Latest / Broken Record with Rick Rubin, Malcolm Gladwell, Bruce Headlam and Justin Richmond / BONUS: Guided Meditation with Jack Kornfield

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BONUS: Guided Meditation with Jack Kornfield · Broken Record with Rick Rubin, Malcolm Gladwell, Bruce Headlam and Justin Richmond

• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Pushkin. Hey, y'all's justin Richmond. This is a very different
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: episode of Broken Record. We're of course continuing to drop
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: regular music episodes on Tuesdays, and last week we even
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: dropped a bonus episode with John Legend for you guys,
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: but we wanted to break format real quick to bring
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: you an episode that could maybe help alleviate a lot
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: of the fear and anxiety we're feeling right now. This
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: is Rick Rubin talking with his friend Jack Cornfield. Jack
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: is a world renown Buddhist and meditation teacher. He's long
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: been one of the most influential figures in American Buddhism,
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: and he agreed to connect with Rick via zoom to
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: guide him and you through a couple of different meditations.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: We hope you find these useful and visit these guide
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: meditations as frequently as you need. I know for me,
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: I've been doing these a couple of times a day
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: and has really been helping. So we hope you enjoy
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: and be well. This is Broken Record liner notes for
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: the digital Age. I'm justin Richmond. Here's Rick Rubin with
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: Jack Hornfield. This is unusual because typically in this space
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: we talk only about music and it seemed like in
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: this moment, it might be helpful to people to have
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: something to soothe them in this time of crisis. Many
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: people are at home with a lot of thoughts in
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: their heads and dealing with an unusual stress that none
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: of us are prepared for. And I thought, who do
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: I know who has tools that might be helpful? And
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: the first person that came to mind was you, Jack
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: well as a good friend and somebody who's worked with
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: you on creative projects. I'm really happy that we're connecting together.
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: This feels like a critical time for the music of
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: the heart as well as the music of the voice
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: and instruments. We actually need to find and sense how
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: we can keep making music in our life during this
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: outer crisis. Beautiful, So any suggestions for those of us
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: who are struggling in this moment, Well, let me talk
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: a little bit and then lead a meditation and maybe
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: talk a little more ley another meditation than you and
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: I can dialogue as well, and anytime you want to
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: break in and ask something. This is a spontaneous conversation.
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: The Sufis call it a so bad, which is a
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: conversation of the heart where we're talking heart to heart
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: to one another. And it seems to me in this
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: time that we have a choice. Epidemics, earthquakes, tornado's floods,
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: they happen periodically. They're part of the cycle of life
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: on earth. The question is how do we respond. If
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: we respond with greed or hatred, fear and ignorance, it
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: increases the suffering. If we respond with generosity, clarity, steadiness,
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: and love, it's a whole different game. And it seems
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: more than anything that this is the time for love.
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: The image in the Buddhist teachings is of the Bodhisatva,
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: who someone that's vows or is committed to alleviate suffering
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  Speaker 1: and bring blessings and benefits no matter what the circumstances.
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: A Bodhisata lives with courage and dignity and radiates a
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: kind of compassion or whatever they touch. Now, you know,
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: you might hear this as a sort of metaphor and
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: old archetype, but it's not. As Boists were now asked
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: to hold a certain measure of the tragedy of the
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  Speaker 1: world in our hearts and respond with love. And the
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  Speaker 1: bodhisattva path is in front of us and around us,
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: and we can see it all around, who see bodhisattvas
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: being singing from their balcony to those shut inside or
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  Speaker 1: in young neighbors who are caring for the elders nearby,
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  Speaker 1: or the healthcare workers who go in in spite of
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  Speaker 1: the dangers, or the unheralded ones who simply stock the
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: shelves of our grocery stores and truck the food so
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: that we can all still have the you know, the
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: sustenance to live. It is a very very hard time
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: for all of us. As a father, if my daughter
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: called me and said, Daddie, I need you, I would
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: fly anywhere on the earth to help her, to protect her.
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: But now she and her firefighter husband who's also a paramedic,
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: and my little grandson who's a year and a half old,
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: await the virus. His urban fire department, like many hospitals
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: and first responders, doesn't have masks, and eighty percent of
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: their work is emergency medical calls, and they all expect
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: to get the virus, and they won't be tested because
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: the department can't afford to lose too many of their firefighters.
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: So I pause, and I say, what can I do?
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: What can we do? Because we all have aging parents,
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: or children that we care about, or friends and so forth.
