Love, Death, Tech and Psychedelics, Jack Kornfield, Meditation O.G.
Jack Kornfield, a revered Buddhist monk and meditation teacher, discusses his personal struggles, including divorce, and the role of psychedelics in mindfulness. He emphasizes that inner training is accessible to everyone for greater equanimity, compassion, and a deeper sense of well-being.
Deep Dive Analysis
12 Topic Outline
Jack Kornfield's Personal Struggles and Triggers
Achievability of Deep Equanimity for Everyone
Cultivating Self-Compassion and Navigating Self-Judgment
Mindfulness Redefined as Loving Awareness
Understanding and Accessing 'The One Who Knows'
Systematic Trainings and Neuroscience of Mindfulness
Exploring the Nuances of Love and Compassion
Reflections on Romantic Love and Personal Divorce
The Role of Psychedelics in Spiritual Practice
Ethical Considerations for Technology in Silicon Valley
Listener Question: Discovering One's True Self
Listener Question: Including Deceased in Loving Kindness Practice
5 Key Concepts
Equanimity
A state of mental calmness, composure, and evenness of temper, especially in a difficult situation. Jack Kornfield describes it as a deep calm that can coexist with physical activation or upset, a quality that grows over years of meditation practice.
Loving Awareness
Jack Kornfield's preferred translation for mindfulness, emphasizing that awareness should be imbued with kindness and graciousness. It allows one to observe thoughts and feelings, including self-judgment, without aversion or attachment, fostering a sense of humor and care.
The One Who Knows
A concept from Jack Kornfield's teacher, Ajahn Chah, referring to the conscious witness or the awareness itself that observes experiences. It's about shifting identity from being caught in thoughts and feelings to being the spacious, timeless awareness in which they arise and pass.
Wise Selfishness
A concept shared by the Dalai Lama, suggesting that while humans are inherently selfish, there's a 'wise' form of selfishness that involves cultivating generosity, empathy, and compassion. This approach ultimately leads to one's own happiness and well-being.
Big Sky Mind
A meditation practice that invites individuals to experience their mind as vast and open like the sky, in which all thoughts, sounds, and experiences arise and pass. It helps in recognizing that awareness is not limited to the head but is an expansive space.
9 Questions Answered
Yes, Jack Kornfield believes it's possible for everyone. Modern neuroscience shows that even short periods of dedicated practice can rewire habitual responses, leading to greater equanimity, balance, and perspective.
One effective method is to start by wishing well for others you care about, feeling that love and compassion, and then imagining them returning those wishes to you. This allows you to internalize kindness for yourself, as if receiving it from loved ones.
Traditional mindfulness can sometimes have a subtle aversive or judgmental quality, where one notices an unpleasant state and wishes it would go away. Loving awareness, however, imbues mindfulness with kindness, graciousness, and a sense of humor, allowing all experiences to be met with care rather than resistance.
It involves systematically training the mind, often with instruction, to observe thoughts and feelings without getting lost in them. A simple exercise is to try to stop being aware, which is impossible, revealing the ever-present nature of awareness itself, which can then be rested in as a spacious, still presence.
Meditation teachers experience personal difficulties like anyone else, including the pain and regrets of divorce. They navigate these challenges as human beings, striving to do so with mindfulness, compassion for themselves and others involved, and without excessive self-judgment.
Many early Buddhist and Hindu teachers in the West were deeply influenced by psychedelics, which served as a gateway to understanding the mind's capacity. While not a panacea, when used thoughtfully and sensibly, they can offer powerful beneficial effects for conditions like PTSD and addiction, opening doorways to important understandings.
A group of neuroscientists, contemplatives, and tech leaders are working to establish principles for AI and technology development that prioritize human well-being over mere profit or attention-grabbing. This involves matching outer technological development with inner human transformation, cultivating compassion and wisdom.
The answer lies in the question itself: by not seeking a solid, identifiable 'self,' but rather resting in the mysterious quality of awareness itself. This 'don't know mind' allows one to experience the openness, presence, and connection of awareness that holds everything, rather than identifying with transient phenomena.
Yes, it is generally beneficial to include deceased loved ones in loving kindness practice, picturing them and wishing them well wherever they are. While traditional instructions for profound concentration might advise against it due to potential distraction, for normal practice, it's a beautiful way to engage with mystery and love.
20 Actionable Insights
1. Cultivate Witnessing Awareness
Shift your attention from being caught in experiences to becoming the ‘knowing’ or ‘witnessing’ awareness itself, recognizing that you cannot stop being aware. This practice of resting in open, spacious awareness is the path to freedom and understanding who you truly are beyond thoughts and emotions.
2. Train Your Mind Daily
Engage in systematic training for compassion, loving kindness, and mindfulness, even in small daily chunks (10-15 minutes). A trained, wise, and open mind is your greatest ally, capable of rewiring habitual responses and fostering inner well-being.
