Description
Book SynopsisAutumn Light: My Fifty Years in Zen is the story of one woman's witness to the remarkable half-century when Buddhist philosophy and practice took root in the religious landscape of the West.
Author Edwina Norton has been a devoted practitioner of the Soto school of Zen for the past 50 years. In 2013, at the age of 78, she was ordained a Zen priest and immediately thereafter participated in a rigorous three-month training at Tassajara Zen Mountain Monastery in California. Told in the intimate voice of a dharma friend, Autumn Light weaves Norton's life experiences with the Zen teachings and practice that sustained her through personal and professional challenges while raising two sons alone. Now retired to the Pacific Northwest, she practices with a small, diverse Zen community of young and older Zen students. Her late-in-life commitment as a priest has sparked a series of challenges that have tested her resolve to follow the rigorous practices of the Zen tradition. Priesthood
Trade ReviewOver many years of Zen practice I have come to feel that Buddhist enlightenment is nothing more or less than being a normal functioning person, capable of living a full human life right to the end. It turns out that this simple normal thing is actually rare; and that it takes some doing. In Autumn Light: My Fifty Years in Zen, Edie Norton, Zen priest, shows us her long life of enduring what time and the world will do to you, and how, through the simple process of paying honest attention to what happens, while maintaining the disciplined practice of sitting in the silence of the purely present moment, an ordinary person can come to great wisdom and compassion. Especially moving is Edie’s detailed description (by far the longest part of her story, though it occupies only three months of her life) of her monastic training period at Tassajara Zen monastery, a place I know very well; it is the best and most thorough description of what happens there that I have ever read. I am so moved by this book. I know you will be too. Thank you Edie! -- Norman Fischer, poet, author, Zen priest, former co-abbot, San Francisco Zen Center
Amongst the multitude of spiritual biographies, Norton's stands out for its realism, subtlety, and depth. With the perspective of eight decades on the planet and her work with several generations of Zen teachers over the last four, Norton shows us how to enter into a deep relationship with our lives and conditioning and come out the other side with wisdom and grace. This journey is neither easy nor simple, but it's inspiringly, and challengingly, real. Highly recommended for all of us as we become ready to engage in the real work of growing up. -- Nomon Tim Burnett, Guiding Teacher, Red Cedar Zen Community, Bellingham, Washington
Table of ContentsAuthor’s Notes
Names
Bibliographic Citations
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter 1. The Journey Begins
Chapter 2. A Family Tragedy
Chapter 3. A New Life
Chapter 4. Abundant Inspiration
Chapter 5. Maturing Practice
Chapter 6. Autumn Light
Chapter 7. Tassajara
Chapter 8. Learning the Ropes
Chapter 9. Full Immersion
Chapter 10. Community as Mirror
Chapter 11. The Mirror Cracks
Chapter 12. Sangha Encounters
Chapter 13. Rope’s End
Chapter 14. Save the Body
Chapter 15. Study the Self
Chapter 16. Fifty Years in Zen
Glossary of Terms
Bibliography
About the Author
