Jack Kornfield

“This important guidebook shows in detail and with great humor and insight the way to practice the Buddha’s universal teachings here in the West. Jack Kornfield is a wonderful storyteller and a great teacher.”—Thich Nhat Hanh“Jack is helping to pave the path for American Buddhism, bringing essential basics into our crazy modern lives. And the language he uses is as simple and as lovely as our breath.”—Natalie Goldberg Perhaps the most important book yet written on meditation, the process of inner transformation, and the integration of spiritual practice into our American way of life, A Path with Heart brings alive one by one the challenges of spiritual living in the modern world. Written by a teacher, psychologist, and meditation master of international renown, this warm, inspiring, and expert book touches on a wide range of essential issues including many rarely addressed in spiritual books. From compassion, addiction, and psychological and emotional healing, to dealing with problems involving relationships and sexuality, to the creation of a Zen-like simplicity and balance in all facets of life, it speaks to the concerns of many modern spiritual seekers, both those beginning on the path and those with years of experience. A Path with Heart is filled with practical techniques, guided meditations, stories, koans, and other gems of wisdom that can help ease your journey through the world. The author’s own profound—and sometimes humorous—experiences and gentle assistance will skillfully guide you through the obstacles and trials of spiritual and contemporary life to bring a clarity of perception and a sense of the sacred into your everyday experience. Reading this book will touch your heart and remind you of the promises inherent in meditation and in a life of the the blossoming of inner peace, wholeness, and understanding, and the achievement of a happiness that is not dependent on external conditions. Sure to be a classic, A Path with Heart shows us how we can bring our spirituality to flower every day of our lives. It is a wise and gentle guidebook for an odyssey into the soul that enables us to achieve a deeper, more satisfying life in the world.

When the path ahead is dark, how can we keep from stumbling? How do we make our way with courage and dignity? "Inside each of us is an eternal light that I call the 'One Who Knows, '" writes Jack Kornfield. "Awakening to this wisdom can help us find our way through pain and suffering with grace and tenderness." For anyone seeking answers during a time of trial, he offers A Lamp in the Darkness, a book-and-CD program filled with spiritual and psychological insights, hope-giving stories, and special guided meditations for skillfully navigating life's inevitable storms. The practices in this book are not positive thinking, quick fixes, or simplistic self-help strategies. They are powerful tools for doing "the work of the soul" to access our inner knowing and to embrace the fullness of our life experience. With regular practice, these teachings and meditations enable you to transform your difficulties into a guiding light for the journey ahead. Join Jack Kornfield as your trusted guide and friend as you explore: . Shared Compassion-a guided practice for planting the seeds of compassion and opening the heart to all that life brings . The Practice of Forgiveness-medicine that can release us from the past and allow us to truly begin anew . The Temple of Healing-a guided visualization to meet your own inner healer Just as it is certain that each life will include suffering, explains Kornfield, it is also true that in every moment there is the possibility of transcending your difficulties to discover the heart's eternal freedom. With A Lamp in the Darkness, he offers you a beacon for yourself and others until joy returns again.

In this landmark work, internationally beloved teacher of meditation and mindfulness Jack Kornfield reveals that you can be happy now, this minute, with the keys to inner freedom.In his first major book in several years, the inspiring author of the classic A Path with Heart, Jack Kornfield, invites us into a new awareness. Through his signature warmhearted, poignant, often funny stories, with their Aha moments and O. Henry-like outcomes, Jack shows how we get stuck and how we can free ourselves, wherever we are and whatever our circumstances. Renowned for his mindfulness practices and meditations, Jack provides these keys for opening gateways to immediate shifts in perspective and clarity of vision, allowing us to see how to change course, take action, or—when we shouldn’t act—just relax and trust. Each chapter presents a path to a different kind of freedom—freedom from fear, freedom to start over, to love, to be yourself, and to be happy—and guides you into an active process that engages your mind, heart, and spirit, awakens your spirit, and brings real joy, over and over again. Drawing from his own life as a son, brother, father, and partner, and on his forty years of face-to-face teaching of thousands of people across the country, Jack presents a stirring call to be here, in the power of the now, the present, as we work through life’s passages. His keys to life will help us find hope, clarity, relief from past disappointments and guilt, and the courage to go forward.

