"Zen koans, beginning some 1500 years ago, refer to stories or questions arising in encounters between monks and old Chinese and Japanese masters, and include commentaries designed to help the Zen practitioner awaken. Koans like Hakuin's What is the sound of one hand clapping? are well-known, and the word koan has even gone mainstream. Thousands of classic koans emerged from the lives of monks living inside a Chinese or Japanese culture, and the commentaries...

Dishes made with mindfulness that reflect a "love of Asian flavors and current tastes for lighter vegetarian meals" from the legendary Buddhist monastery (Edible Monterey Bay). In Tassajara: Dinner & Desserts, readers will not only find recipes filled with the flavor of Zen practice but also stories from past guest cooks, such as Deborah Madison, Ed Brown, Gloria Lee, and many others, whose calm and peaceful minds were truly tested behind the doors...

"Learn to face and overcome the pitfalls of Zen practice--self-indulgence, suppression, speculation, asceticism--with this first complete translation of a Zen classic. "In Zen practice, the essential point is to arouse doubt. What is this doubt? When you are born, for example, where do you come from? You cannot help but remain in doubt about this. When you die, where do you go? Again, you cannot help but remain in doubt. Since you cannot pierce this...