Jack Kornfield and Prof. Rajiv S. Joshi explore ‘inner climate change,’ guiding us through meditation and reflection on transforming the world by becoming the Tree of Enlightenment.

Today’s podcast is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/heartwisdom and get on your way to being your best self.

Jack’s new book hits shelves on 11/11: All in This Together: Stories and Teachings for Loving Each Other and Our World – Preorder your copy today!

“As much as we want to transform the world, if we don’t change ourselves, we might not inspire those around us and perhaps change the system.” –Prof. Rajiv S. Joshi

In this episode, Jack and Rajiv mindfully explore:

• Guided meditation: A journey into becoming the Tree of Enlightenment—rooted, steady, and open to the sky. Jack and Prof. Rajiv invite us to feel the deep stillness and sacred presence of the trees, reminding us that awakening is a natural unfolding within the web of life.
• Buddha and trees: The Buddha’s life was interwoven with trees—born beneath one, meditating and awakening beneath another, and passing away surrounded by their quiet grace. Trees mirror the path of the awakened heart: grounded in the Earth, reaching toward the light.
• Trees as ancestors: They are our elders, silent teachers who breathe life into the world. Through their patience and generosity, they remind us of what it means to listen, to endure, and to belong.
• Collective healing: Our awakening is not only personal—it is collective. Through love across generations, we can heal the planet and one another, planting seeds of compassion that will grow long after us.
• Radical compassion: To live with an open heart requires both tenderness and courage. We learn to trust, to build bridges, to speak truth, and to act for justice with mindfulness and care.
• System change: True transformation begins within and extends outward. Each of us has a role to play in creating a world rooted in awareness, kindness, and right action.
• Spiritual community: Sangha becomes the living ground for our practice—a space to learn, to stumble, to grow, and to embody a new way of being together.
• Rajiv’s story: After his accident, Rajiv discovered that spirituality is not apart from life—it is life. Every breath, every act, every moment becomes practice when the heart is awake.

This Dharma Talk originally took place on 9/8/25 for Spirit Rock Meditation Center’s Monday Night Dharma Talk and Guided Meditation. Stay up to date with Jack’s upcoming livestreams and events here. 

About Prof. Rajiv S. Joshi:

 Professor Joshi is the Founder of Bridging Ventures and former Associate Dean for Climate Action at Columbia University. He helped launch Columbia’s Climate School with President Obama, and has led groundbreaking work in global collaboration, climate technology, and regenerative entrepreneurship.

“With trust, we learn to build bridges, not walls. That skill—the capability to build bridges in the most difficult of contexts—requires the depth of compassion.” –Prof. Rajiv S. Joshi

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.

Jack is currently offering a wonderful array of transformational online courses diving into crucial topics like Mindfulness Meditation Fundamentals, Walking the Eightfold Path, Opening the Heart of Forgiveness, Living Beautifully, Transforming Your Life Through Powerful Stories, and so much more. Sign up for an All Access Pass to explore Jack’s entire course library. If you would like a year's worth of online meetups with Jack and fellow community, join The Year of Awakening: A Monthly Journey with Jack Kornfield.

Stay up to date with Jack and his stream of fresh dharma offerings by visiting JackKornfield.com and signing up for his email teachings.

“The Buddha was born under a tree, grew up under the trees, practiced under trees, got enlightened under the Bodhi Tree, taught under the trees, and died beneath two sal trees that immediately came into bloom when he died. He and the trees were one.” –Jack Kornfield

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Jack Kornfield and Prof. Rajiv S. Joshi share uplifting spiritual wisdom on how inner climate change shapes outer climate healing, the environment, and the future of humanity.

Jack’s new book hits shelves on 11/11: All in This Together: Stories and Teachings for Loving Each Other and Our World – Preorder your copy today!

Today’s podcast is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/heartwisdom and get on your way to being your best self.

