield
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