Heart Wisdom with Jack Kornfield

Jack sits down with Raghu Markus and Duncan Trussell to talk about finding gifts in suffering that transform how we interact with the world.

This podcast was recorded at the 2016 Open Your Heart in Paradise Retreat, where the theme was finding the beloved and touching the compassionate heart. Jack, Raghu, and Duncan share stories and perspective on searching for love in dark times. They remind us that out of our deepest wounds and insecurities are born our greatest gifts.

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On this episode, Jack speaks about the different aspects of inspired leadership and how to cultivate them in our lives. Jack explores the natural perfections of the heart and how to listen to the leader inside you. We also hear three stories of inspired leadership expressed through dedication, love, and equanimity.

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Jack delivers a talk on how identity leads us to suffer and shares the Buddha's path towards freedom from that suffering.   The Buddha's teachings are a path to end suffering. Part of this is our identity, which is caused by our clinging to impermanence. Jack shares these teachings, along with an ethical system which enables us to let go of our suffering by living with integrity.  

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On this episode of Heart Wisdom, Jack helps us figure out how to come back to our lives after a retreat, explores the power of intention, and the role of the Bodhisattva.

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This week, Jack discusses the divine feminine along with the past and present roles of women in the Buddhist tradition. We each carry within us both the masculine and feminine nature. Jack explores the Buddha's teaching on the matter and what it is to embrace them.

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In light of the political “bread and circus” happening in America, leading up to the 2016 presidential elections, Jack shares stories and wisdom on the topic of tending ourselves and tending the world. On this episode of Heart Wisdom, Jack explores how tending to injustices big and small and do all we can to ease the suffering of others. “The one who awakens shines with a radiance of spirit. Come out and shine like the moon, but first, quiet yourself. Quiet the mind, tend the heart, and come back to yourself. Let what is beautiful in you have space, to be heard and listened to, and blossom. ” – The Buddha

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On this episode of Heart Wisdom, Jack talks about leadership, nobility, and love. American presidents George Washington and Lincoln are used as examples of men who showed true nobility of heart. There is a sense of justice in their words and a kind of integrity to their actions in the midst of unbearable suffering, which is a sign of real leadership. This is a quality of nobility which we can find ourselves in our own roles as leaders. The Buddha says that wise leadership requires generosity, integrity, peace, and sacrifice among many other traits. These are all qualities that can be awakened in us. This is why we are given the practices of compassion, mindfulness, and equanimity. Jack teaches us to utilize these practices in an effort to awaken our inner nobility. Jack also discusses the diversity of love and its many roles. Love brings happiness, heals, and even teaches through loss. We explore a few ways in which love can present itself and affect our lives.  

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Jack’s timeless wisdom leads the way as he responds to a handful of questions concerning some of the common struggles encountered on the human plane. How can we be present with difficult situations without indulging the emotions? The problem often lies more in the narratives we tell about ourselves and others that perpetuate the suffering. We must be willing to allow the energies of life to rise and fall as they do, all the while expanding our capacity to feel without necessarily believing the storyline, which is often biased and untrue to begin with. In learning to be with our emotions we are better able to respond from a place of wisdom rather than an expectation of how it should be. Taking time to recognize the distinction between wise and unskillful desire is a practical and effective method for addressing the root causes for much of our suffering. Through examining our impulses, we gain the perspective necessary to determine if the associated actions will ultimately increase our joy or our sorrow. Jack reminds us that we don’t need to get rid of anything, we just have to remember who we really are and operate from that deeper self. The seeds we plant in the garden of the heart are not separate from us in their origin or their blossoming.

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Jack offers tales of tenderness that remind us of the qualities of faith and compassion which move us in the direction of freedom. What resources can we bring to a world of conflict that might allow us to live in the reality of the present with an openness and trust that what needs to be healed will be done through love? In coming to rest in the space of calm and kind attention that grows in meditation, we learn to listen with the heart and move with the inspired energy that follows.

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To create and maintain appropriate boundaries we must first understand what it is as we are approaching attachment, commitment and love. Jack offers a definition and reinterpretation of attachment to represent more compassionate qualities such as commitment, dedication and wise ambition. He encourages us to be present without the need to control, to show up but not be focused on the outcome. We learn to step back and listen to the world as a means of witnessing the play of life. Our opening will present itself, but only when our perspective is wide enough to discover the full range of potential.

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