Heart Wisdom with Jack Kornfield

Exploring love as a spiritual practice, Jack Kornfield shares how Ram Dass grew into a living field of love and how we can cultivate that same loving awareness within ourselves.
This time on Heart Wisdom, Jack Kornfield explores:
Ram Dass becoming the loving presence people always imagined him to be
Krishna Das, Maharaj-ji, and the power of seeing others with the eyes of love
Why love is not merely something that happens to us
Cultivating lovingkindness through intentional spiritual practice
Sharon Salzberg’s discovery that metta practice was transforming her heart
Practicing lovingkindness for strangers in everyday life
Seeing the original innocence and Buddha nature within others
The Dalai Lama’s teaching on befriending the enemy
How love transforms into compassion, joy, and equanimity
Impermanence and the preciousness of what we love
Moving beyond judgment into loving awareness
Embracing the body, heart, and mind with kindness
Listening for what is asking for love
“Ram Dass became love. He wasn’t just a teacher anymore. Whoever you were and whatever was brought to him, he would sit in a field of love and see you with the eyes of love.” –Jack Kornfield
This episode was originally recorded as part of Jack Kornfield and Trudy Goodman’s course, How to Thrive in Love: Buddhist Secrets to Transform Your Relationships. Learn more and join!
About Jack Kornfield:
Jack Kornfield, PhD trained as a Buddhist monk in Thailand, India, and Burma. He holds a Ph.D. in clinical psychology and is a founding teacher of the Insight Meditation Society in Massachusetts and Spirit Rock Meditation Center in California. He is one of the key teachers to introduce mindfulness practice to the West, has taught internationally since 1974, and is the author of 16 books which have sold 2 million copies. Stay connected with Jack and explore his latest offerings at JackKornfield.com. Sign up for his free weekly email teachings, explore his transformational online courses, access his complete course library through the All Access Pass, or join his monthly livestreams and online community. Jack’s latest book, All In This Together: Stories and Teachings for Loving Each Other and Our World is out now!
“The good news is you don’t run out of love. When you offer and share it, it actually grows. How cool is that?” –Jack Kornfield
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Through a humbling story of Sri Nisargadatta and a guided meditation on loving awareness, Jack shows how love can become large enough to hold the full mystery of our human experience.
Today’s podcast is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/heartwisdom and get on your way to being your best self.
This time on Heart Wisdom, Jack Kornfield explores:
Eclipses, the mystery of the cosmos, and the Music of the Spheres
Finding balance as an ongoing dance rather than a destination
Why love does not require us to eliminate fear
A humbling encounter with Sri Nisargadatta and the wisdom of remaining a student
Resilience as a love large enough to hold our imperfect humanity
Moving beyond servant leadership to become a servant of love
Uncovering what your heart is asking you to serve
Remembering the wisdom and compassion already living within us
Resting in the spaciousness of loving awareness
“What does the heart ask you to serve?” –Jack Kornfield
This episode was originally recorded as part of Jack’s yearlong program, Living the Dharma in a Troubled World, with monthly livestream Q&As and themed lessons. Learn more and join!
About Jack Kornfield:
Jack Kornfield, PhD trained as a Buddhist monk in Thailand, India, and Burma. He holds a Ph.D. in clinical psychology and is a founding teacher of the Insight Meditation Society in Massachusetts and Spirit Rock Meditation Center in California. He is one of the key teachers to introduce mindfulness practice to the West, has taught internationally since 1974, and is the author of 16 books which have sold 2 million copies. Stay connected with Jack and explore his latest offerings at JackKornfield.com. Sign up for his free weekly email teachings, explore his transformational online courses, access his complete course library through the All Access Pass, or join his monthly livestreams and online community. Jack’s latest book, All In This Together: Stories and Teachings for Loving Each Other and Our World is out now!
