A Path with Heart: A Guide Through the Perils and Promises of Spiritual Life

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A Path with Heart: A Guide Through the Perils and Promises of Spiritual Life

4.27 of 5 stars 4.27 · rating details · 3,496 ratings · 138 reviews

A guide to reconciling Buddhist spirituality with the American way of life addresses the challenges of spiritual living in the modern world and offers guidance for bringing a sense of the sacred to everyday experience.

Paperback, 384 pages

Published June 1st 1993 by Bantam

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May 14, 2009 Helynne rated it 5 of 5 stars

I really like books about meditation, and I think the amazingly prolific Jack Kornfield, an American psychologist (Ph.D. in clinical psych), former Buddhist monk in Thailand, Burma and India, and now a husband, father, teacher, and popular lecturer, is a great place to start and to continue. The title of this book emphasizes Kornfield's favorite theme that love is what life is ultimately all about and whatever path one follows in life, one must be sure that it is a "path with heart," one that w...more

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May 25, 2011 Pam Meserve rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: everyone and all seeking 'insight' and peace

Recommended to Pam by: Akasha

This is a spiritual guide book I find that you can refer to frequently.. it focuses on our body, emotions, relationships, spirituality and helps the reader to develop and enhance the skills we need now to be present in all life has to offer. I find it helps opening up your inner self and awareness to help you look and see in a different way perhaps, the world around us, and it does this by aiding you in finding a healing, compassion, and freedom within you. It comes with a variety of special med...more

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Apr 06, 2012 Lorraine rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: spirituality

I give this book five stars with a small but important disagreement. Towards the close of the book, the author discusses spiritual materialism and eludes to the Krishna Consciousness movement in that light. On page 310, Kornfield calls such an experience "self absorbed" and posits it as a dead end. Perhaps the culture of the 1960's/1970's failed to support the movement long term, however I would not call Srila Prabhupada's methods impure and certainly not self absorbed nor spiritually materialis...more

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Jan 15, 2010 Myridian rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: buddhism, psychology, self-help, nonfiction

This is a Kornfield's attempt at a general guide book to Buddhist spiritual inquiry. It makes an attempt to draw parallels between Buddhism and other spiritual traditions, but in general it's intended audience is practicing Buddhists with some familiarity with the tradition. I bought this book after seeing Kornfield speak at the Evolution of Psychotherapy conference. He got a room of about a thousand mental health practitioners to chant and do meditation in concert. It was a powerful experience....more This is a Kornfield's attempt at a general guide book to Buddhist spiritual inquiry. It makes an attempt to draw parallels between Buddhism and other spiritual traditions, but in general it's intended audience is practicing Buddhists with some familiarity with the tradition. I bought this book after seeing Kornfield speak at the Evolution of Psychotherapy conference. He got a room of about a thousand mental health practitioners to chant and do meditation in concert. It was a powerful experience. I have more mixed feelings about his book.

There were some pretty notable pros and cons with this book. First the pros: Kornfield does a good job of addressing some of the pitfalls that one can fall into during spiritual practice. I thought the chapter on near enemies, "No boundaries to the sacred," was something everyone ought to read. I've known a number of people who, while benefitted from spiritual practice, tend to use it to justify unhealthy ways of being. He also discusses some of the perils of working with a spiritual community and spiritual "master" that I think help dispel some of the mythologizing of these individuals.

There were a couple of things that irritated me throughout the book that I had a hard time getting past. First of all, Kornfield is very focused on the importance of working with a spiritual teacher. While I see how this can be helpful, I've also always believed that we each have our own access to mindfulness/enlightenment, and that a spiritual teacher is largly extraneous except for helping get us to practice more consistently. Secondly, Kornfield uses the word faith throughout the book. I have an inherent problem with this word, and a particular problem with it when it is used in the context of Buddhism. in general I think that faith condones human stupidity and when it comes to Buddhism it should be particularly avoided since Buddhism is not a religion in the typical sense of having beliefs about divine beings. At least the kind of Buddhism I practice doesn't.

