Jack Kornfield teaches that there is an astonishing truth at the heart of Buddhism. It is that not only is there a way out of suffering and into a more deeply fulfilling life, but that this concept is not a myth. It is an attainable reality. He says that this can be available to you the moment you open your eyes through the power of skillful inquiry. This is a fact that has been proven for generations by those from many walks of life who have studied and learned what the Buddha taught. They have applied it, testing it and proving that this is true for them, that it does work.

In Buddhism for Beginners, celebrated teacher and author Jack Kornfield teaches you how to experience these gifts and share in this vast spiritual tradition. His album, a full-length audio retreat, which was created specifically for first-time students, offers an ideal way to learn Buddhism’s essential principles and insights.

If you have questions about Buddhism and its meditation practices, you will learn from this gifted teacher many things, including Buddhism’s cornerstone teachings on

• the Four Noble Truths
• the Eightfold Path to inner freedom
• the meaning and varieties of karma
• the Ten Perfections for opening the heart
• the inner tools of samadhi and prajna (concentration and insight)
• the Four Great Immeasurables
• the Buddha’s last great teaching
• and many other topics

You’ll also learn principles of meditation practice, covering such fundamentals as

• clarifying awareness and focusing your mind
• overcoming distractions and other inner obstacles
• using heart-centered practices to sprout the seeds of compassion and lovingkindness,
• and more

And Kornfield tells many inspiring and enlightening wisdom stories in the form of

• poetry
• teaching parables
• inspiring true accounts distilled from Buddhism’s many historical branches
• invaluable advice gleaned from Kornfield’s own years of experience as a student and a teacher

The ancient Buddhist scripture The Path to Purification poses this riddle:

The world is entangled in a knot. Who can untangle the tangle?

According th Jack Kornfield, the answer to the riddle is, “You can,” as you learn from principles taught by the Buddha, and by learning to see things clearly and simply, as they actually are. Buddhism for Beginners provides the basic tools and fundamental teachings for beginning a great inner adventure.

Kornfield’s full length audio meditation retreat is highly recommended by Meditation Montage for anyone, beginner or not, who is dedicated to their the path of self-discovery and freedom and would like to deepen their experience of meditation with one of the great meditation teachers of our time.

The following audio clip, courtesy of YouTube, is Part 1 of an audio preview series presenting some of Kornfields’ teachings on “The Roots of Buddhist Psychology“. For the remaining 5 sections previewing Part One of this audio album, look under my “Pages” category, over on the right panel of this site, where the audio series is posted as Buddhism: the roots of its psychology explained. Also see the article on this subject, based on an interview of Jack Kornfield.