This book has been a constant go-to for strength and inspiration since I first read it years ago. It's filled with countless stories and examples of patience, perseverance and grace through the eyes of a man owning his spiritual path. A must-read for anyone that is exploring buddhism or just merely a more spiritual way to life without dogma of a Religion and the social stigmas that go with it.

To bow to everything that is.The heart holds more freedom and compassion that ever imagined.DropDropDropAwaken to the perfection all around usEmpty EmptyHappy HappyWhat happens after the enlightenment?To live our understanding with a full heart.True path of compassion Plant a tree for every five years of life———————————————StoriesA mirror for self understanding Buddhism practiced in modern world Letting go and opening the heart is special but can happen to anyone. Birth processPainBreaking apart...

I didn't like the beginning of the book where Kornfield provides many different accounts of enlightenment. I am not going to reach enlightenment, or go on a week-long meditation retreat, or join a monastery for years. I am just trying to meditate regularly and be here now and see the world for what it is, rather than what I want it to be. The second half of the book was better, but I found that the first person narratives interspersed throughout the book took away from the lesson as often as the...

This is my current spiritual book circle read ... and the first time I've read Kornfield. We've gotten lots of discussion from each of the chapters. I really like it!Today we finished the book -- excellent!! (Took us 17 weeks as we did a chapter a week - each one was meaty!) I'm going to find some of Kornfield's other works ... loved the simplicity and the stories.

Meditation and recognition of inner self can be the basic stone of every religion and every philosophical movement. The book is just about that. Finding inner self, calm and the satori or whatever you call it in different ways from Hindu, Jewish to Christianity way. The author put synthesis of the movements and religions only to show how one can reach the ecstasy but also that after touching the peak, there is always the day after which is demanding in the same ways as reaching. However when you...

So, I started reading this about 5 years back and reached the end of chapter 13, then stopped. It was too deep and too fast for me to keep up, so back on the shelf it went.Then, about 2 years ago it came back off the shelf, and, because I enjoyed it so much the first time, I started reading from the beginning. I reached chapter 7, and back it went on the shelf. Can't remember why; I probably started reading something else instead knowing me.A couple of weeks ago I started to keep track of the bo...

I'd shelve After the Ecstacy, the Laundry by Jack Kornfield next to Shunryu Suzuki's Zen Mind Beginners Mind. "Strictly speaking, there are no enlightened people, there are only enlightened events" (Shunryu Suzuki, xx-xxi). "In awakening, our whole sense of identity shifts. We let go our small sense of self and enter the unbounded consciousness out of which we come. What becomes known with absolute certainty is that we are not and never have been separate from the world. . . . When our identity

This is not a "how-to" book on how to attain enlightenment, meditate, or become a Buddhist. What it is can best be described by what is written on the back cover. "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 awaking. Through moving personal stories and traditi...

This is a great book. Kornfield has written quite a lot and it's all quality. This book will mean most to those who have been on "the path" for a while; who have struggled with the sense of confusion and doubt from time to time, just not knowing where they are or what they are doing there. That the journey is consistent for all (though not exactly the same) no matter what their tradition is reassuring in many ways. The orientation this work provides and the relaxed way in which it is presented h...

I've read this book a few times and now I enjoy picking it up at random like an oracle: it is always spot on and devastatingly true (in a good way). Definitely a desert island book for me, and it continues to provide great perspective on this human experience. And Jack is funny! That always helps.

The flavor of the lessons in this book by Jack Kornfield reminds me of the song at the end of The Hobbit 3, "The Last Goodbye" (https://youtu.be/q8ir8rVl2Z4):"...Over hill and under tree, through lands where never light has shone, by silver streams that run down to the sea, under cloud, beneath the stars, over snow on winter's morn – I turn at last to paths that lead home. And though, where the road now takes me, I cannot tell, We came all this way, but now comes the day to bid you farewell.Many...

More of us have experienced moments of enlightenment awakening than we think. The thing is that after we have that moment of transcendence, that feeling of connection to limitless cosmos, that divine love, we're...still ourselves. Because of that, and because so often these moments don't contain an external witness, we might feel we have less experience of spiritual awareness than we do. This book is a wonderful affirmation of these moments from a wide range of spiritual traditions, though Buddh...

After the Ecstasy, the Laundry is a masterpiece. Kornfield outlines the shifts of consciousness that we all make each day and how even enlightened monks struggle with their spirituality and families. He brings examples from different religions to create a unified picture of enlightened spirituality and expresses the hope that by raising our own individual consciousness that we may in time change the world. May it be so.This was the first book that I have read by Jack Kornfield. I may need to pic...

This book, along with everything I've ever read or listened to by Pema Chodron, has added so much to my serenity! Thank goodness for these gentle and fearless souls who attempt to make the philosophy of Buddhism available to the western mind and heart!

This is one I will be reading again. Packed with juicy wisdom. It should be savored.

I enjoyed it deeply. I love how many familiar aspects it touches and how grounded the offered reflections are. It is interesting to read it immediately after Waking Up by Sam Harris, who shares a different point of view on the unity of spiritual path between religions, religions as institutions, and near-death experiences. While advocates for the similar practice of mindfulness.The reality of laundry 🧺 after ecstasy 🤩 is universal and profound. It is common to see people cling to extreme experie...

I started this book years ago and didn't finish it but I kept it. I tried again this year and finished it. I had to sometimes force myself to read not because it wasn't well-written but rather because it is best to read it slowly and contemplate along the way. I found the gates of awakening of value and in particular the gate of sorrow. It explained my a growing compassion for those who are suffering. "It is as if our consciousness has broken open to the struggles of humanity and the earth itsel...

This is a grounding, generous-hearted book perfect for the come-down from a huge spiritual experience. It reminds us that all people--and especially those who've dedicated themselves to spirituality--are still messy humans, and that compassion and acceptance is meant to be practiced not just on retreat or on the cushion, but in our regular, everyday lives. Kornfield manages to instill forgiveness for one's all too human foibles, while still holding unethical spiritual leaders (such as those who

Good stuff from a knowledgeable and experienced teacher."Enlightenment is our Inherent State" "Spiritual Practice is only What You are Doing Now" "The Wise Heart is at Peace with the Way Things Are"

As a beginning mediator, the first few chapters were a bit lost on me, but I enjoyed the rest of the book quite a bit.