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Paradise in Plain Sight: Lessons from a Zen Garden
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.
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.
173 pages, Paperback
First published April 15, 2014
26 people are currently reading
534 people want to read
About the author
Karen Maezen Miller
4 books192 followersKaren Maezen Miller is a Zen Buddhist priest and teacher at the Hazy Moon Zen Center in Los Angeles. She is the author of Paradise in Plain Sight: Lessons from a Zen Garden, Hand Wash Cold: Care Instructions for an Ordinary Life and Momma Zen: Walking the Crooked Path of Motherhood. She leads retreats around the country.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 66 reviews
July 18, 2014
Love the magic of pre-ordering and then being surprised one day with the book I so needed in my mailbox. Everything on my nightstand will have to move over.
ETA...three months later: This might be the slowest I've ever read a book. Only 166 pages, but I've been reading it since April. Not because I couldn't get into it, but because ever time I picked it up, I'd reread to find where I left off (something I do with most books, and easily find my page) and would end up starting all over. Each time I opened the book, the words would sound new to me. Surely if I had read this before, I wouldn't have been so blind to whatever foolish reaction I had just had that day!
I finally took to underlining and writing notes, even though that was silly too. Because every page is filled with underlined quotes now, and as Maezen wrote, "You'll always encounter what you need to know when you need to know it, so go ahead and forget this too."
She's funny. What a rare gift, especially in writing about personal responsibility, Buddhism, freedom, death and letting go. She writes about all of those and more, in the context of looking at what is right in front of you---in her case, the 100+ year old Zen garden that happens to be her backyard.
I was so excited to travel with it in April, forgetting that I was driving solo for a change so I couldn't have my feet up on the dashboard with my nose in a book the way we usually travel. I finally finished the book last week as we drove back to Moab from Golden, after a tense week in which we failed to find a new house but succeeded in selling our own. I felt homeless and on edge and full of fear, and Maezen's words were a balm to my stressed-out soul.
Not that I'll ever be finished with it. Its spot on my nightstand is now permanent.
Limiting myself to a handful of my favorite lines:
"When you love, really love, you just see. You see things as they are, not as you expect, and in that wide-open space is love."
"When something bad happens, when you step into the quicksand of your anxiety and doom, when your thoughts begin to race, when fear strangles your breath, despair wretches your heart, and doubt suffocates the light right out of your day, pick up a rock and hold it in your hand. Yes, any old rock will do. Any rock will bring you back to the here and now. Faith in the here and now is faith that never leaves you."
"It's an amazing place we live in when we're not at odds with it. Who can contain the love that this one life brings with it? It is boundless."
"The nature of life is impermanence. One day it'll get your attention. Reality might dawn in a single blow or accumulate in a thousand cuts, but one way or another you'll see that things change. Nothing is solid. Everything disappears. In a million, billion ways the world will fail you. How can you bear it?"
and almost in answer to that very question, several chapters later, there's this:
"Nothing is beneath or beyond you. You can do the smallest things. You carry peace wherever you go and share it with everyone, mindful that we're all doing our best, and headed in the same direction."
ETA...three months later: This might be the slowest I've ever read a book. Only 166 pages, but I've been reading it since April. Not because I couldn't get into it, but because ever time I picked it up, I'd reread to find where I left off (something I do with most books, and easily find my page) and would end up starting all over. Each time I opened the book, the words would sound new to me. Surely if I had read this before, I wouldn't have been so blind to whatever foolish reaction I had just had that day!
I finally took to underlining and writing notes, even though that was silly too. Because every page is filled with underlined quotes now, and as Maezen wrote, "You'll always encounter what you need to know when you need to know it, so go ahead and forget this too."
She's funny. What a rare gift, especially in writing about personal responsibility, Buddhism, freedom, death and letting go. She writes about all of those and more, in the context of looking at what is right in front of you---in her case, the 100+ year old Zen garden that happens to be her backyard.
I was so excited to travel with it in April, forgetting that I was driving solo for a change so I couldn't have my feet up on the dashboard with my nose in a book the way we usually travel. I finally finished the book last week as we drove back to Moab from Golden, after a tense week in which we failed to find a new house but succeeded in selling our own. I felt homeless and on edge and full of fear, and Maezen's words were a balm to my stressed-out soul.
Not that I'll ever be finished with it. Its spot on my nightstand is now permanent.
Limiting myself to a handful of my favorite lines:
"When you love, really love, you just see. You see things as they are, not as you expect, and in that wide-open space is love."
