The Empty Mirror Experiences in a Japanese Zen Monastery [Paperback]

Seen by many as a contemporary classic, Janwillem van de Wetering's small and admirable memoir records the experiences of a young Dutch studentlater a widely celebrated mystery writerwho spent a year and a half as a novice monk in a Japanese Zen Buddhist monastery. As Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, author ofCutting Through Spiritual Materialism, has written,The Empty Mirror should be very encouraging for other Western seekers.

It is the first book in a trilogy that continues withA Glimpse of NothingnessandAfterzen.

Janwillem van de Weteringhas lived with his wife on the Maine Coast for twenty years, but before that he lived literally all over the world --Holland, South Africa, London, Japan, South America. He is the author of a successful mystery series.

This small and memorable memoir records the experiences of a young Dutch student who spent a year and a half as a novice monk in a Japanese Zen Buddhist monastery . . . What makes this account extraordinary is that the book contains none of the convert's irritating certitude. Time Magazine

What is accessible is the day-to-day description of life, of the monks themselves and of the others he met, of the jokes they played and the food they ate, of the moments of satori, the explosive moment of an understanding surpassing understanding. Los Angeles Times