Jack Kornfield

Jack Kornfield was born in 1945. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1967 with a degree in Asian studies, joined the Peace Corps and worked on tropical medicine teams in the Mekong River valley in Thailand. There he became a monk under Ajahn Chah, and he went on to practise with Mahasi Sayadaw in Burma. His own site lists several other teachers, among them Dipa Ma, Maha Ghosananda, Ajahn Buddhadasa and Kalu Rinpoche. He trained in monasteries in Thailand, India and Burma.

He has taught meditation internationally since 1974. With Joseph Goldstein and Sharon Salzberg he co-founded the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, which opened in February 1976. He later co-founded Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, California, and remains one of its teachers. He also holds a doctorate in clinical psychology, and Wikipedia notes that he has written extensively on the bridge between Eastern and Western psychology.

His books include A Path with Heart (1993), A Still Forest Pool, written with Paul Breiter, After the Ecstasy, the Laundry and The Wise Heart. With Gil Fronsdal he edited The Teachings of the Buddha, and with Joseph Goldstein he wrote Seeking the Heart of Wisdom. His website’s home page says he has written sixteen books, which have sold more than two million copies.

Wikipedia describes his work as making Buddhism accessible to Westerners, combining loving-kindness and self-compassion with mindfulness practice. In After the Ecstasy, the Laundry he writes about how the heart grows wise within ordinary daily life.