A guide to the transformative power of Buddhist psychology—for meditators and mental health professionals, Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike. You have within you unlimited capacities for extraordinary love, for joy, for communion with life, and for unshakable freedom—and here is how to awaken them. In The Wise Heart, celebrated author and psychologist Jack Kornfield offers the most accessible, comprehensive, and illuminating guide to Buddhist psychology ever published in the West. Here is a vision of radiant human dignity, a journey to the highest expression of human possibility—and a practical path for realizing it in our own lives.

“Enlightenment does exist,” internationally renowned author and meditation master Jack Kornfield assures us. “Unbounded freedom and joy, oneness with the divine ... these experiences are more common than you know, and not far away.” But even after achieving such realization — after the ecstasy — we are faced with the day-to-day task of translating that freedom into our imperfect lives. We are faced with the laundry.Drawing on the experiences and insights of leaders and practitioners within the Buddhist, Christian, Jewish, Hindu, and Sufi traditions, this book offers a uniquely intimate and honest understanding of how the modern spiritual journey unfolds — and how we can prepare our hearts for awakening.Through moving personal stories and traditional tales, we learn how the enlightened heart navigates the real world of family relationships, emotional pain, earning a living, sickness, loss, and death.

You hold in your hand an invitation :To remember the transforming power of forgiveness and lovingkindness. To remember that no matter where you are and what you face, within your heart peace is possible.In this beautiful and graceful little book, internationally renowned Buddhist teacher and meditation master Jack Kornfield has collected age-old teachings, modern stories, and time-honored practices for bringing healing, peace, and compassion into our daily lives. Just to read these pages offers calm and comfort. The practices contained here offer meditations for you to discover a new way to meet life’s greatest challenges with acceptance, joy, and hope.

Just as the serene beauty of the lotus blossom grows out of muddy water, Buddha's simple instructions have helped people to find wholeness and peace amid life's crisis and distractions for more than 2,500 years. For this small handbook, a well-known American Buddhist teacher and psychologist has distilled and adapted an ancient teaching for the needs of contemporary life. Its practical reminders and six meditations can infuse smallest everyday action with insight and joy.

We don’t have to look to the East for the secrets of awakening—the wisdom and peace we seek is available right here, in our ordinary daily lives If you want to find inner peace and wisdom, you don’t need to move to an ashram or monastery. Your life, just as it is, is the perfect place to be. Here Jack Kornfield, one of America’s most respected Buddhist teachers, shares this and other key lessons gleaned from more than forty years of committed study and practice. Topics • How to cultivate loving-kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity • Conscious parenting • Spirituality and sexuality • The way of forgiveness • Committing ourselves to healing the suffering in the worldBringing Home the Dharma includes simple meditation practices for awakening our buddha nature—our wise and understanding heart—amid the ups and downs of our ordinary daily lives.

An introductory guide to insight meditation, offering exercises from two master teachers and a look into how this practice leads to compassion and a deeper understanding of self.Insight meditation is a Buddhist practice that can lead to understanding our lives, to clearly seeing the true nature of our existence, and to opening our hearts to ourselves and others. This book is a pocket-sized summary of the practices taught in the authors' meditation retreats around the world. It includes exercises for strengthening mindfulness, cultivating compassion, and learning to live by the precepts.