So, overall, a worthwhile read, but a few things that irritated me that I had to overlook in finding what was helpful about this book.(less)

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Jun 15, 2011 Marc Perry rated it 5 of 5 stars

I would say that while this is truly a wonderful, and spiritual book, it is not intended for the absolute novice, or beginner, in buddhism. I think there are probably better books for that purpose. However, if you have been sitting for some time, and are feeling perhaps a bit stuck, or are being hard on yourself--perhaps for what you see as a lack of progress, then this is an incredible book to read. Impermanence, suffering, selflessness, lovingkindness, all right there in your day-to-day life,...more

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Apr 11, 2012 Leigh rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is one of my all time favorite metaphysical/spiritual books. Well written and full of heart.

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Nov 02, 2010 Nadia Y rated it 5 of 5 stars

What a beautiful book. I read this in small bites (a couple of chapters a week), and was somewhat sad when I finished because I felt like my weekly conversations with a wise old soul had come to an end. Kornfield makes the practices of Buddhism accessible and meaningful to those living in the West. He goes through many of the issues unique to life in the West, such as loneliness, alienation, and materialism, and how a spiritual practice could ease such struggles. He distills the core principle o...more

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Feb 24, 2013 Ben Batchelder rated it 2 of 5 stars

One of my spiritual advisors recommended this book, which makes me wonder if she wanted me to feel even more the spiritual midget than I am. While it is full of entertaining quotes (e.g. “People with opinions just go around bothering one another” says Buddha) and genuine, if therapeutic, insights, I couldn’t help feel Buddhism (the author’s specialty) is horribly complicated. The chapter titled Expanding and Dissolving the Self details myriad levels of meditative nirvana which entail months and...more

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Sep 26, 2012 Susan Taylor rated it 5 of 5 stars

A gift from my daughter. I love Dr. Kornfield, his dry sense of humor, the lessons he's learned and shared,both during his experience as a Buddhist monk, father, and invested in life. I can attest, it was with this man's wisdom, his ability to impart into my thick head, the understanding of how to be present and at the same time letting go. Dr.Kornfield is adept at imparting the means to accept the changes, the pain, the frustration of having a life torn apart and that peace and joy were possibl...more

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Feb 11, 2013 Dharmamitra Jeff Stefani rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: always-love-rereading-this-perfecti, amazing-observations, best-of-its-kind, bodhisattva-insight, dharma, fascinating-and-profound, if-u-dig-this-we-prob-get-along-w, meditation, mind-body-are-one, mindfulness, relates-to-all-areas-of-life, spiritual-evolution, specialty-book, super-highly-recommend, top-100-best-ever, teachings-ffom-one-w-true-insight, suggested-well-worth-it, spiritual-life-is-not-theory

Jack brings his experience as one who has Won Stream Entry, and the Transcendental Wisdom that comes along with this. a Level of attainments so distinctly profound, that it resonates loundly and cleaerly in his soft, peaceful voice. (I LOVE the Audio Book Format, for this very reason.

In this Installment, I learned so much more about Jack's personal journey, from the Monastic life of a Thai Forest Monk, to Ph.D. Doctor of Psychology, through the ups and downs (And some HARD FALLS after the Glow i...more

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Sep 02, 2012 Sidney Luckett rated it 5 of 5 stars

Buddhism has many strands. As the original teachings of Buddha through North India, South India, Tibet, Sri Lanka, Burma, China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Japan it took on flavors of the local contexts and thus different forms of Buddhism emerged. It's arrival in North America took on a form known as Insight Meditation. (I'm not a scholar of Buddhism and I don't doubt that there there are others) . Insight Meditation, with a number of centers in the Cambridge/Boston area has had significant influence...more
Buddhism has many strands. As the original teachings of Buddha through North India, South India, Tibet, Sri Lanka, Burma, China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Japan it took on flavors of the local contexts and thus different forms of Buddhism emerged. It's arrival in North America took on a form known as Insight Meditation. (I'm not a scholar of Buddhism and I don't doubt that there there are others) . Insight Meditation, with a number of centers in the Cambridge/Boston area has had significant influence on meditation practice, in the Buddhist tradition, throughout much of the modernist Western World. There are a number of significant teachers in this tradition; amongst them are John Kabat-Zin, Joseph Goldstein, Sharon Salzburg, Larry Rosenberg (at whose feet I learnt much during a spell in Cambridge) and Jack Kornfield. (Is it a coincidence that all of these have a Jewish background?)

