I Opened the Gate, Laughing

This enchanting book is a meditation on a womans search for inner peace and a reawakening of the creative self. Constrained by a traditional Japanese upbringing, devastated by a crumbling marriage and the deaths of friends and family, artist Mayumi Oda finds herself returning to the teachings and practice of her Buddhist childhood. At Green Gulch Farm, the beautiful Zen retreat in Northern California, she finds a new tranquility and creative spirit through her pen, her brush, and her trowel. A little gem, this heartfelt narrative is sprinkled with verse and contemplative vignettes and is awash with Odas watercolors and lush prints. It will move anyone who has sought a slower pace, a sacred place...the garden path.