“It’s very clear that no amount of technology—no amount of internet, AI, computers, nanotechnology, space exploration, or biotechnology—will put an end to warfare, racism, or climate disruption. None of these advancements will resolve the conflicts we face in the world, because their roots lie in the human heart. Without an inner transformation, no outer transformation can truly take place.” – Jack Kornfield

In this episode, Jack and Prof. Rajiv S. Joshi mindfully explore:

• Inner Climate Change: How transforming the heart and mind shapes the outer world.
• Original Innocence: Returning to the heart’s wisdom that already knows what matters most.
• Ritual and Higher Forces: Turning to sacred connection for strength in healing the earth.
• Inner and Outer Healing: Burnout reveals the truth that inner practice is as vital as outer change.
• Steps for Transformation: Empowering women and educating children as the greatest levers of change.
• Beyond Despair: Despair as a failure of imagination—regeneration and renewal are possible.
• Wisdom of Love: Gary Snyder’s reminder to act not from fear or guilt, but from love for the world.

This Dharma Talk originally took place on 9/8/25 for Spirit Rock Meditation Center’s Monday Night Dharma Talk and Guided Meditation. Stay up to date with Jack’s upcoming livestreams and events here. 

“We should not forget that in each moment the hope that can manifest the future is always present.” – Prof. Rajiv S. Joshi

About Prof. Rajiv S. Joshi:

 Professor Joshi is the Founder of Bridging Ventures and former Associate Dean for Climate Action at Columbia University. He helped launch Columbia’s Climate School with President Obama, and has led groundbreaking work in global collaboration, climate technology, and regenerative entrepreneurship.

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.

Jack is currently offering a wonderful array of transformational online courses diving into crucial topics like Mindfulness Meditation Fundamentals, Walking the Eightfold Path, Opening the Heart of Forgiveness, Living Beautifully, Transforming Your Life Through Powerful Stories, and so much more. Sign up for an All Access Pass to explore Jack’s entire course library. If you would like a year's worth of online meetups with Jack and fellow community, join The Year of Awakening: A Monthly Journey with Jack Kornfield.

“The invitation of inner climate change is realizing our hearts already know what truly matters. From this lens, inner climate change is inseparable from outer climate healing.” – Jack Kornfield

Stay up to date with Jack and his stream of fresh dharma offerings by visiting JackKornfield.com and signing up for his email teachings.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Jack Kornfield leads a guided sound journey into spacious awareness—exploring meditation, mantra, and the freedom beyond duality.

Dive into Jack’s recently unearthed lost tapes from a vintage Yucca Valley retreat in 1990! Take the The Sacred Journey Home: Timeless Teachings on Freedom and Love Just Where You Are with Jack Kornfield

“When we touch spaciousness, we discover that in letting go there arises a natural compassion, the great heart of a Buddha. In this, we find that the true place of peace is one of trust—an open, spacious heart in the very midst of our life.” — Jack Kornfield

In this episode, Jack mindfully explores:

• The Spacious Heart: A guided sound journey into awareness, transcending duality, and opening to the vastness of mind and heart.
• Beyond Duality: Discovering consciousness as boundless as the sky, where there is no inside or outside, only open spaciousness.
• Weather of the Heart: Seeing moods, joys, and sorrows as passing like colors in water or changes in the weather.
• Enlightenment as Non-Perfection: The Third Zen Patriarch’s teaching that freedom is found in letting go of anxiety about imperfection.
• Meeting Life with Spaciousness: Guided practice for opening to difficult emotions and situations with equanimity and compassion.
• Mantra and Sound: Exploring Om Mani Padme Hum, the jewel and the lotus, and the seed mantra Ah as gateways to the heart.

This Dharma Talk from 7/12/1993 at Spirit Rock Meditation Center was originally published on DharmaSeed.

“Your mind is not limited to your head, but rather your awareness, consciousness, expands beyond your head to be open like the sky, space without boundaries.” – Jack KornfieldAbout 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.

Jack is currently offering a wonderful array of transformational online courses diving into crucial topics like Mindfulness Meditation Fundamentals, Walking the Eightfold Path, Opening the Heart of Forgiveness, Living Beautifully, Transforming Your Life Through Powerful Stories, and so much more. Sign up for an All Access Pass to explore Jack’s entire course library. If you would like a year's worth of online meetups with Jack and fellow community, join The Year of Awakening: A Monthly Journey with Jack Kornfield.