Kornfield's book is one of my favorites partly because he backs up his 'lessons' with numerous examples from his numerous teachers from across the different Eastern forms of Buddhism, his own life and practice as well as from those whom he has lead in meditation sessions. Typically in this IM tradition, the religious forms of Buddhism that have accreted around the practice of meditation are de-emphasized (Rosenberg is fond of telling beginners in his classes that he is not a Buddhist!) making is very accessible to a Westerner. He doesn't avoid the difficult-to-remember sanskrit and pali concepts on which much of Buddhism is based and therefore it's not be the kind of book that I would recommend to a newcomer to meditation practice. Larry Rosenberg and John Kabat-Zin are more accessible for beginners, as is the profound, yet very ordinary, Pema Chodron.

The best way that I can think of to introduce this book and give a prospective reader of it's flavor is to quote from one of the many insightful passages. Here's one.

"There is no way to avoid the transitions of life. The chief means of entering them gracefully is to be [mindfully aware] of them over and over again. It is like learning to ride a horse: over and over again walking, trotting, cantering, over smooth and rough terssin, mounting and dismounting, starting and stopping, until is becomes possible for us to move through life in a graceful conscious way. In moving through the difficult stages of our lives, we can learn to trust our heart to these cycles and their unfolding as surely as we can trust roots to go down and shoots to push up through the earth ... We can trust that each petal of a flower will open in the right order from outside to inside. We can trust that whatever calls our attention in [meditation] practice - our body, our personal history, the community, around us - in or out of retreat, it will bring us what we need to live fully and genuinely in the timeless here and now.
In a sense we are not going anywhere ...We are not trying to get somewhere better next year or in twenty years time, or even the next lifetime. We are learning to open to the timeless unfolding of our lives, being in greater and greater harmony with what is, with greater inclusiveness of our hearts to all seasons of our life

What is there to loose? What is there to gain?
If we gain something it was there from
the beginning
If we lose anything it was is hidden nearby (Ryokan) "
(less)

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Sidney Luckett Buddhism has many strands, all with origins in some part of the world where the original teachings of Buddha have interacted with the local traditions...more Buddhism has many strands, all with origins in some part of the world where the original teachings of Buddha have interacted with the local traditions: Tibetan, North Indian, South Indian, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Chinese, Japanese, Burmese, etc. The most recent of these is North American, more precisely, Boston

In Boston/Cambridge the Insight Meditation school has flourished and spread to many corners of the western world.

Jack Kornfield, Larry Rosenberg and others who have founded the Insight Meditation Society and the IM Centre have all learnt at the feet of many of the great teachers in the great traditions of the East. The result is that they have stripped Bhuddism from the religious beliefs that have accrued in many of the Eastern forms. As Larry Rosenberg - I had the very good fortune to learn from him during my time in Cambridge - often said to the dismay of many who attended his guided meditations: I am not a Bhuddist!

This book by Larry Kornfield is one of the gems of the modern form of Bhuddism - alongside Pema Chodron's 'When Things Fall Apart' and Larry's 'Step by Step'. (There are no doubt many more that I haven't read)

There is much to say about this book, the greatest strength of which are the countless examples from his own experience to illustrate the teachings, but perhaps the best way to give a potential reader a sense of the book is to quote one of many, many paragraphs that struck me:

"Each state we encounter will succumb to the next. There is no way to avoid the transitions of our life. The chief means of entering them gracefully is to be mindfully aware of them - over and over again. It is like learning to ride a horse: over and over again walking, trotting, cantering, over smooth and rough terrain, mooting and dismounting, starting and stopping, until it becomes possible for us to move through life in a graceful and conscious way. In moving through the difficult stages of our lives, we can learn to trust our heart to these cycles and their unfolding as surely as we can trust roots to go down and shoots to push up through the earth. We can trust that each petal of a flower will open in the right order from outside to inside. We can trust that whatever calls our attention in [meditation] practice - our body, our personal history, the community around us - in or out of retreat, it will bring us what we need to live fully and genuinely in the timeless here and now....We are not trying to get next year or in twenty years ...We are learning to open to the timeless unfolding of our lives, being in greater and greater harmony with what is, with greater inclusiveness of our hearts to all the seasons of our life."(less)
Sep 01, 2012 02:42am

