The Beginner's Guide to Forgiveness

by Jack Kornfield

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

Genres: Nonfiction, Buddhism, Spirituality, Religion, Meditation

2 pages, Audiobook

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

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 northeast Thailand, which is home to several of the world’s oldest Buddhist forest monasteries. He met and studied under the Buddhist master Ven. Ajahn Chah, as well as the Ven. Mahasi Sayadaw of Burma. After returning to the United States, Jack co-founded the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, with fellow meditation teachers Sharon Salzberg and Joseph Goldstein. He is also a founding teacher of the Spirit Rock Center in Woodacre, California, where he currently lives and teaches. Over the years, Jack has taught in centers and universities worldwide, led International Buddhist Teacher meetings with the Dalai Lama and worked with many of the great teachers of our time. He holds a Ph.D. in clinical psychology and is a husband, father and an activist.

His books have been translated into 20 languages and sold more than a million copies. They include, A Wise Heart: A Guide to the Universal Teachings of Buddhist Psychology, A Path with Heart; After the Ecstasy, the Laundry; Teachings of the Buddha; Seeking the Heart of Wisdom; Living Dharma; A Still Forest Pool; Stories of the Spirit, Stories of the Heart; Buddha’s Little Instruction Book; The Art of Forgiveness, Lovingkindness and Peace, Bringing Home the Dharma: Awakening Right Where You Are, and his most recent book, No Time Like the Present: Finding Freedom, Love, and Joy Right Where You Are.

Reviews

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

We have all hurt others, and have all been hurt by others. Listening to this audiobook by the gentle Jack Kornfield as my country is in chaos and there is a total absence of true leadership felt right on so many levels. Whether we're talking about having participated in institutionalized racism as white people or a personal dispute, we all must step up and begin to figure out what true forgiveness looks like. If we don't know forgiveness is possible, it will be harder to admit that yes, we have done harm. Only once we know that there is something beyond the shame of having done harm can we face the pain of having done wrong by another. And on the other side of the coin, as we metabolize the anger toward those who have done wrong by us and our country, we can begin to the process of moving forward toward true reparations. None of this is easy work, but it is oh so vitally important.

[Jenny Webb · Rating 4 out of 5]

A brief but thoughtful essay on forgiveness, and an acknowledgment that we can mindfully practice forgiveness—as a conscious choice, whatever the circumstances. I’m still working on how to square this approach to forgiveness generally with the demands of mental health.

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short but helpful.

[Jason Scott · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just a 1 hr meditation. Not much too it. A good reminder that lovingkindness practice is one of the better ways to regain compassion for someone who has hurt you.