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Paradise In Plain Sight: Lessons From A Zen Garden (2014)

by Karen Maezen Miller(Favorite Author)

4.47 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

1608682528 (ISBN13: 9781608682522)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

New World Library

review 1: I'm new to Zen and its concepts, so I thought that this book might be an interesting introduction, even if it wasn't intended as such. The book discusses Miller's attempt to rebuild a Zen garden in a newly bought house. She uses her experiences with the garden to illustrate different Zen concepts and how they have come to play in her life. She extends her Zen garden experiences into metaphors that demonstrate how everyday experiences can give you wisom for life.There are lots of great insights to be learned from this book, and the Zen concepts were discussed in a way that even a complete novice in the study of Zen can understand and gain insight. Many of the stories and teachings from this book I still use in my everyday life. It has been instructive and instrumental durin... moreg a time in my life where I really needed a spiritual compass but didn't want religion.
review 2: In Karen Maezen Miller’s new book, Paradise in Plain Sight Lessons from a Zen Garden, the author uses nature to explain life as is the Buddhist way. Over sixteen years ago, Miller and her husband bought a home in California which had, as its most distinctive feature, an overgrown and long-neglected Zen garden and that element hooked the couple. Chapters with titles such as Path, Sun, Moon, Gate, Rocks, Path and Weeds neatly ordered by sections: Coming Here, Living Now and Letting Go, all serve as guidance for the reader to wonder at the messages contained in this natural, if artificial, world. The chapter entitled Weeds, for example, is about creating a “flourishing practice.” Calling weeds the “very emblem of aversion” and says the most common weeds in the world are greed, anger and ignorance. It’s about letting go of the outcome, putting one foot in front of the other and continuing on your path while paying attention to the work at hand, like weeding, just pulling weeds one after another every day. Superbly written, each chapter takes the reader into the garden, not just Miller’s garden, but each reader’s garden wherever that may be. less

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