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: In this moment, we need to sit quietly and take
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: a deep breath and acknowledge all the feelings, the fears
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  Speaker 1: and apprehensions, the uncertainty, the helplessness, and hold all these
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  Speaker 1: feelings with the compassionate heart. We can say to all
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  Speaker 1: these feelings, to the uncertainty and the fears, thank you
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  Speaker 1: for trying to protect me. We can sense them and
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  Speaker 1: then respond, I'm okay for now. Or we can imagine
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: taking our fears and putting them in the lap of
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  Speaker 1: Mother Mary or the Buddha or kwanyin the goddess of
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  Speaker 1: infinite compassion, or place them in the hearts and hands
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: of the generations of brave physicians and scientists who tended
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: the world informer epidemics. When we do this, we can
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  Speaker 1: feel ourselves part of something greater, a connection with the
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  Speaker 1: generations of survivors in the vast web of history and
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: life being carried, as the ojibwe elders say, by great
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: winds across the sky. This is a time of mystery
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  Speaker 1: and uncertainty, and it helps just to pause and take
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  Speaker 1: a deep breath, because the veils of separation are parting,
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  Speaker 1: and we see the reality of interconnection apparent to everyone
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: on this earth. We've needed this pause, perhaps even needed
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: our isolation to see how much we need one another.
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  Speaker 1: So as we do, and I'll lead a meditation that
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: helps us to do this, we can begin to realize
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: that it's also time for us to add our part.
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  Speaker 1: The body satwa deliberately turns towards the suffering around to
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  Speaker 1: serve and help those in whatever way they can. And
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  Speaker 1: this is the test we've all been waiting for. We
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  Speaker 1: know how to do this as human beings. So we'll
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  Speaker 1: talk about this and the kind of direction and bow.
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: But with these words to start with, I'd like to
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  Speaker 1: invite those who listen to do a meditation. Is that
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: all right, Rick? Yes? Please? So if wherever you're listening
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: in this case, I'm assuming you're probably not driving, hopefully
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: safe and sequestered at home, let yourself say it in
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: a way that's comfortable and stable, your eyes closed gently,
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: and bring your attention just here and now land back
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: in your body. You know, your feet on the earth,
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  Speaker 1: and as you return to the body that you've been given,
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: which is really the body of the earth Earth, come alive.
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: Notice what you find without loving awareness, you likely will
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  Speaker 1: find tension in the body, contractions, the responses of fight
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  Speaker 1: flight or freeze of fear, the accumulation of the stress
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: that we've all been under. As you pay attention to
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: your body and to all the contractions, hot, cold, tensions
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: and pains, let them be held in a loving awareness,
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  Speaker 1: without resistance, without judgment, with a kind presence of attention,
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  Speaker 1: and you'll notice that your body responds to this caring attention.
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: As you feel what's present and make space with loving awareness,
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: things can intensify, move change, and gradually soften. To help
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: this even further, bring in the quality of compassion of
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  Speaker 1: a tender heart, and say to your body, thank you
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: for trying to protect me all the contractions and the
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: tensions or ways your body has to ward off and
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  Speaker 1: protect you. Thank you for this. I'm okay right now,
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: thank you. You can release and relax and return into
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  Speaker 1: the earth the tensions, the pains, let the breath deepen
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  Speaker 1: in the space of loving awareness, open and now bring
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: your attention to the area of your heart and notice
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  Speaker 1: what feelings are present. There might be sadness or grief,
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: worry and anxiety or fear. There might be tears, longing, regret, helplessness.
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  Speaker 1: There might also be tenderness and love, courage. Tune in
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  Speaker 1: and let yourself acknowledge what you feel in your heart,
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  Speaker 1: what's being carried as we go through this crisis together.
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: You can know and acknowledge the feelings that are present,
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  Speaker 1: almost as if with a about you can name them
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  Speaker 1: softly whispered oh, sadness or fear, longing, anger. Whatever is
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  Speaker 1: present can be named tenderness and love as well. And
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: as you name the feelings that are present, allow them
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  Speaker 1: to open in the space of your loving awareness, without judgment,
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  Speaker 1: without resistance. Just let them be and let them open
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  Speaker 1: as they need to, even stronger if that's what happens.