Stay up to date with Jack and his stream of fresh dharma offerings by visiting JackKornfield.com and signing up for his email teachings.

“To me, the most amazing line in all of Zen literature is this astonishing line from the Third Zen Patriarch: To be enlightened is to be without anxiety about non-perfection.” – Jack Kornfield

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Exploring spaciousness as the ground of awakening, Jack Kornfield shows how peace, impermanence, and love are all born from the open heart.

Today’s podcast is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/heartwisdom and get on your way to being your best self.

“Meditation centers, temples, ashrams, and spiritual communities are in one fundamental way, places of peace, reminders of the peace and harmony possible for us in our lives.” – Jack Kornfield

In this episode, Jack mindfully explores:

• The Spacious Heart: The peace and pleasure found in meditation centers, temples, and ashrams, and how spaciousness becomes a refuge in our lives.
• Shifting Identity: The flexibility of consciousness and how opening beyond the body and self allows us to release ill-will and rest in freedom.
• Impermanence and Real Love: Stories from India and the Dalai Lama on happiness, letting go into love, and the humor of the “Bang Bang Bang Theory.”
• Beyond Self-Improvement: Spiritual practice not as fixing or perfecting ourselves, but as resting in our true nature, like the Buddha under the bodhi tree.
• The Seed of Equilibrium: Spaciousness as the core of awakening—learning balance in the dance of life, loving others without needing to change them, and finding coolness in nirvana.

“It’s possible to shift. Consciousness is really flexible and fabulous, it can create, expand, and touch anything. When our identity opens to something greater or more timeless, when we see the fleetingness and impermanence of this body that we cling to and realize this is not who we are, then something else becomes possible.” – Jack Kornfield

Dive into Jack’s recently unearthed lost tapes from a vintage Yucca Valley retreat in 1990! Take The Sacred Journey Home: Timeless Teachings on Freedom and Love Just Where You Are with Jack Kornfield

This Dharma Talk from 7/12/1993 at Spirit Rock Meditation Center was originally published on DharmaSeed.

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.

Jack is currently offering a wonderful array of transformational online courses diving into crucial topics like Mindfulness Meditation Fundamentals, Walking the Eightfold Path, Opening the Heart of Forgiveness, Living Beautifully, Transforming Your Life Through Powerful Stories, and so much more. Sign up for an All Access Pass to explore Jack’s entire course library. If you would like a year's worth of online meetups with Jack and fellow community, join The Year of Awakening: A Monthly Journey with Jack Kornfield.

Stay up to date with Jack and his stream of fresh dharma offerings by visiting JackKornfield.com and signing up for his email teachings.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Jack shares a whimsical story on light and dark, birth and death, forgiveness and mercy, passion and sincerity, impermanence and immorality, and finding your inner light.

In this episode, Jack mindfully explores:

• Light and Darkness: Stories and teachings on finding the inner light, becoming a lamp in the darkness, and awakening through difficulty.
• Life, Death, and Initiation: Nachiketa’s dialogue with Lord Yama, initiation and coming of age, and the mystery of immortality and the deathless.
• Sincerity and Blessing: Zen teachings on proving sincerity, the boons that come with it, and the light of forgiveness and mercy.
• The Fire of Life: Prana, chi, and kundalini as a passion for truth; the roar of the lion and living from what we most deeply value.
• The Open Heart: Not casting anyone out, transforming wounds into light, and resting in the question “Who am I?”

If you enjoy Jack’s storytelling, dive into Transform Your Life Through Jack Kornfield’s Most Powerful Stories – a 10-hour storytelling wisdom journey!

“When we touch our true nature and discover that we can rest in love in the middle of all things, we become a lamp, we become a light. It is not far away, it is nearer than near.” – Jack Kornfield

This Dharma Talk from 6/21/1993 at Spirit Rock Meditation Center was originally published on DharmaSeed.

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.