Meditation is a doorway to freedom-a doorway that is open to anyone, at any time. Meditation for Beginners introduces you to this ancient art, and shows you, step-by-step, how it can help you feel truly alive and connected with the treasure each moment brings. In this complete video beginners' course, Jack Kornfield introduces you to the "insight" practice of meditation. Buddhist monks draw from this same tradition; anyone can use its principles to cultivate a profound inner calm and awaken to the truth behind the power of their presence. Four easy-to-learn meditations cover postures and breathing, beginner's mind, awareness practices, lovingkindness, and much more. Join this respected teacher and learn the time-honored secrets of mindfulness and inner freedom on Meditation for Beginners.

At the heart of all Buddhist wisdom lies one astonishing a way out of suffering and into a more deeply fulfilling life is not a myth, but a reality available to you the moment you open your eyes through the power of skillful inquiry.For generations, this fact has been proven again and again by those who have learned and tested for themselves what the Buddha taught. Now, with Buddhism for Beginners , celebrated teacher and author Jack Kornfield invites you to experience for yourself the gifts of this vast spiritual tradition.Created specifically to address the questions and needs of first-time students, this full-length retreat on audio offers an ideal way to learn Buddhism's essential principles and insights. Join this gifted speaker, as he guides you Buddhism's cornerstone teachings, including the Four Noble Truths, the Eightfold Path to inner freedom, the meaning and varieties of karma , the Ten Perfections for opening the heart, the inner tools of samadhi and prajna (concentration and insight), the Four Great Immeasurables, the Buddha's last great teaching, and many other topics• The principles of meditation practice, covering such fundamentals as clarifying awareness and focusing your mind; overcoming distractions and other inner obstacles; using heart-centered practices to sprout the seeds of compassion and loving-kindness, and more• Wisdom stories, poetry, teaching parables, and inspiring true accounts distilled from Buddhism's many historical branches, plus invaluable advice gleaned from Kornfield's own years of experience as a student and a teacherThe ancient Buddhist scripture The Path to Purification poses this The world is entangled in a knot. Who can untangle the tangle? According to the Buddha, the answer you can, by learning to see things clearly and simply, as they actually are.Now, with Jack Kornfield's Buddhism for Beginners, you will find the tools and teachings you need to begin this great inner adventure of self-discovery and freedom.

When the Buddha set in motion the wheel of Dharma, he knew that the teaching he gave was inexhaustible—that every future generation would find its own skillful ways to convey it to the hearts and minds of those ready to hear. The Buddha Is Still Teaching is testimony to the fulfillment of that promise today. The selections it contains, from today’s most highly regarded contemporary Buddhist teachers, bring the Dharma eloquently to life for us in our own time, place, and culture. They demonstrate that two and a half millennia have done nothing to diminish the freshness of the Buddhist teachings, or their universal applicability to our lives.Contributors Ajahn Chah, Joko Beck, Sylvia Boorstein, Tara Brach, Pema Chödrön, the Dalai Lama, Ram Dass, Mark Epstein, Norman Fischer, Natalie Goldberg, Joseph Goldstein, Dilgo Khyentse, Jack Kornfield, Noah Levine, Stephen Levine, Sakyong Mipham, Sharon Salzberg, Suzuki Roshi, Robert Thurman, Thich Nhat Hanh, and Tulku Thondup.To learn more about the author, visit his website at .

The Buddha said many times that just as the great oceans have but one taste, so do all the true teachings of the the taste of freedom. Jack Kornfield's The Roots of Buddhist Psychology is an invitation to drink deeply of these teachings -- to taste the wisdom that flows from the heart of Buddhism's most useful ideas on the interior life, and what brings awakening, freedom, and happiness. Among the world's great religions, Buddhism alone has developed a rich, intricate psychology based not on metaphysics, but on the human predicament. Through its strategies, you can find the way to true freedom. Buddhism views the mind as a labyrinth of feelings, perceptions, and emotional states. Unhappiness is rooted in unskillful responses to our grasping when things are pleasant, aversion when they are unpleasant, and delusion/confusion when they are neutral. Through awareness training, Kornfield teaches, you can transform these responses into real skills that are the path to true happiness. This is the way to "inner stillness" -- the deathless state that allows your wisdom and compassion to flow together for a state of greater knowing. Enlivened with many parables, worldly stories, and thoughts from artists, philosophers, and writers, The Roots of Buddhist Psychology can help you to discover for yourself that what you seek is already here.