Apr 28, 2012 Craig Shoemake rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: buddhist-philosophy, contemplative-science, insight-meditation, theravada-buddhism, vipassana

I can sincerely say this is an excellent book but that it is not the correct book for me at this time. Books tend to be time sensitive documents, meaning if you read one at the “right” time, it can light fireworks under your butt, while if you had read the same book at an earlier or later time of your life, you might toss it aside and pick up instead the latest copy of Time (pun intended). My experience with what is probably Kornfield’s most widely read book is somewhere in between, but again, t...more

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Apr 14, 2013 Fraser rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A book that was recommended to me early on in my journey with Buddhism, and one that I wish to read again.

Kornfield gives so much into this book, an autobiographical sense of who he is, including his own observations and learning over a period of years just cascade out into something very wonderful indeed.

There just isn't a page that doesn't contain some wisdom, instruction and tale that illuminates this book which works essentially as a guide book.

Highly recommended.

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Jan 13, 2009 Edipalma rated it 5 of 5 stars

I'm reading this now, along with a few related books (Ending the Search for Happiness by Barry Magid is one).

Kornfield writes with ease and clarity, and gives good guidance from his personal experience. What he has to say about relationships from a Buddhist perspective is what I'm finding most interesting and helpful.

When I have the book in front of me I'll add some excerpts, but for now
I'll just say that it's a keeper.

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Nov 08, 2010 Phillip Moffitt rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: new-meditators

This book by the one of the founders of Spirit Rock Meditation Center is a thorough introduction to the emotional, psychological, and spiritual aspects of meditation. Kornfield’s book offers beginning students many gateways for getting started. It is filled with engaging, inspiring stories that help students believe it’s possible for them to meditate too. And it provides a context for understanding the many facets of insight meditation.

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Jun 28, 2012 Bobby rated it 4 of 5 stars

In this book, Kornfield charts a map of the spiritual path, and the hidden dangers within - how to pick a teacher, thoughts on Kundalini and other side effects, navigating the "dark night of the soul", etc. Not so much a book for those seeking practical instruction on meditation technique - but more of a thoughtful high level view of the milestones and pitfalls of the meditative life. A MUST read for all meditators.

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Jul 10, 2010 Lia Aprile rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: yoga-school-books

Hooray for Jack Kornfield, is all I've got to say. This book is dense (I had to read it veeeeery sloooowly) with amazing observations, advice, analogies about choosing a spiritual path, and he writes with a lot of honesty and without too much self-seriousness about meditation and the hunt for something larger than oneself. I would recommend this to anyone who considers themselves any kind of seeker.

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Dec 30, 2009 James Byron rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: core-path

Jack Kornfield came along at just the right time as I was adrift in an Ocean of Chaos without Mercy. His book gave permission to me to grasp an illusion as real but with the warning to not forget the belief is not real. This is a book that I have purchased about 11 times, copies end up in the hands of friends and fellow travelers.

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Jul 30, 2010 Kathy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: haveread

I only was able to appreciate the first five or six chapters of this one. After that, I felt like it was a book for the non-beginner and I will wait till the future to see if the rest of the book will make sense to me. But I did pick up many pearls from the first part of the book to help me learn more about happiness.

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Apr 20, 2011 John Ammer is currently reading it

Couldn't renew this book anymore at the library ---- so bought a used copy.
Now I can give this book all(!) the time it deserves.
To once have known the joy of solid meditation means, I do believe, it can be recalled
if one follows along the accumulated advice of many men as mr Kornfield supplies.