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  Speaker 1: Give them the space. Let your loving awareness be the
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  Speaker 1: space in the heart can let go layer by layer
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  Speaker 1: and open and again bring in the quality of compassion
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  Speaker 1: that tenderness toward all these feelings you've been carrying. And
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  Speaker 1: as you've named and acknowledge them, as if to bow
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  Speaker 1: to them, you can say thank you, thank you for
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  Speaker 1: trying to protect me and care for me. Thank you
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  Speaker 1: worry and fear, sadness, And as you acknowledge them with gratitude,
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  Speaker 1: thank you. You can also say I'm okay right now,
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  Speaker 1: thank you, I'm all right, And make space for these
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  Speaker 1: feelings to open and soften and dissipate in whatever they will,
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  Speaker 1: whatever way they will. And now go to your mind,
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  Speaker 1: all the plans and thoughts, the regrets, the analyzing, the worries,
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  Speaker 1: all of it. They're trying to figure it out, when
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  Speaker 1: much of this is really a mystery unknown. And again
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: you can acknowledge what's present as if we're about racing mind, confusion,
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  Speaker 1: worried thoughts, planning, and as you whisper the name of
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  Speaker 1: what's present, allow it to be held acknowledge respectfully in
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  Speaker 1: the vast space of loving awareness. And notice what happens
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  Speaker 1: as you bring this kind attention to the states of mind,
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  Speaker 1: How they too can open, intensify, expand, and like clouds,
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  Speaker 1: begin to soften and dissipate in the vastness of your
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  Speaker 1: loving awareness. Thank them, say thank you for trying to
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  Speaker 1: protect me, for trying to help and care for me.
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  Speaker 1: I can use you, I can use thinking when it's needed.
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  Speaker 1: But the overactive, overworried, overtired, overstimulated mind, thank you, You've
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: done your job. I'm okay right now, Thank you, And
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: feel how you are okay, just where you are present, gracious,
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: bring in the compassion. Compassion for this overworked and troubled mind,
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  Speaker 1: a tenderness held in loving awareness and compassion. Let the
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  Speaker 1: mind settle, and now let yourself feel seated here on
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: the earth in this remarkable human incarnation, a growing steadiness
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: and simplicity. This is the time to steady the heart,
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: begin to trust that you can be present for all
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: that arises, and hold it in the great heart of
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  Speaker 1: compassion and loving awareness. And notice now that all the
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: things you've been experiencing, the word that you hear, the
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: sensations of the body, the emotions and thoughts, they've all
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: been received by consciousness, by awareness itself. This is who
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  Speaker 1: you really are, the timeless consciousness that was borne into
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  Speaker 1: your body, that will leave your body when you die.
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: You are not this physical body, although you are graced
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  Speaker 1: to have it. You are not the passing emotions and thoughts.
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  Speaker 1: Rest back in the vast open space of loving awareness.
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  Speaker 1: It is who you really are, the witness to all things.
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: When a child is born, our first gesture is one
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  Speaker 1: of love. We love them. When a dear one dies,
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: our last response is to hold their hands and offer
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  Speaker 1: a gesture of love. This is all that matters. Timeless
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  Speaker 1: love and awareness is who you really are, from the beginning,
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  Speaker 1: in the middle, right now, and in the end. Trust yourself.
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: Trust that you have the capacity to be present for
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: this life, with its joys and its sorrows, its unbearable
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: beauty in the ocean of tears. You have within you
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  Speaker 1: the great heart of compassion, the wisdom of loving awareness.
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  Speaker 1: Rest in it, Relax into it. It is your refuge,
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  Speaker 1: it is your home. Now when you're ready, let your
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: eyes open again gently and let yourself sense how it's
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: possible for you to be present for all the tensions
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: and the difficult emotions and the stories in the mind,
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: and not be so caught up in them that you
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: become the wise one, the loving witness, with a steadiness
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: and a courage. This is the time to steady yourself,
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: and it affects everyone else. Many of you will have
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: heard the words of Zenmaster Tikno on when the crowded
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: Vietnamese refugee boats met with storms or pirates. If everyone panicked,
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: all would be lost. But if even one person on
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: the boat remains steady and calm, it was enough. It
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: showed the way for everyone to survive. And you know
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: who that one person is, don't you? In your family,
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: in your community, in this world, you have this capacity
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: and to quiet yourself, to steady, to quiet the mind
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: and tend the heart every day gives you the grounding
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: and presence reminds you of the courage and dignity you
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: have to move through the with the tears and the
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: humor that's everywhere. And you can be a beacon, a
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: medicine of the heart for all you touch. So, Rick,
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: I'd like to pause here and maybe have a little dialogue,
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: and then I have some more things to add and
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: another meditation perhaps, but I want to check in with
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: you and see how this practice was for you. It
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: really helped me if I felt my whole body change
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: and lighten and relax. And when we talked about the heart,
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: there was a sense of a protection and like a
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: closing down that opened and blossomed as he was speaking.
