Directly following Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche’s death, Jack offers perspectives on the life and dharma of one of spirituality’s most impactful and controversial figures. “Lama Govinda said that of all the young tulkus, of all the young incarnate lamas to leave Tibet, there was none as bright as Trungpa Rinpoche—bright in the sense of his field of his being and his energy. Lama Govinda, even at a point when he wasn’t very happy with the way Trungpa Rinpoche was behaving, said that he still had to admit there was no one who walked across the Himalayas and came out who had that light more than Tru ..read more

Compassion and love are immensely important in our world. They’re about understanding, connection, and genuine happiness. When we show compassion, we open our hearts to others’ struggles and joys, and we really get each other. Love goes beyond boundaries, bringing us together and reminding us that we’re all connected. It’s like a ripple effect of kindness and understanding that can totally change our world, bringing healing and unity. In this podcast, I join Prince Ea in the sauna for an insightful session about how the power of compassion and love can help us heal ourselves and others, how t ..read more

“True prayer and love are learned in that hour when prayer becomes impossible and the heart has turned to stone.” – Thomas Merton The Buddhist tradition tells us that when their energies are strong, there are specific antidotes for the Five Hindrances. For desire, there is the antidote of reflecting on impermanence and on death. For anger, there is the antidote of loving-kindness, and forgiveness. For sleepiness, the antidote is to arouse energy through changing posture, or visualization and faith. For restlessness the antidote is to bring calm or concentration through inner techniques of stea ..read more

Rewiring our brains around difficulties, emptiness, fear, and longing, Jack highlights how we can connect our practice with our deepest love. “When you get afraid or things are difficult, fear is simply the signal that you’re about to learn something new. When you feel afraid it’s like the little light comes on that says, ‘About to grow.’” – Jack Kornfield In this episode, Jack contemplates and explores: The times in our lives where we feel truly connected to our hearts Ajahn Jumnian, motivation for practice, spiritual thirst, and working with addiction Bringing awareness to the truth o ..read more

This is a conversation between Open AI CEO Sam Altman, along with wisdom teacher, Jack Kornfield, moderated by Soren Gordhamer. Wisdom 2.0 addresses the great challenge of our age: to not only live connected to one another through technology, but to do so in ways that are beneficial to our own well-being, effective in our work, and useful to the world. The conversation discusses both opportunities and challenges of AI, and the need for ethics and values as it develops. From Wisdom 2.0 – Together Conference – San Francisco – April 2023 The post How Will AI Impact Our World? A Conversation ..read more

Mindfully retelling ancient Buddhist Dharma stories, Jack reflects on what it means to live with a wise heart. “For someone who wants to break free inside of the forces of ignorance, delusion, habit, and sleepwalking—you must really see that there’s something greater than just getting through each day, and devote yourself in some fashion to it.” – Jack Kornfield In this episode, Jack opens us to: Modern retellings of ancient Buddhist Dharma stories The courage and mystery of the heart The law of karma and the power of intention The compelling nature of spiritual practice Buddha’s past life a ..read more

“How can you sit in love and live in love rather than in fear? The first step is to love your fear. There’s a way in which you actually have to bow to the fear and say, ‘I know you. You too are part of this humanity.'” – Jack Kornfield To work with Buddhism’s Five Hindrances—desire, aversion, sleepiness, restlessness, and doubt—we must actually study them, observing and allowing them to be incorporated into our meditation practice. When desire arises, we begin to examine ‘desiring mind’ with mindfulness. We acknowledge it, “Desire, desire,” and feel its quality. To look at desire is to experie ..read more

In this vintage Dharma Talk, Jack illuminates Buddhism’s Three Characteristics of Life: stress, non-self, and impermanence. “Somehow we believe our concepts, that we’ll be here forever, that our life is really going to go on and on. Or we believe our advertising, the idea from the culture that if you get ‘this’ you’ll be able to hold onto it and it will make you happy. It’s just not true. Happiness is a matter of the heart; not something we can grasp or hold.” – Jack Kornfield In this episode, Jack mindfully explores: Knowledge, love, patience, and a spirit of constancy Being here now and li ..read more

“Without self knowledge, without understanding the working and functions of his machine, man cannot be free, he cannot govern himself and he will always remain a slave.” – G.I. Gurdjieff As we try to steady the mind, the most common difficulties that arise in practice are called by the Buddha the five hindrances. These five hindrances are familiar to all those who meditate. The wisest approach to these hindrances is illustrated in the story about the spiritual teacher Gurdjieff: There was an old man in Gurdjieff’s community who was difficult for everyone to live with. He was argumentative ..read more

Jack returns with a cosmic Dharma Talk exploring expansion and contraction in relation to impermanence as the root of spiritual practice. “The law of change is the brown rice and vegetables of spiritual practice, it’s the root of our direct experience of life.” – Jack Kornfield  In this episode, Jack takes us on a cosmic journey through: The basic fundamentals of Dharma teachings on how to live wisely in our practice A trippy interstellar perspective flip through a simple intergalactic thought experiment Life—this capacity to be conscious and aware—as a process of expansion and contract ..read more