Heart Wisdom with Jack Kornfield cover image

Heart Wisdom with Jack Kornfield

Ep. 209 – Life as a Forest Monk

Oct 17, 2023
Jack Kornfield, former forest monk in Thailand, shares hilarious personal stories from his time as a monk. He discusses living in a monastery, the teachings of Ajahn Chah, and the practice of surrender and balance. The podcast also explores the concepts of non-self, opening to truth, and deepening spiritual practice.
59:04

Episode guests

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

  • Embracing difficulties and surrendering to the present moment are essential aspects of a forest monk's life
  • Ajahn Chah's teachings focus on overcoming obstacles through direct experience and developing mindfulness in daily activities

Deep dives

Life as a Forest Monk

The podcast episode explores Jack Cornfield's life as a forest monk in a monastery in Thailand with his teacher Ajahn Chah in the early 1980s. It delves into the importance of surrender, embracing difficulties, and developing mindfulness in all activities. Ajahn Chah's teaching focuses on overcoming fear, sleepiness, doubts, and other obstacles through direct experience. The podcast highlights the significance of letting go of attachments and finding balance in practice, and emphasizes the understanding that liberation comes from within oneself rather than relying on external factors or fixed stages of enlightenment.

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