Ep. 304 – Finding Your Inner Light
Heart Wisdom with Jack Kornfield
Be Here Now Network
4.8 • 1.4K Ratings
🗓️ 3 September 2025
⏱️ 55 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Jack shares a whimsical story on light and dark, birth and death, forgiveness and mercy, passion and sincerity, impermanence and immorality, and finding your inner light.
In this episode, Jack mindfully explores:
- Light and Darkness: Stories and teachings on finding the inner light, becoming a lamp in the darkness, and awakening through difficulty.
- Life, Death, and Initiation: Nachiketa’s dialogue with Lord Yama, initiation and coming of age, and the mystery of immortality and the deathless.
- Sincerity and Blessing: Zen teachings on proving sincerity, the boons that come with it, and the light of forgiveness and mercy.
- The Fire of Life: Prana, chi, and kundalini as a passion for truth; the roar of the lion and living from what we most deeply value.
- The Open Heart: Not casting anyone out, transforming wounds into light, and resting in the question “Who am I?”
If you enjoy Jack’s storytelling, dive into Transform Your Life Through Jack Kornfield’s Most Powerful Stories – a 10-hour storytelling wisdom journey!
“When we touch our true nature and discover that we can rest in love in the middle of all things, we become a lamp, we become a light. It is not far away, it is nearer than near.” – Jack Kornfield
This Dharma Talk from 6/21/1993 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.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Your first great love story is free when you sign up for a free 30-day trial at audible.co. |
| 0:05.5 | com.uk slash Wondery. That's audible.combe.uk slash Wondery. |
| 0:13.5 | Every particle of everything, a poem, every particle of everything, rock, water, flower, human being, |
| 0:25.0 | has been together in the same place flaming in the heart of one ancient sun |
| 0:31.6 | before the earth came flying out of it. |
| 0:35.4 | The irises in your eyes, the tissues of the roses, the slow giant rocks in the |
| 0:43.1 | mountain hearts, were all born flaming, locked in the sun as it drifted like a light on the dark water. |
| 0:55.2 | So what does it mean to find that light within ourselves that we are? |
| 1:06.4 | When we touch our Buddha nature, our true nature, |
| 1:13.4 | when we find that which we can rest in the middle of all things, we become a lamp, we become a light. It's not far away. It's nearer |
| 1:22.1 | than near. Says Jack Cornfield in episode 304 of the Heart Wisdom podcast, Finding Your Light. |
| 1:32.9 | Thank you for being here once again. |
| 1:35.4 | I'm Ganesh on behalf of both Jack Cornfield and the Be Here Now Network, |
| 1:40.7 | and truly honored to open the door to this story-focused episode |
| 1:45.2 | of this always free weekly Heart Wisdom podcast. |
| 1:51.9 | In this episode, which took place at Spirit Rock Meditation Center, |
| 1:56.5 | on June 21st of 1993, |
| 1:59.6 | Jack shares a really cool story, one of whimsy and lore, a Buddhist myth, |
| 2:10.6 | Anachi Keta and Yama, the Lord of Death. I know Jack jokes quite often that one time Ram Dass was sitting at a retreat with him. |
| 2:24.2 | And afterwards, Romdhas shared, |
| 2:29.3 | Hey, Jack, you sure share a lot of stories, which was definitely a rib, but true. Jack, Jack, you sure share a lot of stories, which was definitely a rib, but true. Jack does share a lot of |
| 2:39.2 | stories, and that is why he's actually one of my favorite Dharma teachers. We really learn |
... |
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