After the Ecstasy, the Laundry: How the Heart Grows Wise on the Spiritual Path

Most spiritual accounts end with illumination or enlightenment. But what if we ask what happens after that? What happens when the Zen Master returns home to spouse and children? What happens when the Christian Mystic goes shopping? What is life like after the ecstasy?

The title alone is worth the price of this book. Kornfield's Buddhism is rooted in the Theravada tradition of Southeast Asia where he lived as a monk in monasteries during a lengthy spiritual training period. On his return to the US, he became one of the great teachers of Buddhism in the West. Kornfield tackles the problem of living a spiritual life in the modern world where work, family and life pressures often take precedence. The "ecstasy" is the deep spiritual life that his students desire. The "laundry" represents the mundane demands of daily living. How can the sacred and the profane be reconciled for those of us unable to drop everything to pursue a spiritual life?

As always, Kornfield provides readers with compelling teachings show more about experiencing life in the present, living with compassion, and developing a satisfying spiritual life. I found the book compelling and reread it several times. Do not look for Buddhist doctrine here. This is more like a practical manual than a religious tract. show less

A remarkable book, the fruit of many interviews and conversations with a host of spritual teachers and advanced practitioners, Buddhist and non-Buddhist. Jack Kornfield uses these encounters to draw lessons about the reality of living a dedicated spiritual life. He includes an honest and balanced discussion of instances of bad behaviour by teachers - the 'dirty laundry'.

“Enlightenment does exist,” internationally renowned author and meditation master Jack Kornfield assures us. “Unbounded freedom and joy, oneness with the divine ... these experiences are more common than you know, and not far away.”

But even after achieving such realization — after the ecstasy — we are faced with the day-to-day task of translating that freedom into our imperfect lives. We are faced with the laundry.

Drawing on the experiences and insights of leaders and practitioners within the Buddhist, Christian, Jewish, Hindu, and Sufi traditions, this book offers a uniquely intimate and honest understanding of how the modern spiritual journey unfolds — and how we can prepare our hearts for awakening.

Through moving show more personal stories and traditional tales, we learn how the enlightened heart navigates the real world of family relationships, emotional pain, earning a living, sickness, loss, and death. show less

After many times of picking this book up for a while then putting it down for a while. I finally finished it. I honestly do not think I was ready for it when I first started reading it and should probabby reread the beginning at some time. At this time, the book was good for me and I not only was ready but needed it. I like how this book combines the beliefs and views of many religions and shows indirectly how similar they are. I feel I needed this book (and others like it) right now to help me become a better wife and mother and be better to myself. I don't know what I will do with this book at this time. Will keep an eye out for someone that I know will appreciate it.

Live in the moment. Don't expect perfection.
Years after reading this, all I need to do is think of the title to feel more hopeful about my life, calmer and accepting. For a few years I had selected quotes from it hanging on my kitchen wall.

I was hoping for something a little more practical; this was inspiring, but for every "oh, you don't have to travel to India to be enlightened," there were five stories about people traveling to India to be enlightened.