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: And I think I'm going to listen to those words
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: every day from now on until until things come back
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: to more of a sense of normalcy. We thank you.
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: It was a little long, I don't know, maybe fifteen
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: minutes or something, and of course none of this is planned.
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: We're all actually living by brail, trying to feel our
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: way through this crisis with the best wisdom and care
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: we can. But if people want to relisten to it,
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: it's wonderful to take time in whatever way you can,
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: to pause and quiet the mind and tend the heart
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: and ground the body. So helpful, beautiful. It really changes everything,
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: just that we realize that how powerful the mind is,
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: and how when confronted with these situations, how reactive we become,
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: and to be able to just step aside for a
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: moment and reset and reground and started new when we
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: come back after the words, it seems to make us
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: stronger in dealing with the difficulty. Yes, yeah, it does,
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: certainly does. For me. I know it in the morning.
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: It's a way to steady myself for the day I had.
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: At the end of the day, it's a way of
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: releasing the tensions and all the emotions that get touched
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: by all of us are communicating in this electronic web.
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: We can't hold each other's hands, but we're connecting in
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: other ways that we're desperate for. We can't do this alone.
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: We need one another and at the end of the
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: day to settle down and reconnect with my own body
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: and heart and mind. I find really helpful beautiful. I
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: have a friend who made a suggestion speaking to what
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: you mentioned about not having touch. Getting a really soft
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: blanket and wrapping yourself in a soft blanket and experiencing
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: the feeling of the blanket on your skin can really
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: stimulate that the touch sense and give us a sense
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: of comfort. I like that image very much, and the blanket.
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: I think of Linus's blanket. You know, he gets a
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: little bit freaked out the days that it's put in
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: the dryer. Right. But there's something it's both literal, which
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: your friend has said, and beautiful, and it's also symbolic
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: that in some way it's useful in these times to
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: sense what it is that nourishes us, that helps us
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: feel like we're tending ourselves well with love, with care,
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: or tending those around us. So it's a great suggest
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: beautiful and also been It has been recommended to find
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: daily practices to do to occupy yourself and either learning
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: a new skill or reading something you've always wanted to read,
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: or practicing a new exercise or learning an instrument. It's
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: a great opportunity to make use of this time instead
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: of just dwelling on the darkness and the fears. Yeah,
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: you can go to con academy and take a course
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: in anything, or you can learn to cook in the
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: ways that you never have before, or as you say,
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: learn to make music. And you know, in that way,
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: let there be something that's beautiful and fruitful that grows
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: for you. It also helps to make a schedule for yourself.
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: I read a meet that's going around that says, especially
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: in the morning, put on your damn pants. You know,
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: don't sit around in your in your pajamas all day,
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: but actually change the experience so that you feel like, yes,
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: I'm here in this life, meeting this day and deliberately
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: a part of it. And make a schedule. You know,
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: is this is the rhythm by which I want to
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: learn or study or reach out or meditate or whatever
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: it is. All of that's good. On my website Jack
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: Hornfield dot com, there is a talk, a written piece,
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: and some videos on how to do a home retreat,
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: And there's videos with my colleague Tar Brock and I
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: leading a half day retreat for those who are interested
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: or relatively new to meditation and want support of how
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: to do this. That's another support that people can find
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: helpful in this time. Beautiful. That sounds great. So many
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: people I know are interested in doing a retreat and
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: can never find the time, And it seems like a
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: perfect opportunity to take advantage of the situation for something positive. Yeah,
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: And the beautiful thing is that these are like making music.
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: There isn't the right way to do it. You become
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: the jazz musician. You get the riff from the meditation,
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: and then you find your way to make music with it.
