{"id":6535,"date":"2012-09-22T15:53:47","date_gmt":"2012-09-22T22:53:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/barbarafalconernewhall.com\/?p=6535"},"modified":"2012-09-22T15:53:47","modified_gmt":"2012-09-22T22:53:47","slug":"jack-kornfield-buddhist-teacher-on-sex-drugs-enlightenment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/jack-kornfield-buddhist-teacher-on-sex-drugs-enlightenment\/","title":{"rendered":"Buddhist Teacher Jack Kornfield on Sex, Drugs and Enlightenment"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A hillside not far from Spirit Rock Meditation Center. Photo by BF Newhall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By Barbara Falconer Newhall<\/em><\/p>\n

Want to know more about the sex lives of Buddhist teachers in America?\u00a0 The drinkers?\u00a0 The womanizers? Are you considering downing some ecstasy, a bit of mushroom or other psychedelic to fast-track your spiritual growth? Wondering about that person in the meditation hall who seems to be having a psychotic break?<\/p>\n

Jack Kornfield\u2019s latest book, Bringing Home the Dharma<\/a>: Awakening Right Where You Are<\/em>, isn\u2019t really a Buddhist tell-all. Kornfield hasn\u2019t put together this book to titillate.<\/p>\n

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Jack Kornfield. Photo by Robert Vente<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

He is a thoughtful, careful teacher. The dust jacket on his book touts him as one of the most respected Buddhist teachers at work in North America today, and I believe it.<\/p>\n

But he is also a writer \u2013 and teacher \u2013 who likes to get to the bottom of things, to get past conventions and speak the truth. His years of training as a Buddhist monk in monasteries in Thailand, India and Burma, and his years of teaching at the Insight Meditation Society <\/a>in Massachusetts and Spirit Rock<\/a> in California have blessed him with a sturdy Buddhist equanimity in the face of the tough questions.<\/p>\n

As a result, in this collection of essays originally published in books and in magazines like Shambhala Sun<\/em> and Yoga Journal<\/em> over the past two or three decades, Kornfield is able take on some delicate issues \u2013 Buddhism and sexuality, the uses of LSD, and spiritual crises in the meditation hall are just a few. He can address the touchy subjects calmly and thoroughly.<\/p>\n

\"bringing<\/a>There\u2019s a lot of information in this book. Kornfield relates, for example, that a study of fifty-four Buddist teachers in America he conducted during the 1980s revealed that fifteen were celibate. Of the 39 who were not celibate, 34 had occasional sex with students \u2013 sometimes openly, sometimes not. And of the twenty who had spouses, seven were not entirely monogamous.<\/p>\n

But there is also wisdom. \u201cWe need to accept our teachers as earthly human beings as well as bearers of wisdom and compassion,\u201d he writes. \u201cAfter all, who among us have not, at one time or another, made idiots of themselves with regard to sex?\u201d<\/p>\n

Hmm. You mean I\u2019m not the only one who . . . never mind.<\/p>\n

Kornfield also offers a caveat to those who\u2019d like to try LSD, ecstasy, mushrooms, ayahuasca or other brain-bending chemicals: Yes, psychedelics can open up the mind to visionary and mystical realms. But, no, they\u2019re not for everyone, especially not beginners or those with a history of drug or alcohol addiction. Get trained in mindfulness, compassion and equanimity before contemplating a chemical meditation enhancer, he advises.<\/p>\n

Of all the essays in this book, most startling to me were the pages on \u201cspiritual emergencies,\u201d in which raptures, body distortions, lights, inner sounds and voices can arise and overwhelm the unprepared meditator. Kornfield also describes an amazing process of inner deconstruction \u2013 something like the Christian dark night of the soul \u2013 that advanced meditators often experience.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a lot packed into this book. I recommend picking and choosing among the chapters, and reading them one at a time with space in between . . . for breathing.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>“Bringing Home the Dharma: Awakening Right Where You Are<\/em>,” Jack Kornfield, Shambhala<\/a>, 2011, $24.95 hardcover.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Another post on Jack Kornfield coming soon: “Buddhist Writing — Wisdom? Or Chicken Shit?” <\/a>Meanwhile, check out “The Hagia Sophia<\/a> — Where Traditions Meet and Clash.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"mt<\/a><\/p>\n

Want to know more about the sex lives of Buddhist teachers in America? Are you considering downing some ecstasy or a bit of mushroom to fast-track your spiritual growth? Wondering about that person in the meditation hall who seems to be having a psychotic break? Check out Jack Kornfield’s book.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6539,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[745,34,746,747,748,749,750],"class_list":["post-6535","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-my-rocky-spiritual-journey","tag-bringing-home-the-dharma","tag-dont-miss","tag-jack-kornfield","tag-meditate-with-psychedelics","tag-sex-lives-of-buddhist-teachers","tag-spirit-rock","tag-spiritual-journeys"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6535","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6535"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6535\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}