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Jack Kornfield

Jack Kornfield Quotes

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Famous Jack Kornfield Quotes

“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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“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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“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”

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Book:A Path With Heart: The Classic Guide Through The Perils And Promises Of Spiritual Life
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“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
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“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.”

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Author:Jack Kornfield
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“Grant that I have enough suffering that my heart really opens to the great compassion of this world, that I be given enough so that I don't wall myself off from the world, that it breaks down the heart and the separation and the ego and the fear, and it lets me touch the nectar, the milk of kindness itself, of something greater.”

WorldHeartEnoughSufferingGivenCompassionBreakKindnessGreaterThis WorldWallMy HeartEgoLet MeSeparationGrantsMilkBreaking DownNectar
Author:Jack Kornfield
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“The ends do not justify the means. If our actions will bring harm to others, even in the service of some 'good,' they are almost certainly deluded. If our actions do not come from a kind heart, from loving courage and compassion, they are deluded. If they are based on a distinction between 'us' and 'them,' they stem from delusion. Only to the extent that we act from the wisdom of no separation, understanding how we are woven together, will our intention bring benefit.”

IfsHeartKindMeanEndsActionTogetherUnderstandingCompassionBenefitsIntentionHarmSeparationDistinctionDelusionJustifyStemOur ActionsWovenDeludedKind Heart
Author:Jack Kornfield
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