Jack guides us in creating a sacred container for spiritual practice—a space where, like a garden, our inner life can be nurtured, allowing us to transform life’s challenges into paths of awakening and growth.

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“Much of our spiritual life, to mature, needs a sacred container for transformation. It needs this container that is greater than our small self—the body of fear and the mind of desire—something that honors a larger spirit, a larger truth.” – Jack Kornfield

In this episode, Jack mindfully explores:

Creating a free and protected space, a sacred container for your practice

How the very difficulties in our lives are what actually awakens us

Using our hardships as a crucible for uncovering our own goodness

Rumi’s flavorful and delicious “vegetable fable”

Learning how to stay centered on your cushion

The mirror-like quality of meditation practice

Meeting our practice with commitment, constancy, patience

Honoring the cycles of nature and the universe

Feeling our feelings to heal our grief

Learning the value of staying with things, even through difficulty

Choosing the Dharma over the body of fear and mind of desire

Nurturing the sacred garden within yourself

The power of prayer and feeling blessed

“In a way, sitting is nothing more than looking in the mirror. You sit and face whatever arises.” – Jack Kornfield

“It almost doesn’t matter what we pick, who our partner is, or what we choose to do, as long as it’s reasonably wholesome. What matters is how much we can give to it, of our sincerity, of our earnestness, of our heart.” – Jack Kornfield

This Dharma Talk recorded on 8/1/1991 at Spirit Rock Meditation Center was originally published on DharmaSeed.

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Guiding us through the ever-changing cycles of life, Jack uncovers the profound truth of our interconnectedness as boundless and unique expressions of the Dharma.

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“We see that there isn’t one way to practice or to live, but many cycles, seasons, and expressions of Dharma and truth.” – Jack Kornfield

In this episode, Jack mindfully explores:

• Natural wisdom of the rainforest ecosystem
• Discovering the truth of our inexorable interconnection
• Seeing clearly the reality of change and impermanence
• Interconnectedness within the flowing stream of interbeing
• Spiritual maturity and recognizing the patterns and cycles of life
• The many unique expressions of Dharma, spirituality, and truth in this world
• Wisdom from Buddha, Dipa Ma, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, HH the Dalai Lama, S.N. Goenka, and Tibetan cave-dwelling yogis
• Bringing your compassion to the environment, politics, social action, homelessness, education, etc
• Meditation as a radical act: facing head-on the forces of greed, prejudice, hatred, and delusion
• Finding your unique dharma and way to help the world
• Life and spirituality as a process of death and rebirth over and over again
• Uncovering a deep ‘joy for no reason’
• How the “light and love” in meditation is actually literal
• Untangling the knots of our attachments to live in inner freedom
• A poem dedicated to the struggles in the Middle East
• Discovering your capacity to awaken, and your unique gift

“It’s not about perfection of oneself or the world, but it’s learning to live in a simple way and touch one moment after another with wisdom, understanding, compassion, and presence.” – Jack Kornfield

“Wisdom is a state of our being in our heart. And to live in that way takes humility, a surrender or commitment, a trusting heart, a going into the unknown.” – Jack Kornfield

This Dharma Talk from 1/3/1991 at Spirit Rock Meditation Center was originally published on DharmaSeed.

Open the Heart of Forgiveness with Jack Kornfield: A Journey of Redemption, Reconciliation and Renewal beginning Oct 21. Learn more and sign up!

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

Speaking to progressing on the spiritual path, Jack explores enlightenment as true intimacy, and shares how: where we’re going is actually here.

“Where we’re going is here, and what we’re after doesn’t exist in time.” – Jack Kornfield

In this episode, Jack mindfully explores:

• Our idealistic/romantic notions of the spiritual path
• Consciousness, impermanence, and working with human emotions
• Wisdom stories of Ajahn Chah, Jack’s accomplished Thai meditation teacher
• Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and the legend of building a Spiritual Amusement Park
• Progress and patience along the spiritual path
• Enlightenment as intimacy with all things
• A guided meditation practice reflecting on life, death, and good deeds
• Transforming the the world with one small act of kindness at a time
• Honoring our own beauty and goodness
• How compassion is characterized by true intimacy
• Recognizing and coming to our spiritual maturity
• Living like a Bodhisattva, and what it really means to ‘save all beings’
• Alchemizing extreme suffering, trauma, and grief into compassion, forgiveness, and service

“Enlightenment is to be intimate with what’s here.” – Jack Kornfield

This Dharma Talk from 1/3/1991 at Spirit Rock Meditation Center was originally published on DharmaSeed.

For more teachings, full courses, articles, and guided meditations, head to JackKornfield.com or sign up for Jack's email teachings at JackKornfield.com/newsletter

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