Happy New Year!

Since this is the last day of the year, it is a great time to think about forgiveness so we can enter the new year with joy and happiness.

The subject of this video is a forgiveness training with Jack Kornfield. It was presented at the Greater Good Science Center in Berkeley, California. The director of the program is Dacher Keltner. The video is from May, 2010.

Jack leads a guided meditation to help us release our resentments and practice forgiveness.

Jack asks us to withdraw our attention into our bodies and become aware of the present moment.

He teaches us that there are three directions of forgiveness. The first direction is towards others. The teaching goes,

There are many ways I have harmed others, knowingly and unknowingly – betrayed them, abandoned them, caused them pain so many times. I remember these now and feel the sorrows I still carry… And in the many ways I have hurt or harmed you, betrayed others, caused you suffering, out of my own fear and confusion, out of my own pain, anger and hurt and misunderstanding, in this moment, I ask your forgiveness. I ask your forgiveness. Please forgive me. May I be forgiven.

We are to feel the movement of the heart that is able to ask for forgiveness.

The second direction is to include yourself. Apply the above statements to yourself – your body, mind and heart. Remember them and feel them in your heart. Feel the sorrows you carry from this.

The third direction is for us to forgive others. We have all been betrayed, hurt and harmed by others. Now we need to forgive them. You might add qualifiers like, “To the extent that I am ready, I forgive you.”

Now that you have watched the video on forgiveness training with Jack Kornfield, who are the people you need to ask forgiveness from? Who are the people that you must now learn to forgive to the extent that you are able? And what do you have to forgive yourself for?

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Books by Jack Kornfield

A Path with Heart: A Guide Through the Perils and Promises of Spiritual Life by Jack Kornfield Beloved Western Buddhist master Kornfield makes known his personal, practical wisdom, garnered from 25 years of practicing and teaching the path of awakening, as he guides self-searchers to a simplicity of perception that brings alive spiritual practice, peace, and truth in their daily lives…. [Read More…]