Jack is currently offering a wonderful array of transformational online courses diving into crucial topics like Mindfulness Meditation Fundamentals, Walking the Eightfold Path, Opening the Heart of Forgiveness, Living Beautifully, Transforming Your Life Through Powerful Stories, and so much more. Sign up for an All Access Pass to explore Jack’s entire course library. If you would like a year's worth of online meetups with Jack and fellow community, join The Year of Awakening: A Monthly Journey with Jack Kornfield.

Stay up to date with Jack and his stream of fresh dharma offerings by visiting JackKornfield.com and signing up for his email teachings.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Jack Kornfield explores the nature of mind, offering playful practices and profound perspectives to uncover our true home of freedom, compassion, and ease.

Today’s podcast is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/heartwisdom and get on your way to being your best self.

Join the Year of Awakening with Jack Kornfield for a monthly group livestream Q&A hang with Jack, along with weekly modules and prompts to keep your life focused on awakening!

“If we don’t know the nature of mind and the ways of mind, our life is like a boat without a rudder, and we get pulled here there by all the thoughts, images, stories, feelings, and unfinished business that arise during the day” – Jack Kornfield

In this episode, Jack mindfully explores:

• The purpose of meditation and Buddhism
• Learning the true nature of mind
• An assortment of micro guided meditation practices
• Experiencing Buddha’s ‘sure heart’s release”
• Uncovering natural happiness and freedom of heart
• How we create our world with our mind
• Discovering what creates suffering and what creates happiness
• The mirror-like quality of meditation
• Stanislav Grof and LSD
• The playfulness and creative capacity of mind
• The Buddhist creation myth
• Counting/noting our thoughts
• Becoming aware of awareness
• Ajahn Chah’s meditation instructions 
• Finding the place of natural mind and rest
• Cultivating inner listening 
• The gradual and sudden dimensions of illumination
• Untangling the unfinished business of our lives 
• Touching the world in kindness and compassion
• Meeting ourselves and this world in kindness and humbleness
• Bearing witness to the sorrows of the world while resting in the heart of the Buddha
• Opening to the great mystery
• Becoming The One Who Knows
• The Timeless Buddha as the ground of all being, our true home

“Buddha didn’t give an answer to the great mystery, he taught us how to rest in our heart in the midst of that mystery, to find our true home, that awakened state.” – Jack Kornfield

This Dharma Talk from 5/3/1993 at Spirit Rock Meditation Center was originally published on DharmaSeed.

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.

Jack is currently offering a wonderful array of transformational online courses diving into crucial topics like Mindfulness Meditation Fundamentals, Walking the Eightfold Path, Opening the Heart of Forgiveness, Living Beautifully, Transforming Your Life Through Powerful Stories, and so much more. Sign up for an All Access Pass to explore Jack’s entire course library. If you would like a year's worth of online meetups with Jack and fellow community, join The Year of Awakening: A Monthly Journey with Jack Kornfield.

Stay up to date with Jack and his stream of fresh dharma offerings by visiting JackKornfield.com and signing up for his email teachings.

“There is something sudden in any moment, discovering that what we sought all along was here.” – Jack Kornfield

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this inspiring poetry-infused talk, Jack weaves Rumi’s wisdom on the camel, lion, and child of the spirit into a journey from devotion, to courage, to wonder—inviting us to awaken the Buddha’s Lion’s Roar within and remember the inner royalty of the heart.

Join the Year of Awakening with Jack Kornfield for a monthly group livestream Q&A hang with Jack, along with weekly modules and prompts to keep your life focused on awakening!

“Poetry and the sense of beauty that art awakens is to move from a small sense of our problems and difficulties to some greater perspective of the heart.” – Jack Kornfield

In this episode, Jack mindfully explores:

• Rumi’s wisdom on The Camel, The Lion, and the Child of the Spirit
• Healing our wounds, grief, and sorrows
• Waking ourselves up from our trance
• Touching our rage, fears, and longings with kindness and respect
• Poetry of compassion, mystery, tenderness, and awakening
• Letting yourself love what you love
• Tenderness and seeing with the eyes of the Divine Mother and the great heart of compassion
• Living a life of wakefulness
• Rumi, bravery, and becoming a lion
• Awakening the Buddha’s Lion’s Roar within
• Uncovering your inner-royalty
• Beginner’s mind and becoming a “child of the spirit”
• Finding wonder and amazement in life
• The mystery of sleep, dreams, and consciousness
• Letting go of pity and reclaiming wonder in the present
• The power of prayer and blessing

“You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk for a hundred miles on your knees through the desert, repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.” – Mary Oliver

This Dharma Talk from 4/15/1993 at Spirit Rock Meditation Center was originally published on DharmaSeed

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.