3. Practice Loving Kindness (Metta)
Begin loving kindness meditation by picturing loved ones and wishing them well, then imagine them wishing you well, and finally internalize those wishes for yourself by placing a hand on your heart. This approach helps open the heart more easily, especially for self-compassion.
4. Acknowledge the Judging Mind
When you notice the judging mind, acknowledge it with mindful, loving awareness by bowing to it or thanking it for its opinion. This practice allows you to step out of the judgment’s grasp and recognize it as mere conditioning.
5. Hold Pain with Compassion
When experiencing physical pain, turn toward it, acknowledge its sensations and your reactivity, then step back and hold the pain with kind attention, similar to comforting a crying child. This approach can bring a sense of freedom from fear and aversion to pain.
6. Embrace Wise Selfishness
Prioritize your own happiness and actively develop generosity, empathy, and compassion, as this ‘wise kind of selfishness’ positively impacts those you care about and ultimately benefits yourself and others.
7. Balance Outer & Inner Development
Match outer technological advancements with inner transformation by cultivating compassion, interconnection, wisdom, and loving kindness. These inner capacities are crucial to prevent outer technologies from becoming destructive forces and to ensure humanity’s well-being.
8. Start Meditation with Ease
Begin meditation practices with subjects or methods that easily open your heart, such as focusing on a pet or child, to get the ‘juices flowing.’ Gradually extend this openness to more difficult areas as your capacity grows.
9. Relax into Calm
During meditation, use words like ‘calm’ or ’ease’ with each breath, and when moments of calm or well-being arise, relax into them. Invite these feelings to spread and linger, allowing them to punctuate the stream of thoughts.
10. Recall Bodily Ease in Difficulty
When triggered or upset, recall the bodily memory of ease and spacious attention found in past meditation. Consciously try to bring that state of greater ease and spaciousness into the current difficult moment.
11. Practice Non-Judgment with Discernment
Cultivate non-judgment without sacrificing discernment; clearly identify actions causing harm to yourself or others and take necessary steps to stop them. This is part of compassion and self-protection.
12. Express and Receive Care
Actively express care and compassion to others and allow yourself to receive it. This practice brings deep satisfaction and contributes to happiness, helping to avoid regrets at the end of life.
13. See Deeper Beauty in Relationships
Use romantic love as a gateway to perceive the deeper, secret beauty, innocence, and consciousness of your partner, beyond their personality and conditioning, to foster a more profound and lasting love.
14. Include Deceased in Metta
Include deceased loved ones in your loving kindness practice by picturing them and wishing them well, wherever they may be. This is a beautiful response to mystery and a way to extend love beyond physical presence.
15. Sit and Sweep the Garden
Practice ‘sitting and sweeping the garden’ by regularly quieting your mind and tending your heart to connect with vast compassion, then actively offering your unique gifts to the world. Both inner cultivation and outer contribution are essential for happiness.
16. Practice Single-Tasking
Fully immerse yourself in the present activity by practicing single-tasking rather than multitasking. This allows you to give the activity the attention it deserves and enhances your connection to life.
17. Live with Paradox
Live with paradox by remembering both your vast ‘Buddha nature’ and the practicalities of daily life. Cultivate a discerning mind and heart through quiet presence to navigate both these worlds wisely.
18. Explore Big Sky Mind
Practice ‘Big Sky Mind’ or ‘Big Mind’ meditation (available on dharmaseed.org or jackcornfield.com) by starting with sound and sensing your mind as vast awareness, like the sky, in which all experiences arise and pass.
19. Approach Psychedelics Wisely
If considering psychedelics, approach them in a thoughtful, sensible, discerning, and wise manner, as they can serve as gateways to important understanding when used appropriately.
20. Advocate for Humane Technology
Advocate for and support the development of technology guided by principles that prioritize human well-being over mere profit or attention-grabbing. This helps steer AI and other tech towards beneficial uses.
6 Key Quotes
They can put your body in prison, but no one can imprison your spirit.
Jack Kornfield
If you think you're enlightened, go spend a week with your family.
Ram Dass (quoted by Jack Kornfield)
No one can harm you more than your own mind untrained. And no one can help you more than your own mind wise or opened or trained.
Jack Kornfield
Love is like gravity. We don't quite know what it is.
Jack Kornfield
We're a nation of nuclear giants and ethical infants.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (quoted by Jack Kornfield)
If you can drive safely while kissing a girl, you're simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves.
Albert Einstein (quoted by Jack Kornfield)
1 Protocols
Approaching Bodily Pain with Compassion
Jack Kornfield- Turn toward the pain.
- Acknowledge the pain, observing its qualities (e.g., fire, throbbing) and your reactivity to it.
- Step back from the pain and hold it with a kind attention, similar to how one would hold a crying child, allowing for greater ease and less fear.