For over 2,500 years, Buddhism has offered an unfailing path to the world's people, including Americans in ever-increasing numbers. Now bestselling author Jack Kornfield illuminates Buddhism's core teachings with this clear and compact audio guide. From the "lion's roar" of the Four Noble Truths, to the story of how Siddhartha attained enlightenment under the Bodhi Tree, to the real treasure of the Eightfold Path, here are the essentials of Buddhism's history, traditions, and daily practices. Includes a classic meditation with commentary.

In this book (previously published under the title Living Buddhist Masters), Jack Kornfield presents the heart of Buddhist practice as taught by twelve highly respected masters from Southeast Asia, Here, renowned teachers such as Mahasi Sayadaw, U Ba Khin, Mohnyin Sayadaw, and Achaan Maha Boowa describe a rich variety of meditation techniques—practices that can lead to the dissolution of a limited sense of self, an awakening of insight, compassion for all beings, and the realization of Nirvana. In other chapters, Achaan Chaa, Achaan Buddhadasa, and Sunlun Sayadaw offer practices clarifying the essential attitude that will allow each person to discover the truth of the Buddha's teaching here and now—the living Dharma. The book also provides an introduction to the basic tenets of Buddhism and a look at the Buddhist tradition as taught in Burma, Thailand, and Laos.

Awaken to a richer spiritual life with The Inner Art of Meditation, a comprehensive study course on vipassana meditation from Jack Kornfield. Of the two major schools of meditation, this is the one that teaches you the art of creating a foundation of awareness in your daily life. Zen monks draw from these same principles in their practice.

As anyone who has tried it knows, meditation looks simple, but at times it can be difficult. The most potential you can have on your contemplative path is a trusted teacher like Jack Kornfield, who stands out as one of the most helpful and encouraging Western instructors for newcomers to the art of meditation.With Guided Meditation , this renowned Buddhist teacher brings you six practices that will open the door to the serenity and joy of meditation, and serve as your foundation for years to come.Offering you precise guidance through every step of these transformational practices, Kornfield introduces you Basic sitting practice―The essential starting point for nurturing nonjudgmental spaciousness• The heart-opening techniques of lovingkindness and forgiveness meditation to help you discover liberation from suffering• A visualization exercise for overcoming difficulties by making direct contact with the voice of your highest wisdom• The gratitude and joy meditation, which nourishes an innocent rejoicing in life itself• Mind Like Sky―a practice to enter "original mind," the pure space of awareness that is consciousness itselfSince the time of the Buddha, meditation taught under the guidance of an expert has proven to be the easiest and most effective way to begin. Whether you are just starting out with meditation or have decided to reconnect with the ground of your practice, Jack Kornfield's Guided Meditation provides concise and gentle training of the heart and mind to enjoy the fruits of this centuries-old art.Course Apply the six guided meditation practices to cultivate love, awareness, and wisdom• Practice each of the six guided meditation practices as a way to cultivate stillness and "knowing"• Explore mindfulness practices related to awareness of the breath, loving kindness, forgiveness, visualization, gratitude, and the spaciousness of consciousness

Jack Kornfield and Christina Feldman serve up a delicious banquet of wise tales from the world's greatest spiritual traditions in the pages of this delightful collection. A feast filled with timeless moral and spiritual lessons, these lively tales and

