The voices / 44 fragments

Jack Kornfield

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Name supplied in the contributor-provided quotation collection. Basic attribution label; identity, lifetime and quotation authenticity have not been independently verified.

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01Undated

Skill in concentrating and steadying the mind is the basis for all types of meditation.

Jack Kornfield / quote

02Undated

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 / quote

03Undated

In Buddhist practice, the outward and inward aspects of taking the one seat meet on our meditation cushion.

Jack Kornfield / quote

04Undated

There are many ways that I have hurt and harmed others, have betrayed or abandoned them, caused them suffering, knowingly or unknowingly, out of my pain, fear, anger, and confusion. Let yourself remember and visualize the ways you have hurt others. See the pain you have caused out of your own fear and confusion. Feel your own sorrow and regret. Sense that finally you can release this burden and ask for forgiveness. Take as much time as you need to picture each memory that still burdens your heart. And then as each person comes to mind, gently say:I ask for your forgiveness, I ask for your forgiveness.

Jack Kornfield / quote

05Undated

But forgiveness is the act of not putting anyone out of your heart, even those who are acting out of deep ignorance or out of confusion and pain.

Jack Kornfield / quote

06Undated

If your compassion does not include yourself, it is incomplete.

Jack Kornfield / quote

07Undated

True emptiness is not empty, but contains all things. The mysterious and pregnant void creates and reflects all possibilities. From it arises our individuality, which can be discovered and developed, although never possessed or fixed.

Jack Kornfield / quote

08Undated

The purpose of a spiritual discipline is to give us a way to stop the war, not by our force of will, but organically, through understanding an gradual training.

Jack Kornfield / quote

09Undated

Taking the one seat describes two related aspects of spiritual work. Outwardly, it means selecting one practice and teacher among all the possibilities, and inwardly, it means having the determination to stick with that practice through whatever difficulties and doubts arise until you have come to true clarity and understanding.

Jack Kornfield / quote

10Undated

As we encounter new experiences with a mindful and wise attention, we discover that one of three things will happen to our new experience: it will go away, it will stay the same, or it will get more intense. whatever happens does not really matter.

Jack Kornfield / quote

11Undated

The Third Precept, to refrain from sexual misconduct, reminds us not to act out of sexual desire in such a way as to cause harm to another... The spirit of this precept asks us to look at the motivation behind our actions. To pay attention in this way allows us, as laypeople, to discover how sexuality can be connected to the heart and how it can be an expression of love, caring, and genuine intimacy. We have almost all been fools at some time in our sexual lives, and we have also used sex to try to touch what is beautiful, to touch another person deeply. Conscious sexuality is an essential part of living a mindful life (86).

Jack Kornfield / quote

12Undated

The knowledge of the past stays with us. To let go is simply to release any images and emotions.

Jack Kornfield / quote

13Undated

The entire teaching of Buddhism can be summed up in this way: Nothing is worth holding on to.

Jack Kornfield / quote

14Undated

When the stories of our life no longer bind us, we discover within them something greater. We discover that within the very limitations of form, of our maleness and femaleness, of our parenthood and our childhood, of gravity on the earth and the changing of the seasons, is the freedom and harmony we have sought for so long. Our individual life is an expression of the whole mystery, and in it we can rest in the center of the movement, the center of all worlds.

Jack Kornfield / quote

15Undated

When we get too caught up in the busyness of the world, we lose connection with one another - and ourselves.

Jack Kornfield / quote

16Undated

Acceptance is not passivity. It is a courageous step in the process of transformation.

Jack Kornfield / quote

17Undated

The words of the Buddha offer this truth: ∼ Hatred never ceases by hatred but by love alone is healed.

Jack Kornfield / quote

18Undated

The path of awakening begins with a step the Buddha called right understanding.

Jack Kornfield / quote

19Undated

Built on the foundation of concentration is the third aspect of the Buddha’s path of awakening: clarity of vision and the development of wisdom.

Jack Kornfield / quote

20Undated

Sense the blessings of the earth in the perfect arc of a ripe tangerine, the taste of warm, fresh bread, the circling flight of birds, the lavender color of the sky shining in a late afternoon rain puddle, the million times we pass other beings in our cars and shops and out among the trees without crashing, conflict, or harm.

Jack Kornfield / quote