Quotessence
Home / Authors / Jack Kornfield
Jack Kornfield

Jack Kornfield Quotes

Author

Filter quotes by topic

AllHeartSpiritualWayPracticeCompassionSufferingWorldIfsLetting GoMind

Famous Jack Kornfield Quotes

“We have so many ideas and beliefs about ourselves. We told ourselves story about what we want and who we are, smart or kind. Often these are the unexamined and limited ideas of others that we have internalized and then gone on to life out.”

WantKindIdeasStoriesBeliefGoneSmartWho We Are
Book:Meditation for Beginners: Six Guided Meditations for Insight, Inner Clarity, and Cultivating a Compassionate Heart
Create image

“In the West, there's a myth that freedom means free expression-that to follow all desires wherever they take one is true freedom. In fact, as one serves the mind, one sees that following desires, attractions, and repulsions is not at all freedom, but is a kind of bondage. A mind filled with desires and grasping inevitably entails great suffering. Freedom is not to be gained through the ability to perform certain external actions. True freedom is an inward state of being. Once it is attained, no situation in the world can bind one or limit one's freedom.”

WorldMindKindMeanStatesFactsActionDesireCertainSufferingAbilitySituationExpressionLimitsFilledWestFollowingMythAttractionInwardBondageGraspingTrue FreedomFree ExpressionRepulsionAttraction And Repulsion
Author:Jack Kornfield
Create image

“If you can sit quietly after difficult news; if in financial downturns you remain perfectly calm; if you can see your neighbors travel to fantastic places without a twinge of jealousy; if you can happily eat whatever is put on your plate; you can fall asleep after a day of running around without a drink or a pill; if you can always find contentment just where you are: you are probably a dog.”

IfsRunningFallDifficultDogDrinkNewsCalmFinancialNeighborFantasticContentmentWhere You ArePlatesPillsDownturn
Author:Jack Kornfield
Create image

“One day Mara, the Buddhist god of ignorance and evil, was traveling through the villages of India with his attendants. He saw a man doing walking meditation whose face was lit up in wonder. The man had just discovered something on the ground in front of him. Mara's attendants asked what that was and Mara replied, "A piece of truth." "Doesn't this bother you when someone finds a piece of the truth, O evil one?" his attendants asked. "No," Mara replied. "Right after this they usually make a belief out of it."”

MenFacesEvilBeliefWonderSawsPiecesMeditationFrontsIgnoranceHe ManWalkingOne DayIndiaBuddhistBotherVillageLitWalking Meditation
Author:Jack Kornfield
Create image

“It is possible to speak with our heart directly. Most ancient cultures know this. We can actually converse with our heart as if it were a good friend. In modern life we have become so busy with our daily affairs and thoughts that we have lost this essential art of taking time to converse with our heart.”

IfsKnowsHeartArtCultureLostSpeakModernEssentialsBusyAffairAncientTake TimeGood FriendModern LifeConverses
Book:A Path With Heart: The Classic Guide Through The Perils And Promises Of Spiritual Life
Create image

“Gratitude is the confidence in life itself... As gratitude grows it gives rise to joy. We experience the courage to rejoice in our own good fortune and in the good fortune of others... We can be joyful for people we love, for moments of goodness, for sunlight and trees, and for the very breath within our lungs. Like an innocent child, we can rejoice in life itself, in being alive.”

PeopleGivingChildrenMomentsJoyGrowsAliveTreeGratitudeGoodnessBreathsFortuneInnocentRejoiceJoyfulSunlightLungsGood FortuneInnocent Children
Book:Bringing Home the Dharma: Awakening Right Where You Are
Create image

“It is the basic principle of spiritual life that we learn the deepest things in unknown territory. Often it is when we feel most confused inwardly and are in the midst of our greatest difficulties that something new will open. We awaken most easily to the mystery of life through our weakest side. The areas of our greatest strength, where we are the most competent and clearest, tend to keep us away from the mystery.”

FeelsSpiritualSidesPrinciplesMysteryAreasDifficultyConfusedMidstSomething NewTerritorySpiritual LifeCompetentBasic PrinciplesMystery Of Life
Author:Jack Kornfield
Create image

“We need courage and strength, a kind of warrior spirit. But the place for this warrior strength is in the heart. We need energy, commitment, and courage not to run from our life nor to cover it over with any philosophy-mate rial or spiritual. We need a warrior’s heart that lets us face our lives directly, our pains and limitations, our joys and possibilities.”

NeedsHeartKindPhilosophyRunningPainFacesSpiritualJoySpiritEnergyOur LivesPossibilityCommitmentWarriorLimitationOver ItMatesWarrior Spirit
Author:Jack Kornfield
Create image

“I used to think that to become free you had to practice like a samurai warrior, but now I understand that you have to practice like a devoted mother of a newborn child. It takes the same energy but has a completely different quality. It's compassion and presence rather than having to defeat the enemy in battle.”

ThinkingChildrenDifferentUsedMotherEnergyQualityCompassionEnemyPracticeBattleDefeatWarriorDevotedNewbornSamuraiNewborn Child
Author:Jack Kornfield
Create image

“Whatever your difficulties - a devastated heart, financial loss, feeling assaulted by the conflicts around you, or a seemingly hopeless illness - you can always remember that you are free in every moment to set the compass of your heart to your highest intentions. In fact, the two things that you are always free to do - despite your circumstances - are to be present and to be willing to love.”

HeartTwoMomentsFactsFeelingsRememberLossWillingCircumstancesConflictHighestDifficultyIntentionFinancialIllnessDespiteTwo ThingsHopelessCompassDevastatedFinancial Loss
Book:A Lamp in the Darkness: Illuminating the Path Through Difficult Times
Create image

“The longing for initiation is universal and for modern youth, it is a desperate need. When nothing is offered in the way of spiritual initiation to prove one's entry into the world of men and women, initiation happens instead in the road or the street, in cars at high speed, with drugs, with dangerous sex, with weapons. However troubling, this behavior is rooted in a fundamental truth; a need to grow.”

MenWorldWayNeedsHappensSpiritualSexGrowsStreetsModernDangerousCarYouthDrugProveBehaviorWeaponsMen And WomenUniversalFundamentalsLongingSpeedDesperateRootedEntryInitiationHigh SpeedModern Youth
Author:Jack Kornfield
Create image

“No amount of outer technology, no amount of computers and biotechnology and nanotechnology is going to stop the continuation of warfare and racism and environmental destruction. What's called for on the Earth at this time is really a change of heart ... the question is really not the future of humanity, but the presence of eternity.”

HeartEarthHumanityTechnologyAmountComputerRacismDestructionEternityEnvironmentalWarfareContinuationChange Of HeartNanotechnologyBiotechnologyFuture Of HumanityEnvironmental Destruction
Author:Jack Kornfield
Create image