Meditations to Activate Your Capacity for HealingMeditation brings you into a deep communion with your own body and heart, but what happens when you are sick or in pain? With Guided Meditations for Self-Healing , Jack Kornfield guides you through meditations created specifically to ease physical and emotional suffering, and activate a powerful capacity for restoring yourself to wholeness.Join this leading meditation teacher and psychologist for three essential practices that tap the healing power of Healing Presence―how to use the earth itself as your foundation to support you in self-diagnosis and restoration• The Healing Temple―guided visualization to your inner sanctuary, encountering the great healer, and receiving the necessary gifts for true recovery and blessing• The Healing Power of Love―directing the luminous spirit of lovingkindness to all the places in your body and spirit that are in needWe are conditioned to approach healing as an act of control, in which we judge what is wrong with us and impose a change. The way of awareness teaches us how to turn toward that which is injured in us with a caring and fearless attention, so we may open the door to true healing at every level of our being.With Guided Meditations for Self-Healing , Jack Kornfield brings you three potent practices to bring compassionate energy where it is needed in your body, psyche, and spirit, and to awaken the "master healer" within you.Course Utilize meditation to activate your capacity for healing.• Demonstrate "Healing Presence"―how to use the earth itself as your foundation to support you in self-diagnosis and restoration.• Practice "The Healing Temple"―guided visualization to your inner sanctuary, encountering the great healer, and receiving the necessary symbols and messages for healing• Discuss "The Healing Power of Love"―directing the luminous spirit of lovingkindness to all the places in your body and spirit that are in need.

Listening Length: 9 hours and 30 minutes; 6 audio cassettesIn 12 sessions, this therapist and meditation instructor introduces listeners to Buddhism's most basic foundation for mindful living: the Ten Perfections. He offers meditations and other techniques to help listeners open to the higher qualities rooted in their own hearts.

Why are so many contemporary westerners drawn to Buddhist philosophy? Because it offers a practical means to achieving the inner peace, fulfilment, and happiness that we all want. A Beginner's Guide to Inner Peace and Fulfillment is an informative yet compact audio guide with celebrated teacher Jack Kornfield. In one liberating CD session, listeners hear the story of Siddhartha's enlightenment under the Bodhi Tree, the core wisdom of the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path, and essentials of Buddhism's many branches and practices. With guided mindfulness and lovingkindness meditations.

Delight in the Facets of Awakened Living through an Audio Retreat with Jack KornfieldIt is possible to find genuine happiness and liberation in the ups and downs of your own human life. We can all sense how it is possible for our own capacity for greater compassion and freedom to grow. "If this were not possible," said the Buddha, "I would not ask you to do so."For four decades, Buddhist meditation teacher Jack Kornfield has shared practical instructions for awakening the wise and compassionate heart in the midst of all we experience. The Jewel of Liberation presents 10 pinnacle dharma talks (teaching sessions) hand-selected by Jack from his personal collection to illuminate the pathways out of suffering and into the natural freedom that is both our shared birthright and our greatest gift to the world.Reclaim the Seat of Dignity, Compassion, and LovingkindnessMeditation is the practice of awakening itself; it is the fundamental tool the Buddha offered to quiet the mind and open the heart. We begin our retreat with an examination of the art of meditation and how it empowers us to see things clearly and be gracious with the flow of this ever-changing life.The Jewel of Liberation continues with guidance in managing our troubles, the "weeds" that arise even as we cultivate the seeds of abiding happiness. Our retreat culminates with an inquiry into the "laws of life," the understandings we must have if we are to experience freedom independent of our circumstances.The Possibility of Freedom Here and Now"The sure heart’s release is found nowhere else but in our own direct experience―for it is who and what we are," teaches Jack Kornfield. "The world so much needs people who are free in this way, unafraid to love every being." Here is his invitation for each of us to "be a lamp of freedom for yourself and for all."HighlightsWise understanding―the beginning of the Buddhist path• Meditation as the art of "taking your seat halfway between heaven and earth"• The transformation that occurs through the discovery of our true identity• Tending the garden of the heart• Compassion, the antidote to fear and despair• "The One Who Knows"―Ajahn Chah’s description of our innate wisdom and presence• "Enlightenments" and the infinite doorways to freedom• Seeing life the way it is with equanimity and trust• The three laws of impermanence and the secret treasures they hold• That which sustains lasting changes in our lives• A 10-hour audio retreat with Jack Kornfield including 10 pinnacle dharma talksCourse Describe wise the beginning of the Buddhist path.• Summarize the transformation that occurs through the discovery of our true identity.• Discuss compassion, the antidote to fear and despair.• Explain Ajahn Chah’s description of our innate wisdom and "The One Who Knows."• Apply teachings of living with equanimity and trust.• Practice meditation to sustain lasting change in your life.

