{"author":"Jack Kornfield","author_id":"Jack+Kornfield","total_quotes":44,"quotes":[{"text":"Breathing meditation can quiet the mind, open the body, and develop a great power of concentration.","author":"Jack Kornfield","tags":["meditation"],"id":2068,"author_id":"Jack+Kornfield"},{"text":"Acceptance is not passivity. It is a courageous step in the process of transformation.","author":"Jack Kornfield","tags":["awakening"],"id":3655,"author_id":"Jack+Kornfield"},{"text":"If you put a spoonful of saltin a cup of waterit tastes very salty.If you put a spoonful of saltin a lake of fresh waterthe taste is still pure and clear.Peace comes when our hearts areopen like the sky,vast as the ocean.","author":"Jack Kornfield","tags":["buddhism","peace","peace-of-mind","purity","sanctity-of-mind","serenity"],"id":13865,"author_id":"Jack+Kornfield"},{"text":"Your happiness and suffering depend on your actions and not on my wishes for you.","author":"Jack Kornfield","tags":["happiness"],"id":14423,"author_id":"Jack+Kornfield"},{"text":"I would like to ofer some exercises that can help us use the Five Precepts to cultivate and strengthen mindfulness. It is best to choose one of these exercises and work with it meticulously for a week. Then examine the results and choose another for a subsequent week. These practices can help us understand and find ways to work with each precept. 1. Refrain from killing: reverence for life. Undertake for one week to purposefully bring no harm in thought, word, or deed to any living creature. Particularly, become aware of any living beings in your world (people, animals, even plants) whom you ignore, and cultivate a sense of care and reverence for them too.2. Refraining from stealing: care with material goods. Undertake for one week to act on every single thought of generosity that arises spontaneously in your heart.3. Refraining from sexual misconduct: conscious sexuality. Undertake for one week to observe meticulously how often sexual feelings arise in your consciousness. Each time, note what particular mind states you find associated with them such as love, tension, compulsion, caring, loneliness, desire for communication, greed, pleasure, agression, and so forth.4. Refraining from false speech: speech from the heart. Undertake for one week not to gossip (positively or negatively) or speak about anyone you know who is not present with you (any third party).5. Refraining from intoxicants to the point of heedlessness. Undertake for one week or one month to refrain from all intoxicants and addictive substances (such as wine, marijuana, even cigarettes and/or caffeine if you wish). Observe the impulses to use these, and become aware of what is going on in the heart and mind at the time of those impulses (88-89).","author":"Jack Kornfield","tags":["five-precepts","mindfulness"],"id":21094,"author_id":"Jack+Kornfield"},{"text":"When we let go of our battles and open our heart to things as they are, then we come to rest in the present moment. This is the beginning and the end of spiritual practice. Only in this moment can we discover that which is timeless. Only here can we find the love that we seek. Love in the past is simply memory, and love in the future is fantasy. Only in the reality of the present can we love, can we awaken, can we find peace and understanding and connection with ourselves and the world.","author":"Jack Kornfield","tags":["love","spirituality"],"id":27787,"author_id":"Jack+Kornfield"},{"text":"But forgiveness is the act of not putting anyone out of your heart, even those who are acting out of deep ignorance or out of confusion and pain.","author":"Jack Kornfield","tags":["forgiveness"],"id":45135,"author_id":"Jack+Kornfield"},{"text":"In the end, just three things matter:How well we have livedHow well we have lovedHow well we have learned to let go.","author":"Jack Kornfield","tags":["inspirational","mindfulness"],"id":60211,"author_id":"Jack+Kornfield"},{"text":"If your compassion does not include yourself, it is incomplete.","author":"Jack Kornfield","tags":["compassion","self-respect"],"id":62937,"author_id":"Jack+Kornfield"},{"text":"Everything that has a beginning has an ending. Make your peace with that and all will be well.","author":"Jack Kornfield","tags":["acceptance","beginning","ending","peace"],"id":95783,"author_id":"Jack+Kornfield"}],"pagination":{"page":1,"page_size":10,"total":44,"pages":5,"next":"?page=2\u0026page_size=10"}}