Live in joy, in love, even among those who hate. Jack Kornfield More Quotes by Jack Kornfield More Quotes From Jack Kornfield Meditation takes discipline, just like learning how to play piano. If you want to learn how to play the piano, it takes more than a few minutes a day, once a while, here and there. If you really want to learn any important skill, whether it is playing piano or meditation, it grows with perseverance, patience, and systematic training. Jack Kornfield perseverance skills play Thich Nhat Hanh has the ability to express some of the most profound teachings of interdependence and emptiness I've ever heard. With the eloquence of a poet, he holds up a sheet of paper and teaches us that the rain cloud and the tree and the logger who cut the tree down are all there in the paper. He's been one of the most significant carriers of the lamp of the dharma to the West that we have had. Jack Kornfield cutting teaching rain As we willingly enter each place of fear, each place of deficiency and insecurity in ourselves, we will discover that its walls are made of untruths, of old images of ourselves, of ancient fears, of false ideas of what is pure and what is not. Jack Kornfield insecurity wall ideas To undertake a genuine spiritual path is not to avoid difficulties but to learn the art of making mistakes wakefully, to bring them to the transformative power of our heart. Jack Kornfield spiritual mistake art In the end, forgiveness simply means never putting another person out of our heart. Jack Kornfield ends heart mean 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. Jack Kornfield buddhism pain fighting The willingness to empty ourselves and then seek our true nature is an expression of great and courageous love. Jack Kornfield courageous empty expression We need a repeated discipline, a genuine training, in order to let go of our old habits of mind and to find and sustain a new way of seeing. Jack Kornfield buddhism letting-go order We can bring a heart of understanding and compassion to a world that needs it so much. Jack Kornfield understanding compassion heart The emotional wisdom of the heart is simple. When we accept our human feelings, a remarkable transformation occurs. Tenderness and wisdom arise naturally and spontaneously. Where we once sought strength over others, now our strength becomes our own; where we once sought to defend ourselves, we laugh. Jack Kornfield emotional simple heart Love creates a communion with life. Love expands us, connects us, sweetens us, ennobles us. Love springs up in tender concern, it blossoms into caring action. It makes beauty out of all we touch. In any moment we can step beyond our small self and embrace each other as beloved parts of a whole. Jack Kornfield love-life caring spring When we get too caught up in the busyness of the world, we lose connection with one another - and ourselves. Jack Kornfield connections busy world When we let go of our battles and open our hearts to things as they are, then we come to rest in the present moment. This is the beginning and the end of spiritual practice. Jack Kornfield spiritual letting-go heart What is truly a part of our spiritual path is that which brings us alive. If gardening brings us alive, that is part of our path, if it is music, if it is conversation...we must follow what brings us alive. Jack Kornfield gardening spiritual inspirational 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. Jack Kornfield pain spiritual running The questions asked at the end of lie are very simple ones: Did I love well? Did I love the people around me, my community, the earth, in a deep way? And perhaps, Did I live fully? Did I offer myself to life? Jack Kornfield simple death lying 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. Jack Kornfield real spiritual wise If we are engaged in actions that cause pain and conflict to ourselves and others, it is impossible for the mind to become settled, collected, and focused in meditation; it is impossible for the heart to open. Jack Kornfield pain meditation heart 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. Jack Kornfield gratitude children people The person who betrayed you is sunning themselves on a beach in Hawaii and you're knotted up in hatred. Who is suffering? Jack Kornfield hatred suffering beach