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Oct 24, 2007 Mattie rated it 3 of 5 stars

I liked this book, even though it wasn't quite what I was expecting. The book was much more about meditation, per se, than the broader commentary on living a "spiritual life." That said, it's a really good book on meditation and contains a variety of suggested meditations that are good. I've actually been trying to incorporate one in particular, with good results (I think). Also, there are some thoughtful insights about the fruits of meditation - various realizations about the nature of life and...more

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Mar 27, 2011 Soulerflare rated it 5 of 5 stars

Jack Kornfield, one of the great American Buddhist teachers, lays out a beautiful vision for living the Buddhist life in the west in A Path with Heart. He poetically addresses everything from how to choose a teacher to the deep meaning that can be had by following the Buddhist path.

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Dec 29, 2008 Jim is currently reading it

I've been reading this book for a long time. I read a chapter, put it down. Pick it up months later. Not because it is bad or poorly written--it's not. It's just something I do with some books. I have learned from it...and I'm sure I will learn more in the future.

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Sep 14, 2012 Elaine Ho rated it 5 of 5 stars

Ancient wisdom distilled into simple and accessible ways. I deepened my meditation knowledge and practice from this book. Feeling encouraged, I went on a retreat and many times I returned to the teachings of Jack Kornfield from this spiritual classic. Read it!

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Aug 29, 2011 Michaela rated it 3 of 5 stars

Very interesting book. Although it does offer meditation exercises, it is really more of a guidebook describing what you may experience and the stages many meditators go through. It includes good advice regarding finding an ethical teacher and it emphasises the need for balance in all things, meditation included.

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Aug 11, 2011 Stephanie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Wise and accessible. In the middle it gets a little bit confusing with the different divisions of Buddhism and its concepts. Overall though, beneficial to anyone seeking peace and a meditative spiritual life of any (or no) religion.

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Oct 21, 2007 Mary rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: yogis, wanna-be-yogis

good ol' kornfield. i'm unsure how well this book would read if you didn't have a meditation practice already, but i'm finding it to be a fantastic support for my current practice. he lays out the key obstacles that people find as they build their spiritual practice, as well as how to support yourself when you come up against these roadblocks. gentle, wise, funny, sometimes weird, i'm finding that this book is very much reflecting the challenges i'm currently in the midst of.

i'd be interested t...more

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Mar 18, 2011 Ben rated it 5 of 5 stars

Jack Kornfield brings years of experience and a strong intuitive feel to his writings. Although he is a Buddhist practitioner, there is a strong universalism to his writings.
Highly recommended to anyone looking for a fresh and uplifting spiritual boost!

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Dec 07, 2008 Maura is currently reading it Recommends it for: meditators, those wanting to try meditating, or get into to Buddhism

Recommended to Maura by: Found at Zen Center. Read some of his others.

I've commited to reading a bit everyday to encourage me in my meditation. Kornfield is the easiest to read on this subject. Makes me think. Gives suggested thoughtful, heart-opening meditations to try.

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Jan 15, 2012 Gloriavirtutisumbra rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: goofy-self-help-more, theology, not-finishing

this was for me, a very difficult read, and i cant even really tell you why. Jack kornfield is acknowledged as one of the best in his field, but his books and audios are just not for me.

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About Jack Kornfield

Jack Kornfield trained as a Buddhist monk in the monasteries of Thailand, India and Burma. He has taught meditation internationally since 1974 and is one of the key teachers to introduce Buddhist mindfulness practice to the West. He began his training after graduating from Dartmouth College in Asian Studies in 1967. Then he joined the Peace Corps and was assigned to the Public Health Service in no...more

More about Jack Kornfield...

Books by Jack Kornfield

The Wise Heart: A Guide to the Universal Teachings of Buddhist Psychology

After the Ecstasy, the Laundry: How the Heart Grows Wise on the Spiritual Path

The Art of Forgiveness, Lovingkindness, and Peace

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Quotes from A Path with Heart: A G...

“This life is a test-it is only a test.
It it had been an actual llife, you would have received further
instructions on where to go and what to do.
Remember, this life is only a test.” — 16 people liked it

“True emptiness is not empty, but contains all things. The mysterious and pregnant void creates and reflects all possibilities. From it arises our individuality, which can be discovered and developoed, although never possessed or fixed.” — 13 people liked it

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