“That’s part of what brings resilience: not the ideal of how we’re supposed to be, but the fact that love can be big enough to hold it all.” –Jack Kornfield

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Jack Kornfield and Sylvia Boorstein explore how loving awareness helps us meet each moment as a friend, soften into aging and impermanence, and rediscover connection through simple acts of generosity and love.
Today’s podcast is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/heartwisdom and get on your way to being your best self.
This week on Heart Wisdom, Jack Kornfield shares:
Meeting each moment fully and as a friend by relaxing the body, quieting reactivity, and bringing kindness to whatever arises
Sylvia’s honest and humorous reflections on aging, mortality, losing independence, and adapting to life in a senior living community
Transforming crankiness and loneliness
How small acts of generosity—sharing figs, holding a stranger’s hand, or simply noticing another person—can transform crankiness, fear, and loneliness
Bringing mindfulness and loving-kindness together, staying amazed by life’s impermanence, and recognizing love as our deepest response to being alive
This episode was originally recorded for a special Spirit Rock Monday Night Meditation and Talk in July 2026 celebrating Sylvia Boorstein’s 90th Birthday. Watch the next one at SpiritRock.org
About Sylvia Boorstein:
Sylvia Boorstein, PhD, is a founding teacher of Spirit Rock Meditation Center and has taught Dharma and mindfulness since 1985. A psychologist, author, and gifted storyteller, she makes Buddhist teachings accessible by emphasizing that everyday life is mindfulness practice. Her work integrates meditation, kindness, engaged citizenship, and social activism. Learn more about Sylvia at SylviaBoorstein.com.
“May I meet this moment fully means: Here I am. I’m awake. What’s going on? And may I meet it as a friend means: May I meet it with my body relaxed, my mind relaxed, and be able to really see what’s happening—not pushing it away. May I meet this moment fully. May I meet it as a friend” –Sylvia Boorstein
About Jack Kornfield:
Jack Kornfield, PhD trained as a Buddhist monk in Thailand, India, and Burma. He holds a Ph.D. in clinical psychology and is a founding teacher of the Insight Meditation Society in Massachusetts and Spirit Rock Meditation Center in California. He is one of the key teachers to introduce mindfulness practice to the West, has taught internationally since 1974, and is the author of 16 books which have sold 2 million copies. Stay connected with Jack and explore his latest offerings at JackKornfield.com. Sign up for his free weekly email teachings, explore his transformational online courses, access his complete course library through the All Access Pass, or join his monthly livestreams and online community. Jack’s latest book, All In This Together: Stories and Teachings for Loving Each Other and Our World is out now!
“Incarnation has praise and blaming, gain and loss, pleasure and pain, light and dark—and it’s always changing. Then the heart becomes at ease and says, ‘Oh, here we are. Isn’t this amazing?’ The deepest response to it is to love it, because it’s what we’ve got.” –Jack Kornfield
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Celebrating Sylvia Boorstein’s 90th birthday, Jack and Sylvia reflect on 49 years of friendship, meditation, and Dharma practice—and how awakening ultimately expresses itself through kindness, connection, and a willingness to stay amazed.
Today’s podcast is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/heartwisdom and get on your way to being your best self.
This week on Heart Wisdom, Jack Kornfield shares:
Sylvia’s journey through the Buddhist teachings of impermanence, suffering, and selflessness, and how intellectual understanding gradually becomes lived realization
Jack and Sylvia’s 49 years of friendship, from her early meditation and kundalini experiences to their travels, teaching, and shared life in the Dharma
How decades of mindfulness and metta practice made Sylvia not only kinder, but happier and more responsive to the needs of others
Meeting ourselves and one another with loving awareness, remembering our interconnectedness, and staying amazed by the mystery of being alive
This episode was originally recorded for a special Spirit Rock Monday Night Meditation and Talk in July 2026 celebrating Sylvia Boorstein’s 90th Birthday. Watch the next one at SpiritRock.org
About Sylvia Boorstein:
Sylvia Boorstein, PhD, is a founding teacher of Spirit Rock Meditation Center and has taught Dharma and mindfulness since 1985. A psychologist, author, and gifted storyteller, she makes Buddhist teachings accessible by emphasizing that everyday life is mindfulness practice. Her work integrates meditation, kindness, engaged citizenship, and social activism. Learn more about Sylvia at SylviaBoorstein.com“We remind each other of our freedom and our possibility. We are so deeply interwoven in the energy field of consciousness itself, and when you know it, whatever you do becomes benevolent in some really deep way.”
