Jack Kornfield on Letting Go: Nirvana as a Public Health Measure

The Practice of Letting Go

• 💡 The core practice taught is "letting go", repeated until the desire to understand or figure things out fades.
• 🎯 This simple practice is offered to save individuals from immense suffering.
• 🧘 Instead of grand ambitions, the advice is to be like an earthworm, focusing solely on letting go.

Understanding Nirvana

• ✨ Nirvana is defined not as an abstract concept, but as the end of grasping and struggle, leading to coolness of heart and peace.
• 🕊️ It signifies the end of exile and a return to wholeness.
• 🕯️ Examples of nirvana include the cooling of a candle flame or a stovetop, and moments of peace after distress.

Nirvana as a Public Health Measure

• 🏥 Buddhist master Buddha Dasa Bhikku viewed nirvana as a public health measure, essential for survival and sanity.
• 😌 Periodic moments of peace, freedom from burning desires, and periods of rest are crucial for well-being.
• ⚠️ Without these moments of coolness, living things would die or become insane.

Cultivating Nirvana

• 🌱 Nirvana is the natural condition of coolness when grasping, hatred, and identification drop away.
• 🔍 While nirvana cannot be created, the circumstances for knowing or resting in it can be cultivated.
• ✅ Peace and coolness in the body, feelings, heart, and mind are indicators of this path to freedom.