Jack Kornfield: Pandemic Resources (audio)

Jack Kornfield (jackkornfield.com, spiritrock.org), Trudy Goodman (insightla.org, insightLA); Dhr. Seven, Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Jack Kornfield (spiritrock.org)

We have a choice. Epidemics, like earthquakes, tornadoes, and floods are part of the cycle of life on planet earth. How will we respond?

With greed, hatred/fear, and ignorance? This only brings more suffering.

Or with generosity, clarity/heart, and wisdom? This is the time for love.

This is a time for Bodhisattvas, Buddhas-to-be. In Buddhist teachings, Bodhisattvas are people who vow to alleviate suffering and bring blessings in every circumstance. Bodhisattvas choose to live with dignity and courage and radiate compassion for all, no matter where they find themselves.

• Pandemic Resources (jackkornfield.com)

This is not a metaphor. As Bodhisattvas we are now asked to hold a certain measure of the tragedy of the world and respond with love.

The Bodhisattva path is in front of us. The beautiful thing is, we can see Bodhisattvas all around. We see them singing from their balcony to those shut inside. We see them in young neighbors caring for the elders nearby, in brave healthcare workers and unheralded workers who stock the shelves of grocery stores.

As a father, if she called me, I would fly to the ends of the earth to help and protect my daughter. Now she and her firefighter/paramedic husband and my toddler grandson await the virus. His urban fire department, like many hospitals and first responders does not have masks. And 80% of their work is responding to emergency medical calls where they all expect to get the virus. They will not be tested, because the department can’t afford to lose too many of their firefighters.

What can I do? What can we do? In this moment we can sit quietly, take a deep breath, and acknowledge fear and apprehension arising with uncertainty and helplessness -- and we can hold all of these feelings with a compassionate heart.

We can say to our feelings and doubt, “Thank you for trying to protect me” and “I am okay for now.”

We can put our fears in the lap of the Buddha, Mother Mary, Kwan Yin, place them in the hearts of the generations of brave healers and scientists who tended the world in former epidemics.

When we do we can feel ourselves part of something greater, of generations of survivors in the vast web of history and life. We can feel as if we are “being carried,” as the Ojibwa elders say, “by great winds across the sky.”

This is a time of mystery and uncertainty. So take a breath. The veils of separation are parting, and the reality of interdependence is apparent to everyone on earth. We have needed this pause, perhaps even needed our isolation, to see how much we need one another.

Now it is time to add our part. The Bodhisattva ideal deliberately turns the suffering around to serve and help those around in whatever way it can. This is the test we have been waiting for. We know how to do this.

It is time to renew your vow. Sit quietly again and ask your heart, What is my best intention, my most noble aspiration, for this difficult time? Your heart will answer. 

Let this vow become your North Star. Whenever you feel lost, remember and it will remind you what matters.

It is time to be the medicine,

the uplifting music, the lamp in the darkness.

Burst out with love. If you are a carrier,

be a carrier of hope. If there is a funeral,

send the traveler off with a song.

Trust in dignity and goodness.

Where others hoard, help.

Where others deceive, stand for truth.

Where others are overwhelmed or uncaring,

be kind and respectful.

When you worry about your parents,

your children, your friends, your beloveds,

let your heart open to share in everyone’s care

for parents, children, and love ones.

This is the great heart of compassion.

The Bodhisattva directs compassion

toward everyone.

Those who are suffering and vulnerable

and even those who are causing suffering.

We are in this together.

It is time to re-imagine a world,

to envision sharing our common humanity,

to vision how we can live in the deepest

and most beautiful way possible.

Coming through this difficulty,

what we intend and nurture, we can do.

In the end remember who we are is timeless

awareness, the consciousness that was born

into a body.

You were born a child of the spirit,

and even now you can turn toward the awareness

and become the loving awareness that witnesses

yourself reading and feeling and reflecting.

When a baby is born, our first response is love.

When a dear one dies, the hand we hold is a gesture of love.

Timeless love and awareness is who we are. Trust it.

Dear Bodhisattva, the world awaits your

compassionate heart.

Let’s join in this great task together.

- Jack Kornfield 🙏🏻

P.S. You can listen to these free meditations:

• A Steady the Heart in the Time of Coronavirus
• Compassion in the Time of Coronavirus
• and more at jackkornfield.com

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