Jack is currently offering a wonderful array of transformational online courses diving into crucial topics like Mindfulness Meditation Fundamentals, Walking the Eightfold Path, Opening the Heart of Forgiveness, Living Beautifully, Transforming Your Life Through Powerful Stories, and so much more. Sign up for an All Access Pass to explore Jack’s entire course library. If you would like a year's worth of online meetups with Jack and fellow community, join The Year of Awakening: A Monthly Journey with Jack Kornfield.

Stay up to date with Jack and his stream of fresh dharma offerings by visiting JackKornfield.com and signing up for his email teachings.

“To see with the eyes of a Buddha, to receive the world with the great heart of compassion, means living in the mystery of this present moment again and again.” – Jack Kornfield

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Exploring poetry, beauty, and art, Jack helps his dear listeners appreciate the harmonious dichotomy of all life experiences.

Today’s podcast is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/heartwisdom and get on your way to being your best self.

Join the Year of Awakening with Jack Kornfield for a monthly group livestream Q&A hang with Jack, along with weekly modules and prompts to keep your life focused on awakening!

“Poetry and beauty are not a denial of the sorrows of the world, but a grace somehow that holds and understands them—the irony and the mixture of love and terror that make up life.” – Jack Kornfield

In this episode, Jack mindfully explores:

• How art, beauty, music and poetry uplift the world to the sacred
• Rumi’s poem, Tending Two Shops
• Letting go of fear, opening into freedom
• Poetry not as a denial of life’s struggles, but as a gracious way through
• Being at home with oneself
• Poetry from Siddhartha Buddha, Thich Nhat Hanh, Rumi, and more
• Telling the truth, becoming nobody, and walking the path
• Meditation and working with our ‘inner mob’ of voices
• Relating to the ‘zoo’ of our lives with meditation
• The three dimensions of Rumi’s spiritual poetry
• Saying ‘yes’ to this too, even to what’s difficult
• Walking this life and path in humbleness

“Sometimes the greatest political act is to turn on Mozart and turn off the news, or to walk by the ocean or in the hills during sunset, or to read a poem—to sense a possibility in the midst of all the 10,000 joys and sorrows of finding some peace or balance in this heart that can then be brought to the world around us.” – Jack Kornfield

This Dharma Talk from 4/15/1993 at Spirit Rock Meditation Center was originally published on DharmaSeed.

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.

Jack is currently offering a wonderful array of transformational online courses diving into crucial topics like Mindfulness Meditation Fundamentals, Walking the Eightfold Path, Opening the Heart of Forgiveness, Living Beautifully, Transforming Your Life Through Powerful Stories, and so much more. Sign up for an All Access Pass to explore Jack’s entire course library. If you would like a year's worth of online meetups with Jack and fellow community, join The Year of Awakening: A Monthly Journey with Jack Kornfield.

Stay up to date with Jack and his stream of fresh dharma offerings by visiting JackKornfield.com and signing up for his email teachings.

“The source of much of the suffering in the world is the loss of attention, beauty, and connection with one another.” – Jack Kornfield

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this rich and often humorous talk from the 1990s, Jack explores the art of letting go as the gateway to freedom, inviting us into the coolness of nirvana, and the wholeness found only here and now.

Join the Year of Awakening with Jack Kornfield for a monthly group livestream Q&A hang with Jack, along with weekly modules and prompts to keep your life focused on awakening!