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: For some it will be much quieter. For others there'll
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: be a little bit more activity of doing an active
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: compassion or loving kindness for their body and heart and
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: mind people around them. You get to experiment and play
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: as an inner artist with all of this. Beautiful How
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: did you find yourself on this path? Originally I was
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: doing pre med studies at Dartmouth College, thinking I would
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: learn to be a physician, and I accidentally, on purpose,
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: took a class in Asian studies and Buddhists teachings from
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: this wonderful old professor who'd come up from Harvard. His
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: name was doctor winsit Chan, and sometimes he would sit
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: cross legged on the desk and talk about Laotsu and
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: the Buddha and Confucius, but really he was talking about
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: the wisdom of the heart. And when he talked about Buddhism,
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: he said that there are teachings that life has suffering,
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: but that's not the end of the story. There are
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: causes for the suffering, greed, hatred, fear, and ignorance, and
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: there's a path to the end of suffering. And I
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: sat up in my seat because my own background and
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: family had been a pretty difficult one. We were middle
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: class and all of that, but my father was a
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: violent and abusive person who would beat my mother black
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: and blue, who would terrorize us as children, and it
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: was also completely unpredictable. We never knew when the car
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: was coming home what was going to come out the door.
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: So when I heard that, oh, Buddhism not only acknowledgist suffering,
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: but it teaches the ways to heal the heart and
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: to a path to a kind of inner well being
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: in the face of suffering, I've got really interested. And
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: so I changed my major and majored in Asian studies
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: in Buddhist teachings. And then it was in the nineteen sixties.
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: I wanted to see if there were still those great
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: old zen masters that you read about. So I asked
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: the Peace courts to send me to a Buddhist country
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: to look for a teacher. And I was assigned to
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: Thailand and spent a couple of years working on village
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: medical teams in the remote parts of Thailand on the
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: border of Laos, And there I found a remarkable teacher
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: with whom I studied and became a Buddhist monk, and
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: all the things that I was just talking about. It's funny,
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: you know. I got a call one time from the
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: Alumni magazine of Dartmouth. They wanted to do a cover
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: story on weird graduates, and I guess fit the bill.
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: And part of what I said is that I felt
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: like I had I received only half an education. That
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: an Ivy League education was good for the mind and
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: history and philosophy and science, but I also needed an
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: education of the heart. How to deal with the pain
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: from my family, with the anger of my father, his rage,
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: and what to do with my own anger because I
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: didn't want to be like him, How to deal with
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: forgiveness or compassion, How to deal not just with my emotions,
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: but with all the different states of mind, how to
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: have a wiser relationship to myself and to the people
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: around me. This is the curriculum of the heart. And
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: I found it there in the monastery teachings that had
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: been passed on for thousands of years. And now, of
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: course it's become my life work with a number of
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: other wonderful friends. Unfortunately, it's been available to lots of
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: other people. When I came back and I met my
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: colleagues Joseph Goldstein, Sharon Salzburg, and we all began to
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: teach together in nineteen seventy four. We had no idea
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: that mindfulness was going to become a watchword in the society.
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: People asked us what happened to you? You seem so
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: much happier and better. Can you show us? Can you
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: tell us? And we said, sure, we'll make a retreat.
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: Who will create a place a center if people are asking.
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: And then it just grew by itself, like good things
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: too beautiful. It's amazing how we find our paths and
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: they grow just based on the need of the world.
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: It seems it seems everybody has a role in filming
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: a puzzle piece, and together we make it happen. Yeah,
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: my good friend Maladoma Somey, who's West African shaman and
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: medicine man, said, among the Dagara people, which is his people,
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: they believe that every child who is born comes into
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: the world carrying a certain cargo. And I love this metaphor.
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: It sort of comes from the cargo ships that apply
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: the rivers of Best Africa. And what they believe is
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: that the task of every child or every human being
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: is to have a sense of what that cargo is,
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: you could call it, what are their gifts, and to
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: deliver their cargo to this world. And their gifts can
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: be as simple as a temperament that smiles at people
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: and makes them feel that there's someone who sees them,
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: honors them, values them. It's not the great gifts of
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: recording the Beethoven's Ninth Symphony or something. Yes, we might
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: have some amazing gifts. Everybody has amazing gifts because we're
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: human beings and the fact that we live and exist
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: in this complex, extraordinary society, we're already amazing amazing enough.
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: But to be able to sense that we have something
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: to give and then to offer it as a gesture.
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: A poem aport for someone else, a work of art,
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: a dinner that we make for those we love, all
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: of those things. And your work, Rick, over all these
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: years has been to listen deeply, not just to the
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: music of your artists, but somehow to their gifts. And
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: I think somehow in that Foster helped them find their
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: gifts and bring them out. Would you say that's true?