"The shortest way to say what happened to me in 49 years is: I became kind. Seymour said, ‘No, you were always kind.’ And I said, ‘Well, then I became kinder.’ And the big surprise for me after all this time is that I’m also happier.” – Sylvia Boorstein
About Jack Kornfield:
Jack Kornfield, PhD trained as a Buddhist monk in Thailand, India, and Burma. He holds a Ph.D. in clinical psychology and is a founding teacher of the Insight Meditation Society in Massachusetts and Spirit Rock Meditation Center in California. He is one of the key teachers to introduce mindfulness practice to the West, has taught internationally since 1974, and is the author of 16 books which have sold 2 million copies.
Stay connected with Jack and explore his latest offerings at JackKornfield.com. Sign up for his free weekly email teachings, explore his transformational online courses, access his complete course library through the All Access Pass, or join his monthly livestreams and online community. Jack’s latest book, All In This Together: Stories and Teachings for Loving Each Other and Our World is out now!
“We remind each other of our freedom and our possibility. We are so deeply interwoven in the energy field of consciousness itself, and when you know it, whatever you do becomes benevolent in some really deep way.” –Jack Kornfield
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Exploring the gifts hidden within our most difficult emotions, Jack Kornfield shares how anger, judgment, and despair can be transformed into compassion, courage, and selfless service.
Today’s podcast is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/heartwisdom and get on your way to being your best self.
This week on Heart Wisdom, Jack Kornfield shares:
The path of selfless service
A meditation on kindness and loving awareness
Meeting anger without judgment or fear
The care and passion hidden beneath anger
Moving from despair toward imagination and possibility
Activism rooted in stillness, wellbeing, and love
Moral beauty and compassionate courage
Transforming judgment into tenderness and metta
“Do you know why you’re so angry? Because you care. Because you care that much. And when you start to tune into the fact that you do care, that’s the fuel.” –Jack Kornfield
This teaching was originally recorded during a live session for Jack's Living the Dharma in a Troubled World yearlong program. Join these monthly livestream Q&A sessions here. As a special offer for Heart Wisdom listeners, use code Dharma10 or Dharma10p (payment plan) at checkout for 10% off this program.
About Jack Kornfield:
Jack Kornfield trained as a Buddhist monk in the monasteries of Thailand, India, and Burma, studying as a monk under the Buddhist master Ven. Ajahn Chah, as well as the Ven. Mahasi Sayadaw. He has taught meditation internationally since 1974 and is one of the key teachers to introduce Buddhist mindfulness practice to the West. Jack co-founded the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, with fellow meditation teachers Sharon Salzberg and Joseph Goldstein and the Spirit Rock Center in Woodacre, California. His books have been translated into 20 languages and sold more than a million copies.
Jack is currently offering a wonderful array of transformational online courses diving into crucial topics like Mindfulness Meditation Fundamentals, Walking the Eightfold Path, Opening the Heart of Forgiveness, Living Beautifully, Transforming Your Life Through Powerful Stories, and so much more. Sign up for an All Access Pass to explore Jack’s entire course library. If you would like a year's worth of online meetups with Jack and fellow community, join The Year of Awakening: A Monthly Journey with Jack Kornfield.
Stay up to date with Jack and his stream of fresh dharma offerings by visiting JackKornfield.com and signing up for his email teachings.
“We’re learning how to be free as human beings—not to skip over being human, but actually to have a big enough heart to say, ‘Yes, this is part of our legacy.’” –Jack Kornfield
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