Ep. 301 – The Dharma of Poetry: Rumi, Beauty, Music, and the Art of Awakening
Heart Wisdom with Jack Kornfield
Be Here Now Network
4.8 • 1.4K Ratings
🗓️ 13 August 2025
⏱️ 35 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Exploring poetry, beauty, and art, Jack helps his dear listeners appreciate the harmonious dichotomy of all life experiences.
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Join the Year of Awakening with Jack Kornfield for a monthly group livestream Q&A hang with Jack, along with weekly modules and prompts to keep your life focused on awakening!
“Poetry and beauty are not a denial of the sorrows of the world, but a grace somehow that holds and understands them—the irony and the mixture of love and terror that make up life.” – Jack Kornfield
In this episode, Jack mindfully explores:
- How art, beauty, music and poetry uplift the world to the sacred
- Rumi’s poem, Tending Two Shops
- Letting go of fear, opening into freedom
- Poetry not as a denial of life’s struggles, but as a gracious way through
- Being at home with oneself
- Poetry from Siddhartha Buddha, Thich Nhat Hanh, Rumi, and more
- Telling the truth, becoming nobody, and walking the path
- Meditation and working with our ‘inner mob’ of voices
- Relating to the ‘zoo’ of our lives with meditation
- The three dimensions of Rumi’s spiritual poetry
- Saying ‘yes’ to this too, even to what’s difficult
- Walking this life and path in humbleness
“Sometimes the greatest political act is to turn on Mozart and turn off the news, or to walk by the ocean or in the hills during sunset, or to read a poem—to sense a possibility in the midst of all the 10,000 joys and sorrows of finding some peace or balance in this heart that can then be brought to the world around us.” – Jack Kornfield
This Dharma Talk from 4/15/1993 at Spirit Rock Meditation Center was originally published on DharmaSeed.
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.
“The source of much of the suffering in the world is the loss of attention, beauty, and connection with one another.” – Jack Kornfield
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is an ad by BetterHelp. Cold showers, gratitude list, meditation apps. There's mental health |
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| 0:48.3 | Our listeners get 10% off their first month at Betterhelp.com slash heart wisdom. |
| 0:55.7 | That's BetterHelp, H-E-L-P.com slash heart wisdom. |
| 1:04.8 | Sometimes the greatest political act is to turn on Mozart and turn off the news or to walk by the ocean |
| 1:19.9 | or in the hills and the sunset or read a poem to sense the possibility in the midst of all the 10,000 joys and sorrows |
| 1:29.9 | of finding some peace or balance in this one, in this heart, |
| 1:35.3 | that can then be brought to the world around us. |
| 1:50.9 | Jack shares his heart wisdom an episode on poetry, beauty, art. |
| 1:57.1 | May you enjoy, dear listener, a haiku from me to you for this very special episode of the Heart Wisdom podcast. |
| 2:01.6 | 301, the Dharma of Poetry, Rumi, Beauty, Music, and the Art of Awakening. |
| 2:12.6 | This flowing talk filled with poetry from Rumi, Carl Sandberg, Ticknod Hahn, was originally recorded |
| 2:20.9 | April 15, 1993 at the Wonderful Spirit Rock Meditation Center, where Jack still gives talks |
| 2:31.0 | to these days, not so many as before, but definitely be on the lookout. |
| 2:38.7 | If you want to be on the mailing list for Jack's upcoming events, go to jack cornfield.com |
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