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: It's true, And it's strange because I didn't even know
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: there was such a I didn't know that was a job,
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: but it again, it revealed itself as and this is
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: what it is. Who's by no means an aspiration or
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: even a possible dream, This would be my life. Yeah,
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: And I think in many ways for almost all of us,
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: that's as you were saying, that's how life unfolds. We
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: don't really know, and what we can do is be present.
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: And as we become present enough, steady enough in some way,
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: then we're able to dance with what comes. We're able
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: to listen and feel the rhythm and respond, and our
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: presence and our attention already our gifts, and they lead
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: us to what to what's needed next, And that that
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: idea of us not really knowing, I think that's the
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: most powerful of all messages, is to accept that we
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: don't know m in that we're all children, you know,
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: we're all nobody's really an expert at anything, and we
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: all have to find our way. And there's some great
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: strength in knowing that it's not just a question of
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: listening to an outside force for our information, but our
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: ability to go inside and trust ourselves. Beautiful. My teacher Rajuanshah,
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: who lived in the forests and the border of Thailand
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: in Laos, this forest monastery, he was fond of saying,
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: it's uncertain, isn't it? You could ask him almost anything,
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: you know, tell me, you could ask the high falutin question,
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: tell me about an enlightenment, and he, you know, he
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: was supposed to be enlightened. He would just smile and say,
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: it's uncertain, isn't it? Or he would you know, you
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: would ask him, you know, a much more mundane question,
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: and he might see it's uncertain. It was the and
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: he was so present and relaxed in the wisdom of
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: uncertainty and mystery. I remember when I was a kid,
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: one of the things that I liked to do was
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: to go out on a starry summer night and lie
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: on the grass and look up at the canopy of
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: the sky. But then I would imagine that I was
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: on the bottom of the world, because there isn't really
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: a top or a bottom, and that I was being
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: held like the magnet of gravity was holding me against
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: the surface of the earth so I didn't fall down,
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: and I would be looking down into a sea of stars,
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: and there was this rush of joy and fear and
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: beauty and feeling that I was floating magnet magnetically held
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: on this planet, moving through the sea of stars. And
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: if anybody thinks they really understand, just go out on
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: a night that's clear and spend some time looking at
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: the stars. The idea, whether it's in spiritual practice or
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: artistic practice, is not to see perfection. I think of
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: sadmaster Ryokan, the most beloved poet in Japan, where he
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: wrote last year a foolish monk, this year, no change.
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: And the idea isn't so much to perfect ourselves, according
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: to some imagine standard. Maybe the point is to perfect
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: our love, to be able to live this life from
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: the place of love for ourselves and that which is around,
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: and deliver our cargo, give our gifts. Beautiful. I'm going
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: to take your suggestion of looking at the stars as
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: a homework assignment tonight, and if it's clear, I'm going
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: to spend a good deal of time with the stars.
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: Oh lovely. Maybe maybe your little boy Rah will come
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: out with you for a little bit too, Beautiful, he
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: loves and stars view the stars. Well, I have a
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: little more of another practice to lead, if that's okay
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: to talk a tiny bit about it and then do
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: another practice together. Yes, all right, fantastic. So this is
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: a practice that again builds on the Buddhist tradition, but
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: is really quite universal. In the Buddhist tradition, as I said,
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: there is this notion of the Bodhisattva of being any
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: of us, all of us, who is committed to alleviating
• 41:41
  Speaker 1: suffering or bringing blessings no matter what the circumstances. And
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: for the Bodhisatva, difficulties are like their bread and butter. Okay,
• 41:53
  Speaker 1: now is the time to step up if you some way.
• 41:57
  Speaker 1: This is the test, This is really what I need
• 42:01
  Speaker 1: to do. So, as a Bodhisattva, you begin to notice
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: that your response in this uncertainty has to come from
• 42:15
  Speaker 1: a very deep place in your heart, what is your
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: best intention, your most noble aspirations, especially going through the
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: kind of difficulty that we as all of humanity are facing.
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: And if you let yourself listen, you'll come to a
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: kind of inner knowing. Sometimes in some traditions it's called
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: a vow that becomes your north star, so that whenever
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: you get lost, to remember and it reminds you what
• 42:50
  Speaker 1: really matters to you. So if you would let yourself
• 42:54
  Speaker 1: sit quietly and again, let your eyes close gently, and
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: come back to the loving awareness presence for your own
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: body seated here on this earth, for your own heart
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: and mind. Again, each time you tune in, let the
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: body and heart and mind settle, held in the field
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: of loving awareness that doesn't resist or try to judge
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: or change, but tenderly with compassion, says Ah. This is
• 43:52
  Speaker 1: the experience now, the experience of your own mysterious humanity.