Forgiveness is possible. In The Beginner's Guide to Forgiveness, author Jack Kornfield explores why forgiveness, personally and globally, is essential to our health and happiness and how you can start using this timeless practice to transform emotional wounds into healing and understanding.Runtime: 1 hour, 11 minutes

An Invitation to Explore the Deeper Dimensions of the Spiritual Journey It might happen suddenly, like a flash of lightning. Or gradually, like raindrops filling a jar. Our universal and awakened nature, the Buddha taught, can emerge in calm or in crisis. And then, as our path deepens, we must learn to embody our vision as we navigate the unexpected turns of the mystery. When we asked Jack Kornfield for the most helpful advanced teachings from his audio archives, he chose these eight essential sessions. With Awakening Is Real , here are just a few of the dimensions of the spiritual journey that you will explore in Into the Quiet Forest of Presence, Compassion, and Interconnectedness These sessions, while taught and recorded among advanced students, are anything but academic. Instead, you'll find here the playful, candid, and direct sharing of wisdom usually heard only by those fully committed to their life's evolution-an opportunity to discover within yourself what Jack Kornfield's own teacher Ajahn Chah called "the still, clear forest pool that sees the nature of all things." SESSIONS

A radical shift in identity. The direct experience of unity with all things. Unexplainable joy and a blissful ease of being. These are just some of the ways in which a growing number of people have described the experience of spiritual awakening. But is it the same for everyone? What if we've only had glimpses of "waking up"? How does the process unfold - and does it end?Waking Up brings you the insights of 34 of today's leading authors and teachers who have deeply explored the implications of spiritual awakening. Sounds True publisher Tami Simon will speak with the teachers about their personal understandings of awakening - how it happened, what changed (and what didn't), and how their experiences can inspire and inform our own realizations.1. A Radical Shift in Identity - Adyashanti 2. The Mandala of Awakening - Jack Kornfield, PhD 3. The Death of the Little Me - Eckhart Tolle 4. "Awake, Yes, But Keep Practicing" - Sally Kempton 5. A Freedom That Leaves Nothing Out - Reggie Ray 6. There Is No End to How We Explore True Nature - AH Almaas 7. Directness with Life - Thomas Hübl 8. Being a Light in the World - Sandra Ingerman 9. Saying Yes to Being Found - Richard Rohr 10. Loving Ourselves into Freedom - Tara Brach 11. Recognizing Your Original Face - Ken Wilber 12. Whatever Arises, Love That - Matt Kahn 13. Shifting to the Infinite Lifestyle - Robert Thurman 14. The Call of Aliveness - Mark Nepo 15. Dropping the Mind Into the Heart - Cynthia Bourgeault 16. Discovering Happiness Independent of Conditions - Shinzen Young 17. Life Is Here: Awakening Is Not a Destination - Jeff Foster 18. Divinized and Humanized - David Frenette 19. Remembering Our True Nature as the Ground of Being - Tsultrim Allione 20. Nothing Special - Thomas Moore 21. Small Glimpses, Many Times - Loch KellyAnd more.

