Jack Kornfield | |
|---|---|
 Jack Kornfield, 2005 | |
| Title | Vipassana Meditation Teacher |
| Personal life | |
| Born | 1945 (age 79–80) U.S. |
| Spouse | Liana Kornfield (first wife, divorced), Trudy Goodman (current wife) |
| Religious life | |
| Religion | Buddhism |
| School | Theravada |
| Website | jackkornfield |
Jack Kornfield (born 1945) is an American writer and teacher in theVipassana movement in AmericanTheravada Buddhism.[1] He trained as a Buddhistmonk inThailand,Burma andIndia,[2] first as a student of the Thai forest masterAjahn Chah andMahasi Sayadaw of Burma. He has taught mindfulnessmeditation worldwide since 1974. In 1975, he co-founded theInsight Meditation Society inBarre, Massachusetts, withSharon Salzberg andJoseph Goldstein, and subsequently[clarification needed] in 1987,Spirit Rock Meditation Center inWoodacre, California. Kornfield has worked as a peacemaker and activist, organized teacher training, and led international gatherings of Buddhist teachers including the Dalai Lama.
Kornfield is ofJewish descent and has three brothers.[3][4] He is afraternal twin. His father was a scientist, which brought him to an interest in healing, medicine and science. He took a course in Asian philosophy with Dr.Wing-tsit Chan. Kornfield ended up majoring in Asian studies.[5]
After graduating fromDartmouth College in 1967, Kornfield joined thePeace Corps and was sent to Thailand where he worked on tropical medicine teams in the Mekong River valley.[3] There he met and became a monk under the forest masterAjahn Chah, and later practiced withMahasi Sayadaw of Burma andDipa Ma.[6] Kornfield returned to the United States in 1972 and in the summer of 1974, participated in the founding session ofNaropa University. From the associations of this period came theInsight Meditation Society co-founded in 1975 withSharon Salzberg andJoseph Goldstein inBarre, Massachusetts. In 1987 he co-foundedSpirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, California.[3]
Kornfield has trained many of the Vipassana teachers in America, and hosted and led gatherings for Buddhist teachers together with the Dalai Lama and worldwide. He received his Ph.D. inclinical psychology fromSaybrook Institute.[7] Kornfield has written extensively on the bridge between Eastern and Western psychology.
His daughter Caroline is a graduate of Berkeley Law[3] and practices Asylum Law. His ex-wife Liana is an artist and therapist.[3] His wife Trudy Goodman[8] is also a renowned meditation teacher and the founding teacher of InsightLA, which combines training in Vipassana and non-sectarian mindfulness and compassion practices, including Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC).[9]
Kornfield has worked to make Buddhism accessible for Westerners.[10] He has focused on combining loving kindness and self compassion with the practice of mindfulness, and incorporating together the wisdom of Eastern and Western psychology.
In Jack Kornfield's bookAfter the Ecstasy, the Laundry, he writes about the honest development of the wise heart within the cycles of day-to-day life; for instance "amid all the Western masters and teachers I know, some idealistic perfection is not apparent. Times of great wisdom, deep compassion, and a real knowing of freedom alternate with periods of fear, confusion, neurosis, and struggle. Most teachers will readily admit this."[11]
Kornfield was featured byJoe Frank on his radio series "The Other Side."[12]
His books include:
So before my interview with Jack Kornfield, who is a well-known Vipassana meditation teacher, I was concerned about not
Regardless of its level of complexity, every practice relies on steadiness of concentration. Jack Kornfield, psychologist and meditation teacher, describes the practice that forms a cornerstone of …
Coleader of the workshop was Jack Kornfield, dear friend, psychologist, Vipassana teacher, and Buddhist monk, who taught participants the principles of insight meditation, gave lectures on Buddhism, offered personal darshans, …