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: And as you say quietly, you might even reflect on
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: those beings who've inspired you from history or from your
• 44:19
  Speaker 1: own life, who like you are called to do, have
• 44:25
  Speaker 1: gone through really hard times with dignity, courage, and love,
• 44:40
  Speaker 1: and they ask your heart, what is my best intention
• 44:48
  Speaker 1: or what is my highest or most dignified, noble aspiration
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: in living through this difficult time? What would it be?
• 45:02
  Speaker 1: And it doesn't have to be grand or poetic. It
• 45:06
  Speaker 1: might be as simple as I vowed to stay kind.
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: But let your heart answer. You can listen, you can
• 45:35
  Speaker 1: sense in a respectful and tender and courageous way. You
• 45:42
  Speaker 1: can know and recite in whatever simple way you can,
• 45:55
  Speaker 1: your vow to yourself, your intention. I vow to remain
• 46:03
  Speaker 1: kind no matter what or whatever it is. And when
• 46:18
  Speaker 1: you're ready, let your eyes open again. And this is
• 46:22
  Speaker 1: a treasure. When the podcast is over, write it down,
• 46:27
  Speaker 1: put it on a piece of paper, and place it
• 46:30
  Speaker 1: in a spot where you will see it. If you
• 46:34
  Speaker 1: have a spot that's your altar, or a place where
• 46:38
  Speaker 1: you put things that are precious, or maybe it's just
• 46:40
  Speaker 1: you know, by the sink as a reminder when you
• 46:44
  Speaker 1: wake up in the morning, or take to the mirror,
• 46:47
  Speaker 1: but someplace that holds your vow for it's time for
• 46:53
  Speaker 1: you to be the medicine, the uplifting music, the lamp
• 46:57
  Speaker 1: in the darkness to burn stout would love to be
• 47:02
  Speaker 1: a carrier of hope for people around you. And even
• 47:06
  Speaker 1: if there's a funeral, funeral which there will be to
• 47:10
  Speaker 1: send them off for a song. When you tune into
• 47:14
  Speaker 1: your vow, trust your dignity and goodness. If others hoard,
• 47:22
  Speaker 1: you can help, and if others deceive, you can speak
• 47:28
  Speaker 1: the truth, stand up for it. And where others are
• 47:32
  Speaker 1: overwhelmed or uncaring, you can be kind, respectful. And when
• 47:40
  Speaker 1: you worry about your parents or your children, your beloved's,
• 47:45
  Speaker 1: the vulnerable ones, let your heart open to share in
• 47:51
  Speaker 1: everyone's care for their parents. It's not just your parents,
• 47:55
  Speaker 1: but it's all of those of us around the world
• 47:58
  Speaker 1: or holding their parents well being in their hearts, or
• 48:02
  Speaker 1: their children or their loved ones. And breathe together with us.
• 48:07
  Speaker 1: All we are holding our parents, we're holding our children,
• 48:13
  Speaker 1: we're holding our loved ones. This is called the Bodhisattva's
• 48:18
  Speaker 1: great heart of compassion, and it's yours. It's in you.
• 48:26
  Speaker 1: It opens to those who are vulnerable, those who are suffering,
• 48:30
  Speaker 1: all of us, even those who are causing suffering, held
• 48:36
  Speaker 1: in the compassionate heart, for we're in this together. And
• 48:42
  Speaker 1: as you quiet yourself, then you can sense that you
• 48:48
  Speaker 1: know how to respond. It will get clear, how to
• 48:52
  Speaker 1: help those around you, how to contribute, to bring your
• 48:55
  Speaker 1: gifts now or as things unfold, because even if you're
• 49:00
  Speaker 1: shut in, and maybe you can do things online, and
• 49:03
  Speaker 1: maybe you're young and you can buy groceries for the elderly,
• 49:07
  Speaker 1: or maybe you can make music and send things around.
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: This will end. The cycle of the epidemic will run
• 49:18
  Speaker 1: through the bodies of humanity. Many will be sick, many
• 49:25
  Speaker 1: may die, but it has an end, and as it does,
• 49:29
  Speaker 1: will be called upon to rebuild a new world, to
• 49:34
  Speaker 1: find a vision for our common humanity in the most
• 49:38
  Speaker 1: beautiful way possible. So you are also gathering your strength
• 49:43
  Speaker 1: and sensing your capacity to make a difference, to be
• 49:48
  Speaker 1: the one that the world needs, that one on the boat.
