Most accounts of spiritual enlightenment end at the moment of illumination. But what happens after that? What is life like after the ecstasy? How do we live our understanding with a full heart? In this unique mix of practical and spiritual wisdom Jack Kornfield, author of the bestselling A PATH WITH HEART and one of the most respected Buddhist meditation teachers in the West, sets out to answer these crucial questions. Drawing on discussions with abbots, lamas and Western meditation masters, Kornfield describes with refreshing honesty their different experiences of the moment of enlightenment and what life lessons they - and we - can learn from these - as each of us seeks to fulfil the true path of compassion on earth. (1999-09-14)
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Jack Kornfield, one of America's most beloved teachers of meditation, assures us that enlightenment does occur on the spiritual path but warns that it is not the end of the road. Bringing his thoughts to a personal level, Kornfield looks up many of the notable spiritual teachers of our times (Buddhist, Christian, Jewish, Sufi, etc.) and presents extended quotations of their trials and epiphanies. These anecdotes are woven together with fables and ruminations from Kornfield's own decades-long experience as a practitioner and teacher, creating an image of the spiritual life as challenging, multidimensional, rewarding, and, yes, mundane. In the old days in China, Zen monks were encouraged to travel for instruction under a variety of masters. Here, Kornfield introduces us to today's masters, but off their podiums, as equals. Genuine experiences of awakening, despair, fault, serious transgression, and simple childlike joy all appear as bridges on the way to the divine. After the Ecstasy, the Laundry is not just another inspirational bestseller, it is a lasting record of concrete insights forged from the fires of dedicated practice. --Brian Bruya
Book Description
A magnificent book about the joys and challenges of the spiritual journey, from Jack Kornfield, leading Buddhist teacher and author of A PATH WITH HEART (1999-09-14)
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40 of 40 people found the following review helpful
By Adam Khan
Format:Paperback
Zen stories and Buddhist tales all seem to end with someone becoming enlightened. What happens after that? You never find out. You get the impression that they live in bliss and happiness forever after, and yet you know somehow that can’t be true. Jack Kornfield interviewed a lot of people who have awakened, most of them highly accomplished teachers and abbots and lamas, most of them born and raised in the West (but trained in the East), and you get to hear them tell you what life is like after enlightenment. I thought an enlightened person never got angry or afraid or sad. I didn’t even realize I held such perfectionistic misconceptions until I noticed this book shattering them.
After the Ecstasy is generously sprinkled with the actual words, sometimes half a page or a page long, of people who have been meditating 15, 30, even 40 years. You’ll find out what brought them to the meditative path to begin with, and what they’ve learned along the way. It’s fascinating.
There are lots of good anecdotes in this book; interesting and illuminating anecdotes (most of them are true stories). In many Buddhist and Zen books, you read the same stories again and again in different books, but here you find fresh stories, some ancient, some modern, and all very good.
Jack Kornfield is first and foremost a meditation teacher, so woven throughout the book is plenty of good coaching. The meditative path is difficult, and good teaching is vital. I’m the author of the book, Self-Help Stuff That Works, so I’ve specialized in knowing the difference between teachings that help and those that are merely interesting. In After the Ecstasy, you’ll find interesting reading material AND coaching that will truly help you in your practice.
38 of 39 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Did you hear the joke about the keen Zen student?
As we all visit the Laundrette of life at some time, some of us will hang around reading the magazines. There is more wisdom in this book than all the Laundrette magazines put together. And there is humour.
I was impressed when I read "A Path with Heart" the last book written by Jack Kornfield. It would, I thought be difficult to surpass this achievement.
So here is a book that has even more clarity. There are wise stories from Buddhism, Christianity and Judaism. In between teachers give personal accounts of their spiritual journey and when the author describes his own life stories I was fascinated by his experience.
He writes about a spirituality grounded in the body, intimately connected with feelings and engaged in the world.
This is a book you can read quickly and return to often. It is moving and challenging in places. And there is humour.
It will become a classic.
So what are you waiting for?
Oh I almost forget.... So there was this eager zen student who arrives at the temple and says "I want to join the Community and work to attain enlightenment. How long will it take me?" "Ten years" replies the master. "Well how about if I really work hard and double my efforts?" "Twenty years". "Hey just a moment that's not fair! Why did you double it?" "In your case," says the master "I'm afraid it will be thirty years."
36 of 37 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
If you have read Jack Kornfield's "A Path With Heart" you might think he had said all there was to say on the subject of Enlightenment and Spiritual Wisdom. Well, here he is again with yet another big book of inspirational prose - this time showing what to do when we topple off our perch and the halo slips to one side. Jack is an ordained Buddhist monk who trained as a clinical psychologist in order to teach Eastern mysticism through Western terms. His work is at once humorous and profoundly wise, filled with snatches of poetry and quotes from people like Thich Nhat Hanh, Rumi, Proust, Emily Dickinson - oh yes, and Buddha, Jesus, the Dalai Lama and a few other spiritual heavyweights of whom you may have heard! Like "A Path With Heart", this is a book you will want to have by your bedside for the rest of your reading, thinking, breathing life. Because even saints have to come down from the cloud of ecstasy to do the laundry sometime - and if you don't happen to be a saint, your "agony" will be made a lot easier by the no-nonsense messages of hope and inspiration contained in these pages.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the best books I have read on the spiritual path
This book is an absolute treasure. It explains so much about the awakening process. Very clear and profund. Read more
Published 1 month ago by P. Bell
5.0 out of 5 stars
Bought it for my wife...
She absolutely loved it! Good plot/handbook for those, who need help in the emotional life. 5 stars based on my wife's review :)
Published 2 months ago by Jakub Bialek
3.0 out of 5 stars
Poor binding
The reviews for this book praise the book's written contents, and I would agree with most of what has been said. Read more
Published 13 months ago by D. V. Short
5.0 out of 5 stars
Better binding
The reviews for this book will be the same as for the Rider publication, ISBN:0712606580.
The important difference between the publications is that the Rider publication... Read more
The important difference between the publications is that the Rider publication... Read more
Published 13 months ago by D. V. Short
5.0 out of 5 stars
After The Ecstacy, Then The Laundry
This is for all those that thought they had 'lost the path' or had had to put 'spirituality' on the back burner while they paid the mortgage and fed the grandchildren.. Read more
Published 17 months ago by spangled drongo
5.0 out of 5 stars
Broad and considered view
I loved this book. I bought it having just attended a 5 day Zen meditation retreat and having had an amazing and enlightening experience when there - in terms of 're-entry' this... Read more
Published on 21 Feb 2011 by kimblacklion
5.0 out of 5 stars
A book that helps to rid illusions in sprititual practice
Jack Kornfield is a truly advanced commentator when it comes to spiritual practice. It is very skilfully pointed out that there is no permanent state of enlightenment, no... Read more
Published on 24 Aug 2010 by G. Ma
5.0 out of 5 stars
Ripens the heart
Jack Kornfield is a glorious storyteller and with this book he does not fail to provide one supendous anecdote after another. Read more
Published on 14 July 2010 by G. Griggs
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Wonderful and Comforting book
This book is great for those of us who are hard on ourselves. Kornfield repeatedly shows the difficulties that all of us face on the path to acceptance. Read more
Published on 8 April 2010 by T.L.C.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent read
Jack Kornfield is one of the great teachers on mindfulness, insight meditation and beautifully conveys the essence of the Buddha's teachings. Read more
Published on 28 Feb 2010 by Peter Strong
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