Paradise in Plain Sight - by Karen Maezen Miller (Paperback)

About the Book

"Reflections on finding peace, beauty, and fulfillment in everyday life, illustrated by the author's experiences with tending her new home's venerable but neglected Japanese garden"--

Book Synopsis

Come See the Garden That Is Your Life

When Zen teacher Karen Maezen Miller and her family land in a house with a hundred-year-old Japanese garden, she uses the paradise in her backyard to glean the living wisdom of our natural world. Through her eyes, rocks convey faith, ponds preach stillness, flowers give love, and leaves express the effortless ease of letting go. The book welcomes readers into the garden for Zen lessons in fearlessness, forgiveness, presence, acceptance, and contentment. Miller gathers inspiration from the ground beneath her feet to remind us that paradise is always here and now.

Review Quotes

"[Karen Maezen Miller] skillfully weaves vivid details of nature with personal history and such gritty tasks as curbing running bamboo and raking endless sycamore leaves....Miller's graceful writing, hard-learned wisdom, and heartfelt commitment to help her readers find their own bit of paradise here and now make this an inspiring guide."
-- Publishers Weekly

"Wise, insightful, and honest."
-- Sharon Salzberg, author of Real Happiness

"This is one of the most beautiful books I've ever read. Karen Maezen Miller has cleared a path for all of us -- from pain and confusion to joy and gratitude. She taught me that the secret garden I've been searching for has existed all along. I just needed to find the right guide."
-- Priscilla Warner, author of Learning to Breathe and coauthor of the New York Times bestseller The Faith Club

"Paradise in Plain Sight stopped me in my tracks and invited me to look into the backyard of my own life in a different way: with deep attention and radical gratitude. To read this extraordinary book -- so brief in length, yet so magnificently deep and so transparently clear -- is to remember that home is where I am and that what I need I have."
-- Katrina Kenison, author of Magical Journey

About the Author

Karen Maezen Miller is a Zen Buddhist priest and teacher at the Hazy Moon Zen Center in Los Angeles. The author of Hand Wash Cold and Momma Zen, she leads retreats around the country.