An exploration of the life of the Zen priest-poet Ryokan is interwoven with memoir of the author as she observes Ryokan's life during her own training as a Zen priest in Japan and encounters Ryokan in contemporary life as a model for learning and renewal. Ryokan loved the game Hide-and-go-Seek, Kakurenbo in Japanese, and this provides a metaphor as the author seeks to uncover the mysterious pathway of the hermit priest who seems to defy description. Ryokan had no plan to promote himself in any way or to encourage popularized stories about his life. He simply continued to live, not as a unique...

The twenty-seven women Zen masters teaching in this collection came to Soto Zen because they believed their spiritual practice could make a difference in themselves and a difference for the world. They speak directly to us from the platform of their own awakening experiences because the world most needs the ethical values found in these teachings on body, speech, and mind. It offers the authentic presence of teachers firmly planted in the Dharma with the myriad flavors of Zen practice from the informal personal taste of a small Zen community to the formal banquet of large urban centers. This...