Revealing how to smoothly navigate the cycles of spiritual life in openness, stillness, and intimacy, Jack explores the transformative beauty of living the Dharma.

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“There are different cycles. They are natural for us. We breathe in and out. Our heart opens and closes. Your heart isn’t supposed to stay open all the time, even flowers close at night. So don’t get some idea you’re supposed to be some certain state or some certain way. It’s more about flexibility, listening, and honoring what cycle you are in in your life.” – Jack Kornfield

In this episode, Jack mindfully explores:

• Navigating the cycles of spiritual life
• Spiritual practice as a voyage, a journey
• Openness and the necessity of letting go
• What we can learn from the change of seasons
• Cultivating the courage to live a spiritual life
• Rumi’s poem of the wisdom of the bird in the trap
• The peace of rejecting nothing whatsoever
• How Jack had to work his way down the chakras instead of up
• Embodying and experiencing your feelings
• Stillness, simplicity, intimacy and reconnecting with the earth
• A perspective-shifting Buddhist meditation on death and good deeds
• Overcoming self-judgement and unworthiness
• Non-attachment and commitment in relationships
• A tantric master’s wisdom on overcoming burnout
• The Dalai Lama’s surprising advice to Jack

“When you look back over your life, what really matters is, ‘How well have I loved?’ And that love is never done in generalities. It’s always done in a moment with a tree, or a spider, or a person that you meet, or a person close to you.” – Jack Kornfield

“In some way in life, that’s all that people around us want if you look—people mostly just want to be listened to and acknowledged.” – Jack Kornfield

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This Dharma Talk recorded on 7/14/1990 was originally published on DharmaSeed.

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Jack Kornfield delves into the simplicity of goodness and virtue in a talk spanning Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, Amma-ji, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Napoleon, and Rumi.

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“I believe within us, within the human heart and human consciousness, is an innate love of honesty and a joy in virtue, straightforwardness, and the simplicity of goodness.” – Jack Kornfield

In this episode, Jack mindfully explores:

• Buddhism, virtue, and the Five Precepts
• Ahimsa – the blessing of non-harming
• The chilling note Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche wrote when he escaped Tibet
• Taking a fearless moral inventory
• Honesty and the simplicity of goodness
• What Buddha learned in his past lives
• Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and standing up for truth
• Adi-Sila – spontaneous or innate virtue, the shining of the just heart
• The Tibetan Buddhist perspective on reincarnation
• Jack’s meeting with “hugging saint,” Amma-ji, archetype of the Divine Mother
• Finding your Buddha Nature, Tao, and Dharma
• Rumi’s brilliant poem about ducks
• Interdependence and connectedness
• Deep philosophical questions and contemplations from Jack
• Napoleon, the sword, and the spirit

“Meditation or spiritual life asks us to look at our actions and pay attention to how we actually live.” – Jack Kornfield

“We’re all in it together, we’re all connected, we all support one another.” – Jack Kornfield

This Dharma Talk recorded on 6/1/1990 at Spirit Rock Meditation Center was originally published on DharmaSeed.

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Teaching a nature retreat amidst softly chirping birds and cooling rain, Jack, Pema Chödrön, and Ajahn Sumedho illuminate joyful insights of monastic life.

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"Mostly what draws people to monastic life in the healthiest and best sense is its joy." – Jack Kornfield

In this special outdoor retreat, Jack, Pema Chödrön, and Ajahn Sumedho explore:

• Chanting the powerful seed syllable mantra, "Ah"
• Joys and misconceptions of monastic life in modern times
• Why someone would take vows and become a monk or nu
• Kabir's poetry, being human, and walking the spiritual path
• Sexuality and celibacy in spiritual communities
• Relating to both ultimate and relative reality
• Dealing with the body in physically taxing situations
• Working with injustice, inequality, and hierarchy within monasteries and spiritual institutions
• The nature of change and how our present creates our future
• Open-heartedness and open-mindedness
• Living the Dharma every second of our existence
• Letting our issues be our teachers
• A surprise Q&A appearance from Heart Wisdom family, Brother David Steindl-Rast, along with Ajahn Sundara, and Sister Columba

"Quite clearly the future is the result of how we work with our minds now. To the degree that we open our hearts and minds to the present moment, that creates our future." – Pema Chödrön

"I like to reflect that the Buddha only taught two things: suffering and the end of suffering." – Ajahn Sumedho

About Pema Chödrön:

Pema Chödrön is a Buddhist teacher in the lineage of Chögyam Trungpa. She served as the director of Karma Dzong, in Boulder, until moving in 1984 to rural Cape Breton, Nova Scotia to be the director of Gampo Abbey. Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche asked her to work towards the establishment of a monastery for western monks and nuns. Check out her new book, How We Live Is How We Die, and learn more at PemaChodronFoundation.org

About Ajahn Sumedho:

Ajahn Sumedho is a prominent teacher in the Thai Forest Tradition of Theravāda Buddhism. He was ordained in 1967, trained under Ajahn Chah, and has been instrumental in helping bring Buddha's teachings to the West. Learn more about Ajahn Sumedho in Teachings of a Buddhist Monk, including a forward by Jack.

This Dharma Talk recorded on 5/26/1990 on the land which would become Spirit Rock Meditation Center was originally published on DharmaSeed.

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