What is transmitted from a spiritual teacher to a student? The possibilities of love and freedom, of living in a joyful heart. Extraordinary spiritual teachers empower us, pointing us towards our own awakening. In their presence, we can feel the qualities of enlightenment rather than just hearing about them, and we are inspired to see in a new way.With Transmission , author and teacher Jack Kornfield shares eight sessions of in-depth teachings illuminating the student-teacher relationship. Through a treasure trove of personal stories about the Dalai Lama, Chögyam Trungpa, Dipa Ma, Ajahn Chah, and other masters, we see how teachers embody the many facets of the jewel of enlightened consciousness―including humor, discipline, humility, joyousness, uncanny perspicacity, and unfathomable compassion―and how we too can fully awaken these qualities in ourselves.Exploring such topics as devotion, the tender heart of sadness, meditation, and patience, Jack reveals the power of opening one's heart to a true spiritual teacher as well as the potential pitfalls and challenges of the teacher-student relationship. With warmth, humor, and practical advice―including what to do if there are no spiritual teachers near your home― Transmission opens possibilities for anyone to deepen, practice, and awaken.HighlightsDo we need teachers on the spiritual path?• The essence of relationship to a spiritual teacher• What teachers most want from their students• Surrendering to something beyond ego• The humanity and humility of true teachers• How we "transfer" or project onto teachers• Experiencing conflict with spiritual teachers• Steering clear of cults and corruption• When teachers don't meet our expectationsCourse Discuss the need for teachers and the essence of relationship to a spiritual teacher on the spiritual path• Discuss such topics as devotion, the tender heart of sadness, meditation, and patience; revealing the power of opening one's heart to a true spiritual teacher, as well as the potential pitfalls and challenges of the teacher-student relationship• Describe how we "transfer" or project onto teachers• Discuss how extraordinary spiritual teachers embody the many facets of the jewel of enlightened consciousness―including humor, discipline, humility, joyousness, uncanny perspicacity, and unfathomable compassion―and how we too can fully awaken these qualities in ourselves• Describe how in the presence of an extraordinary spiritual teacher we can feel the qualities of enlightenment rather than just hearing about them, and we are inspired to see in a new way

The play of sunlight through leaves ... the songs of the wind ... the arc of a brush stroke on paper. To be awake, reflects Jack Kornfield, is to discover the beauty hidden in all things--and to express that beauty ourselves.With Turn Toward the Beautiful, this lyrical writer and teacher inspires us to reclaim our childlike wonder, attuning ourselves to the beauty that often passes us by unnoticed. Then, through insightful verses and stories from many traditions, he invites each of us to nourish the artistic impulse in ourselves--to choose to create as an essential expression of the spiritual life. In two compelling sessions, you will explore:Why beauty and awareness are inseparable, and how they enrich each otherRediscovering the world through our "child's eyes"Presence--an essential component for awakening the artist's gifts of receptivity and wonderHow to use writing, drawing, music, dance, and more to bring insight to othersPractices to spark our own creative expressionWhat if the light that reveals the truth of our lives were waiting right here before us? For seasoned artists or novices of all spiritual traditions, Turn Toward the Beautiful points to that illumination--the beauty of the world that beckons to be received and shared.Session I: Turn Toward the BeautifulTrack 1: IntroductionTrack 2: The retrieval of beautyTrack 3: A life of wakefulnessTrack 4: The Lion's RoarTrack 5: Becoming a child of spiritSession II: Creativity as a Path of LiberationTrack 1: IntroductionTrack 2: Poetry and BuddhismTrack 3: Poems as expressions of liberationTrack 4: Making the sacred visibleTrack 5: Practice: Two QuestionsTrack 6: Creativity as an expression of dharmaCourse objectives: Express story and poetry as offerings of art and beauty--awakening our hearts to move from a small sense of self to receive the world with compassion, understanding and presence.Utilize creativity as an expression of liberation--making the sacred visible.Recognize how creativity may become shut down, and how to open the gateway of creativity to become more free, present and alive.Practice and express your deep understanding of the Dharma through a myriad of creative possibilities.