“This freedom is not far away, the freedom of the heart is here, and it’s inviting. Nirvana is inviting.” – Jack Kornfield

In this episode, Jack mindfully explores:

• The end of exile as a return to the present moment
• Pure awareness and the cycles of life
• Where is freedom found?
• Letting go vs. letting be
• The dignity of just being an earthworm
• Nirvana as a public health measure
• The coolness of nirvana and release from grasping
• How ‘periodic nirvana’ keeps us alive
• Ram Dass, Stephen Levine, surrender, and choosing your spirit
• Bodhicitta as the heart of emptiness and compassion
• Don Juan’s “controlled folly” and Zen paradox
• Finding wholeness in grief, struggle, and beauty
• Each moment as a chance for struggle or freedom
• The goal of practice as keeping our beginner’s mind
• This very moment as the only place of freedom

“If we allow ourselves to stay in the reality of the present, not only does there come a reclaiming of this life, but we also discover this emptiness or spaciousness that holds it all. No matter how painful, beautiful, exalted, or difficult—it arises and moves in its cycle back into wholeness.” – Jack Kornfield

This Dharma Talk recorded on desert retreat in the 1990s was originally published on DharmaSeed.

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.

Jack is currently offering a wonderful array of transformational online courses diving into crucial topics like Mindfulness Meditation Fundamentals, Walking the Eightfold Path, Opening the Heart of Forgiveness, Living Beautifully, Transforming Your Life Through Powerful Stories, and so much more. Sign up for an All Access Pass to explore Jack’s entire course library. If you would like a year's worth of online meetups with Jack and fellow community, join The Year of Awakening: A Monthly Journey with Jack Kornfield.

Stay up to date with Jack and his stream of fresh dharma offerings by visiting JackKornfield.com and signing up for his email teachings.

“Just let go, let go, let go. I did nothing but this in my practice for years. Every time I tried to understand or figure things out, I’d say, ‘Let go, let go,’ until that desire would fade away. … Just be an earthworm who knows only two words, ‘Let go, let go…’” – Jack Kornfield

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this tender and illuminating talk, Jack shares a Zen love story and a path of mindful presence that brings us home—from the stories of the mind to the truth of the heart. Through embodied awareness, we discover that the end of exile begins with loving what is here now.

Join the Year of Awakening with Jack Kornfield for a monthly group livestream Q&A hang with Jack, along with weekly modules and prompts to keep your life focused on awakening!

Today’s podcast is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/heartwisdom and get on your way to being your best self.

“The end of exile is when we see all the stories of what should be, and what is, and what will be, passing through the mind, and we rest in some place of peace in the heart.” – Jack Kornfield

This week on Heart Wisdom, Jack heartfully ponders:

• Freedom and the spiritual path
• The Dharma’s ‘one taste’ of freedom 
• The Sure Heart’s Release
• Present, past, future, and Being Here Now
• Life’s often dreamlike quality
• The evanescent present moment 
• Noticing the dreamlike quality of life
• An enlightening Zen love story
• Uncovering your true self
• Overcoming exile with softness of heart
• Mindfulness as the end of exile
• Embodied awakening and finding liberation within the body and mind
• Accepting and including all parts of ourselves
• Mindfulness and reuniting with your body and feelings
• Cultivating “mindfulness of mind” and forgiving its stories
• Watching the mind, resting in the heart
• Stories and poems on the end of exile in our lives
• Finding true kindness through accepting sorrow

“The past disappears, the future isn’t here yet—all there is is this evanescent present moment that’s here for a moment and then changes.” – Jack Kornfield

This Dharma Talk recorded during a desert retreat on 04/05/1993 was originally published on DharmaSeed.

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.

Jack is currently offering a wonderful array of transformational online courses diving into crucial topics like Mindfulness Meditation Fundamentals, Walking the Eightfold Path, Opening the Heart of Forgiveness, Living Beautifully, Transforming Your Life Through Powerful Stories, and so much more. Sign up for an All Access Pass to explore Jack’s entire course library. If you would like a year's worth of online meetups with Jack and fellow community, join The Year of Awakening: A Monthly Journey with Jack Kornfield.

Stay up to date with Jack and his stream of fresh dharma offerings by visiting JackKornfield.com and signing up for his email teachings.

“The real koan is: who is your true self?” – Jack Kornfield

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