Praise for
JACK KORNFIELD
Its encouraging to find Westerners whove sufficiently assimilated the traditions of the East to be able to share them with others as Jack is doing. May such efforts further the peace of all beings.
H. H. the Dalai Lama
Its no easy thing to follow a spiritual path across the threshold of the 21st century; to understand the teachings fully, to practise them wisely and to integrate them in action in our life. Eight hundred years ago, the Tibetan master Gampopa prayed: Grant your blessings so that my mind may be one with the Dharma; grant your blessings so that Dharma may progress along the path; grant your blessings so that the path may clarify confusion; grant your blessings so that confusion may dawn as wisdom. These words are just as true today, when anyone embracing the spiritual life needs to learn how to recognize the misunderstandings, difficulties and confusions that can arise, and how to transform them into inspiration and a source of strength. Jack Kornfield is a remarkable and thoughtful teacher. He knows that by making our spiritual journey with love and compassion, with joyfulness and equanimity, with patience and forgiveness, we will discover not only the heart of Buddha but also the heart of what it means to be a truly human being.
Sogyal Rinpoche
Once again Jack Kornfield demonstrates his breath of knowledge and experience of the mindscape and heart rhythm of the spiritual, and particularly the meditative, journey. With an open-hearted expertise rare in a Westerner, Jack offers a benevolent travelogue along the Way.
Stephen Levine
Its the mixture that makes Jacks book work so wonderfully well. Humor, ordinary stories, exact advice for critical moments, huge learning of his discipline, and a happy heart what a pleasant path into the depths.
James Hillman
Our psychological and spiritual processes are too often treated as discrete. A Path with Heart happily shows how Humpty Dumpty can be put back together again!
Ram Dass
Jack Kornfield offers a friendly, warm, and eminently useful guide to the meditators path, brimming with clarity. A Path with Heart is an ideal companion for anyone exploring the life of the spirit.
Daniel Goleman
OTHER BOOKS BY JACK KORNFIELD
Living Buddhist Masters (Living Dharma)
A Still Forest Pool (with Paul Breiter)
Seeking the Heart of Wisdom (with Joseph Goldstein)
Stories of the Spirit, Stories of the Heart/Soul Food
(with Christina Feldman)
Buddhas Little Instruction Book*
Teachings of the Buddha
A Path with Heart*
*Also available from Rider
F OR INFORMATION ABOUT I NSIGHT M EDITATION WRITE TO :
Spirit Rock Center
P.O. Box 909-E
Woodacre, California 94973
Or visit: www.spiritrock.org
F OR TAPES OF LECTURES AND MEDITATIONS CONTACT :
Dharma Seed Tape Library
P.O. Box 66
Wendell Depot, Massachusetts 01380
Or visit: www.dharma.org
AFTER THE ECSTASY, THE LAUNDRY
How the Heart Grows Wise on the Spiritual Path
Jack Kornfield
ABOUT THE BOOK
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 lessons they and we can learn from these as each of us seeks to fulfil the true path of compassion on earth.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
JACK KORNFIELD was trained as a Buddhist monk in Thailand, Burma, and India, and has taught meditation around the world since 1974. He is one of the key teachers to introduce Theravada Buddhist practice to the West. For many years his work has been focused on integrating and bringing alive the great Eastern spiritual teachings in a way that is accessible to Western students and Western society. He also holds a Ph.D. in clinical psychology. He is a husband and father, and a founding teacher of the Insight Meditation Society and Spirit Rock Center. His books include Seeking the Heart of Wisdom; A Still Forest Pool; Stories of the Spirit, Stories of the Heart; Buddhas Little Instruction Book; A Path with Heart; and Teachings of the Buddha.
This ebook is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publishers prior consent in any form (including any digital form) other than this in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
Epub ISBN: 9781407026152
Version 1.0
www.randomhouse.co.uk
Copyright Jack Kornfield 2000
Jack Kornfield has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner.
First published in 2000 by Bantam Books,
a division of Random House, Inc.
This edition published in 2000 by Rider,
an imprint of Ebury Press, Random House,
20 Vauxhall Bridge Road, London SW1V 2SA
www.randomhouse.co.uk
The Random House Group Limited Reg. No. 954009
Book design by Carol Malcolm Russo/Signet M Design, Inc.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 9780712606585
Dedicated to
Ven. Ajahn Chah, to his Dharma brother
Ven. Ajahn Buddhadasa, and to
the lineage of
the Elders of the forest.
AN OPENING BOW
W hen I found myself becoming a Buddhist monk in a forest monastery of Thailand over thirty years ago, I had to learn how to bow. It was awkward at first. Each time we entered the meditation hall we would drop to our knees and three times respectfully place our head between our palms on the stone floor. It was a practice of reverence and mindfulness, a way of honoring with a bodily gesture our commitment to the monks path of simplicity, compassion, and awareness. We would bow in the same way each time we took our seat for training with the master.
After I had been in the monastery for a week or two, one of the senior monks pulled me aside for further instruction. In this monastery you must not only bow when entering the meditation hall and receiving teachings from the master, but also when you meet your elders. As the only Westerner, and wanting to act correctly, I asked who my elders were. It is traditional that all who are older in ordination time, whove been monks longer than you, are your elders, I was told. It took only a moment to realize that meant everybody.