• 50:00
  Speaker 1: So Rick, my friend, how is this as a practice
• 50:06
  Speaker 1: for you? Beautiful? Thank you so much. Yeah, we're in
• 50:14
  Speaker 1: this together. We're holding virtual hands in a certain way.
• 50:19
  Speaker 1: It's all virtual. It's all the play of mind and consciousness.
• 50:24
  Speaker 1: That's what it is. We think it's somehow out there,
• 50:29
  Speaker 1: but actually it's all woven together in this vast field
• 50:33
  Speaker 1: of awareness and consciousness. It's what we are. But we
• 50:37
  Speaker 1: can connect like this and it matters so much. Absolutely,
• 50:44
  Speaker 1: it's so helpful. It's so helpful. You have no idea, well,
• 50:49
  Speaker 1: it's helped me so. And it's funny, you know, each
• 50:52
  Speaker 1: time I teach, it's like, I'm sure it's true for
• 50:54
  Speaker 1: your good musicians as well. Each time you do it.
• 50:58
  Speaker 1: It's not just for some one else. It's your body
• 51:02
  Speaker 1: and your instrument, your horn, whatever it is. You know,
• 51:06
  Speaker 1: your acts making music for itself, for its own sake. Yes,
• 51:13
  Speaker 1: and so we're all doing that, me too, and I'm
• 51:15
  Speaker 1: grateful to be able to do it. But mostly take
• 51:18
  Speaker 1: care of yourself, you know, be safe and protected and
• 51:23
  Speaker 1: of all things, be loving to your own being into
• 51:28
  Speaker 1: all that you touch around you. Thank you so much, Jack,
• 51:35
  Speaker 1: my pleasure. I'm I'm a bit speechless and spaced out
• 51:43
  Speaker 1: from everything. You Well, we'll give it the next time.
• 51:46
  Speaker 1: We'll do a grounding meditation. I'm a little spaced out today, Jack,
• 51:52
  Speaker 1: because I'm on the I just did. Have you ever
• 51:55
  Speaker 1: heard of a potato hack? No? Okay, it's a three
• 52:00
  Speaker 1: day fast, but it's not really a fast. The only
• 52:03
  Speaker 1: thing you're allowed to eat are potatoes for three days,
• 52:06
  Speaker 1: white potatoes, and they have to be cooked, cooled, cooked, cooled, cooked, cooled.
• 52:11
  Speaker 1: So what it does is it changes the carbohydrate from
• 52:16
  Speaker 1: start from just traditional starch to the kind of starch
• 52:22
  Speaker 1: that feeds the gut bacteria. Interesting. Yeah, and it resets
• 52:27
  Speaker 1: your whole relationship to food, So it's really send me
• 52:32
  Speaker 1: a send me a link to that. I have to say, Rick,
• 52:36
  Speaker 1: you have to understand that you're weird, but you're good weird.
• 52:42
  Speaker 1: So I'd love to see this link. Maybe we'll try. Yeah,
• 52:46
  Speaker 1: it's great. It's I'm completely spaced out because I haven't
• 52:49
  Speaker 1: had any food yet today at all. For the last
• 52:52
  Speaker 1: three days. It's only been potatoes for some reason. Seem
• 52:56
  Speaker 1: to make me nauseous. You, I mean, we've eaten together
• 52:59
  Speaker 1: enough for you to know I don't normally eat carbohydrates.
• 53:01
  Speaker 1: You know that I don't either, so this is like
• 53:03
  Speaker 1: I'm really interested. Yeah, it's a really bizarre switch, but
• 53:07
  Speaker 1: it feeds the bacteria and it resets your whole system.
• 53:12
  Speaker 1: But I'll send you information about it. Pretty interesting, really fun.
• 53:16
  Speaker 1: All right, I might send you some other stuff too.
• 53:19
  Speaker 1: Thank you to take care, lots of love, right. We
• 53:26
  Speaker 1: really appreciate Jackcornfield coming on the show to share those
• 53:28
  Speaker 1: meditations with us. If you'd like to explore Jack's work
• 53:31
  Speaker 1: some more, you can go to Jackcornfield dot com. You
• 53:34
  Speaker 1: can also find a link in the show description, or
• 53:36
  Speaker 1: by visiting broken record podcast dot com. Stay safe, everyone,