Quotes from Jack Kornfield

Quotes from The Buddha held in A Lamp in the Darkness by Jack Kornfield

·         There is praise and blame, gain and loss, pleasure and pain, fame and disrepute.  Did you think this would not happen to you?

·         Make your mind like the earth which receives all things steadily.

·         Hold yourself as a mother holds her beloved child.

·         Who is your enemy?  Mind is your enemy.

Who is your friend?  Mind is your friend.

·         He beat me, he robbed me, he hurt me.  Abandon these thoughts.  Live in love.

·         Aging, sickness, and death are suffering.  To lose what you love is suffering. 

·         Your days pass like rainbows, like a flash of lightening like a star at dawn.  Your life is short.  How can you quarrel?

·         Care, not carelessness, is the way.

·         Live in joy, even among the troubled.

From Jack Kornfield

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

The warrior in your heart says stand your ground.  Feel the survival of a thousand years of ancestors in your muscles and your blood.  You have all the support you need in your bones.

Loss and betrayal tear open the heart.  Look through this gate for the wisdom that lies there.

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

Neither avoid nor overreact.  Tend what you are given.  Stay centered in yourself. 

Be the potter of your life.  Center yourself on the wheel.  Find your still point.

Even in the ruins some new life waits to be born.  Fix the mast, or build a new ship.

It doesn’t belong to only you.  It’s the dance of conditions.  You can’t choose the music, but you can choose how you will dance.   

Pests, drought, animals, insects, no gardener gives up.  Water fertilize, plant new seeds.  Whatever you plant and tend with care will bear fruit.

Can you see how much suffering affects those around you?  Can you listen deeply with a caring and honest heart?

Imagine you needed this difficulty to learn a most important lesson.  What truth can it teach you?

Like a sandcastle all is temporary.  Build it, tend it, enjoy it, and when the times comes, let it go.

Don’t add to the problem.  Don’t add fear.  Don’t add confusion.  First take a breath.  Then simply see the situation clearly.

When your thoughts are racing and repetitive, remember no one can harm you as much as your untamed mind.  When you are struggling or in pain remember: no one can help you as much as a quiet, clear, composed mind.