Quotessence
Home / Authors / Jack Kornfield
Jack Kornfield

Jack Kornfield Quotes

Author

Filter quotes by topic

AllHeartSpiritualWayPracticeCompassionSufferingWorldIfsLetting GoMind

Famous Jack Kornfield Quotes

“It only take a few minutes of meditation to directly realize we are a river of sensations, feelings, thoughts, perceptions. How can we navigate this evanescent river of life wisely? With mindful awareness and love it becomes clear. You can fight against the river of change, or use its wisdom to teach you how to graciously move and create and flow with the full measure of joy and sorrow, gain and loss, praise and blame that make up every human incarnation.”

HumansUseFeelingsMovingJoyFightingRealizingLossTeachClearMeditationMinutesAwarenessSorrowPerceptionGainsFlowRiversAnd LovePraiseBlameSensationsIncarnationNavigateJoys And SorrowsGains And Losses
Author:Jack Kornfield
Create image

“In spiritual life there is no room for compromise. Awakening is not negotiable; we cannot bargain to hold on to things that please us while relinquishing things that do not matter to us. A lukewarm yearning for awakening is not enough to sustain us through the difficulties involved in letting go. It is important to understand that anything that can be lost was never truly ours, anything that we deeply cling to only imprisons us.”

ImportantMatterEnoughSpiritualLostRoomsInvolvedPleaseLetting GoDifficultyAwakeningCompromiseSpiritual LifeYearningBargainsLukewarmRelinquishing
Author:Jack Kornfield
Create image

“Ours is a society of denial that conditions us to protect ourselves from any direct difficulty and discomfort. We expend enormous energy denying our insecurity, fighting pain, death and loss and hiding from the basic truths of the natural world and of our own nature.”

WorldPainSufferingFightingEnergyNaturalLossConditionsBuddhismProtectDirectDifficultyEnormousDenialInsecurityHidingNatural WorldDiscomfortDeath And LossPain Death
Book:A Path With Heart: The Classic Guide Through The Perils And Promises Of Spiritual Life
Create image

“A bulging portfolio of spiritual experiences matters little if it does not have the power to sustain us through the inevitable moments of grief, loss, and change. Knowledge and achievements matter little if we do not yet know how to touch the heart of another and be touched. Wisdom is alive only as long as it is lived, understanding is liberating only as long as it is applied.”

IfsKnowsHeartLittlesLongDoeMatterMomentsSpiritualSpiritSpiritualityUnderstandingLossGriefKnow HowAliveAchievementInevitableTouchedLiberatingPortfoliosSpiritual ExperienceGrief Loss
Author:Jack Kornfield
Create image

“If you want to love, take the time to listen to your heart. In most ancient and wise cultures it is a regular practice for people to talk to their heart. There are rituals, stories, and meditative skills in every spiritual tradition that awaken the voice of the heart. To live wisely, this practice is essential, because our heart is the source of our connection to and intimacy with all of life. And life is love. This mysterious quality of love is all around us, as real as gravity... Yet how often we forget about love.”

PeopleIfsWantHeartRealSoulStoriesSpiritualLife IsCultureVoiceForgetLove IsQualityPracticeWiseSourceSkillsEssentialsTraditionConnectionsAncientMysteriousIntimacyRitualGravityListen To Your Heart
Author:Jack Kornfield
Create image

“In deep self-acceptance grows a compassionate understanding. As one Zen master said when I asked if he ever gets angry, 'Of course I get angry, but then a few minutes later I say to myself, 'What's the use of this,' and I let it go.'”

IfsSaidSelfUseCoursesGrowsUnderstandingCompassionMinutesAcceptanceMastersLetting GoAngrySelf AcceptanceCompassionateLet It GoZen Master
Book:Bringing Home the Dharma: Awakening Right Where You Are
Create image

“Once we see that everything is impermanent and ungraspable and that we create a huge amount of suffering if we are attached to things staying the same, we realize that relaxing and letting go is a wiser way to live. Letting go does not mean not caring about things. It means caring about them in a flexible and wise way.”

IfsWayMeanDoeSufferingRealizingWiseHugeAmountLetting GoCaringStayingWiserFlexibleWay To LiveImpermanenceSamenessNot Caring
Author:Jack Kornfield
Create image