45 Best Jack Kornfield Quotes (WISE HEART)

Top 15 Most Famous Jack Kornfield Quotes (COMPASSION)

The heart is like a garden. It can grow compassion or fear, resentment or love. What seeds will you plant there — The heart is like a garden. It can grow **compassion** or **fear**, **resentment** or **love**. What seeds will you plant there?

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

It is not about you. It is about us. Life is difficult for everyone.

The things that matter most in our lives are not fantastic or grand. They are the moments when we touch one another.

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

Do not be afraid of your difficulty. Turn toward it. Learn to lean into the wind. Hold your ground.

Most of us have spent our lives caught up in plans, expectations, ambitions for the future; in regrets, guilt or shame about the past. To come into the present is to stop the war. — Most of us have spent our lives caught up in plans, expectations, **ambitions** for the **future**; in regrets, guilt or shame about the past. To come into the present is to stop the war.

Wisdom says we are nothing. Love says we are everything. Between these two our life flows. — **Wisdom** says we are nothing. **Love** says we are everything. Between these two our life flows.

The present moment is really all that we have. The only place you can really love another person is in the present. — The present moment is really all that we have. The only place you can really **love** another person is in the present.

Love in the past is a memory. Love in the future is a fantasy. To be really alive, love - or any other experience - must take place in the present. — **Love** in the past is a **memory**. Love in the future is a fantasy. To be really alive, love – or any other experience – must take place in the present.

Being on a spiritual path does not prevent you from facing times of darkness. But it teaches you how to use the darkness as a tool to grow.

To begin to meditate is to look into our lives with interest in kindness and discover how to be wakeful and free. — To begin to **meditate** is to look into our lives with interest in **kindness** and discover how to be wakeful and free.

When we take time to quiet ourselves, we can all sense that our life could be lived with greater compassion and greater weakness. — When we take time to quiet ourselves, we can all sense that our life could be lived with greater **compassion** and greater weakness.

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

Have respect for yourself, and patience and compassion. With these, you can handle anything. — Have **respect** for yourself, and **patience** and **compassion**. With these, you can handle anything.

23 Inspirational Jack Kornfield Quotes on Love and Gratitude (LETTING GO)

In the end, just three things matter: How well we have lived. How well we have loved. How well we have learned to let go.

Everything that has a beginning has an ending. Make your peace with that and all will be well. — Everything that has a beginning has an ending. Make your **peace** with that and all will be well.

Equanimity arises when we accept the way things are.

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

Let go of the battle. Breathe quietly and let it be. Let your body relax and your heart soften. Open to whatever you experience without fighting. — Let go of the battle. **Breathe** quietly and let it be. Let your body relax and your heart soften. Open to whatever you experience without fighting.

We do not have to improve ourselves; we just have to let go of what blocks our heart.

Since death will take us anyway, why live our life in fear Why not die in our old ways and be free to live — Since death will take us anyway, why live our life in **fear**? Why not die in our old ways and be free to live?

“You hold in your hand an invitation: to remember the transforming power of forgiveness and loving kindness. To remember that no matter where you are and what you face, within your heart peace is possible.”
Jack Kornfield

As you become more intimate with your suffering, your heart grows tender.

Anger shows us precisely where we are stuck, where our limits are, where we cling to beliefs and fears.

When we feel anger toward someone, we can consider that he or she is a being just like us, who has faced much suffering in life.

Life is so hard, how can we be anything but kind?

The only way to live is by accepting each minute as an unrepeatable miracle. — The only way to live is by accepting each minute as an unrepeatable **miracle**.

Even Socrates, who lived a very frugal and simple life, loved to go to the market. When his students asked about this, he replied, "I love to go and see all the things I am happy without. — Even **Socrates**, who lived a very frugal and simple life, loved to go to the market. When his students asked about this, he replied, “I love to go and see all the things I am **happy** without.

This life is a test – it is only a test. If it had been an actual life, you would have received further instructions on where to go and what to do.

“To bow to the fact of our life’s sorrows and betrayals is to accept them; and from this deep gesture we discover that all life is workable. As we learn to bow, we discover that the heart holds more freedom and compassion than we could imagine.”
Jack Kornfield

We must look at ourselves over and over again in order to learn to love, to discover what has kept our hearts closed, and what it means to allow our hearts to open.

The trouble is, you think you have time. — The trouble is, you think you have **time**.

The waves do keep coming, so learn to surf.

As surely as there is a voyage away, there is a journey home.

We each need to make our lion's roar - to persevere with unshakable courage when faced with all manner of doubts and sorrows and fears - to declare our right to awaken. — We each need to make our lion’s roar – to persevere with unshakable **courage** when faced with all manner of doubts and sorrows and **fears** – to declare our right to awaken.

True love and prayer are learned in the hour when love becomes impossible and the heart has turned to stone.

No matter how difficult the past, you can always begin again today.

7 Jack Kornfield Quotes (A PATH WITH HEART)

“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

The unawakened mind tends to make war against the way things are.

Much of spiritual life is self-acceptance, maybe all of it.

We need a warrior’s heart that lets us face our lives directly, our pains and limitations, our joys and possibilities.

The way I treat my body is not disconnected from the way I treat my family or the commitment I have to peace on our earth. — The way I treat my body is not disconnected from the way I treat my family or the **commitment** I have to peace on our earth.

No amount of meditation, yoga, diet, and reflection will make all of our problems go away, but we can transform our difficulties into our practice until little by little they guide us on our way. — No amount of meditation, **yoga**, diet, and reflection will make all of our problems go away, but we can transform our difficulties into our practice until little by little they guide us on our way.

“To learn to concentrate we must choose a prayer or meditation and follow this path with commitment and steadiness, a willingness to work with our practice day after day, no matter what arises.”
Jack Kornfield

Jack Kornfield Short Biography

Born on 16 July 1945 in the United States, Jack Kornfield is an author and teacher of meditation.

Kornfield graduated from Dartmouth College with a degree in Asian Studies in 1967. He started working for the Peace Corps shortly after graduating, during a mission in Thailand he met Ajahn Chah, a Buddhist monk. Kornfield studied to become a monk under his tutelage.

In 1972, Kornfield returned to the United States, two years later he became know for being a key educator in introducing Buddhism practices to the West. Kornfield co-founded the Insight Meditation Society in 1975.

Throughout the years Kornfield has taught many of the Vipassana teachers in American, he also obtained a Ph.D. from the Saybrook Institute for the course in clinical psychology.

Kornfield has succeeded in making Buddhism accessible to eager Western learners, by successfully combining kindness, self-compassion, and practice of mindfulness.

Jack Kornfield is the author of many books, one of his best-selling books, Your Buddha Nature, was published in 1998. It focuses on teaching one the art of being mindful.

Further Reading:

Finding My Religion: Buddhist Teacher Jack Kornfield – Trinity Church Wall Street
Jack Kornfield on Gratitude and Mindfulness – Greater Good Magazine
Compassion in The Time of Coronavirus by Jack Kornfield – Supportive Care Coalition

Here are the best Jack Kornfield quotes so you can embrace mindful living and find freedom in caring less about what others think.

(MUST READ)

**The Wise Heart: A Guide to the Universal Teachings of Buddhist Psychology**

Also read:

Top 15 Most Famous Jack Kornfield Quotes (COMPASSION)

23 Inspirational Jack Kornfield Quotes on Love and Gratitude (LETTING GO)

7 Jack Kornfield Quotes (A PATH WITH HEART)

Jack Kornfield Short Biography

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