"When something bad happens, when you step into the quicksand of your anxiety and doom, when your thoughts begin to race, when fear strangles your breath, despair wretches your heart, and doubt suffocates the light right out of your day, pick up a rock and hold it in your hand. Yes, any old rock will do. Any rock will bring you back to the here and now. Faith in the here and now is faith that never leaves you."
"It's an amazing place we live in when we're not at odds with it. Who can contain the love that this one life brings with it? It is boundless."
"The nature of life is impermanence. One day it'll get your attention. Reality might dawn in a single blow or accumulate in a thousand cuts, but one way or another you'll see that things change. Nothing is solid. Everything disappears. In a million, billion ways the world will fail you. How can you bear it?"
and almost in answer to that very question, several chapters later, there's this:
"Nothing is beneath or beyond you. You can do the smallest things. You carry peace wherever you go and share it with everyone, mindful that we're all doing our best, and headed in the same direction."
July 5, 2014
"Paradise is your back yard," Karen Maezen Miller says.
Miller and her husband discovered their garden in 1997 while on a house hunt in a suburb of Los Angeles. "It seemed like paradise with our name written all over it," she writes in the preface to Paradise in Plain Sight.
The garden was built in 1916 on a hillside in the small town of Sierra Madre. The designer was a gardener from Japan called Tokutaro Kato. It was part of a larger estate later subdivided into housing plots but the garden remained intact. A bungalow was added to the property in 1949.
"Nature teaches us about ourselves because nature is what we are," Miller said in an interview.
I appreciated reading Paradise in Plain Sight because it reminded me of the beauty and lessons all around me. While I may dream of travelling elsewhere, everything I need is right here.
Miller writes about what she learned in her garden: "The living truth of life, love, beauty, purpose, and peace—is taught to me right here, no farther away than the ground beneath my feet."
Getting "scratched, tired and dirty" doesn't necessarily sound like fun, but despite the enormity of the task of restoring the 7,500 square feet of garden to its former glory, Miller "always came back to this patch of patient earth."
In an interview, Miller said she wanted to leave the lessons of the garden and her writing "for someone else to find." And I'm so glad she did as now I'm reflecting on my own garden and each part of it as a metaphor: rocks, ponds, roots, flowers, leaves and weeds.
"Letting Go" is the theme of Part Three of the book. In it Miller writes: "Flowers are love's perfect offering. They do not ask to be appreciated. They expect nothing in return. They just let go."
You can tell she loves language. It moves through her like a song. She says, "All I have to do is listen. I write by listening and responding to what I hear."
Miller makes the practice of Zen approachable—which doesn't mean easy. She says that as a Zen practitioner "you'll do and say weird things you may not understand." One day, though, "you'll realize it's not mumbo jumbo."
I especially loved this: "If you've recognized something in these pages that you want to underline and remember, it's because you already know it. Have faith in yourself as the way."
I highly recommend Paradise in Plain Sight. You can read it and then forget everything Miller says. That's what she suggests: "Your life is the life of the entire universe. How can I add a single thing to it?"
by Mary Ann Moore
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women
Miller and her husband discovered their garden in 1997 while on a house hunt in a suburb of Los Angeles. "It seemed like paradise with our name written all over it," she writes in the preface to Paradise in Plain Sight.
The garden was built in 1916 on a hillside in the small town of Sierra Madre. The designer was a gardener from Japan called Tokutaro Kato. It was part of a larger estate later subdivided into housing plots but the garden remained intact. A bungalow was added to the property in 1949.
"Nature teaches us about ourselves because nature is what we are," Miller said in an interview.
I appreciated reading Paradise in Plain Sight because it reminded me of the beauty and lessons all around me. While I may dream of travelling elsewhere, everything I need is right here.
Miller writes about what she learned in her garden: "The living truth of life, love, beauty, purpose, and peace—is taught to me right here, no farther away than the ground beneath my feet."
Getting "scratched, tired and dirty" doesn't necessarily sound like fun, but despite the enormity of the task of restoring the 7,500 square feet of garden to its former glory, Miller "always came back to this patch of patient earth."
In an interview, Miller said she wanted to leave the lessons of the garden and her writing "for someone else to find." And I'm so glad she did as now I'm reflecting on my own garden and each part of it as a metaphor: rocks, ponds, roots, flowers, leaves and weeds.
"Letting Go" is the theme of Part Three of the book. In it Miller writes: "Flowers are love's perfect offering. They do not ask to be appreciated. They expect nothing in return. They just let go."
You can tell she loves language. It moves through her like a song. She says, "All I have to do is listen. I write by listening and responding to what I hear."
Miller makes the practice of Zen approachable—which doesn't mean easy. She says that as a Zen practitioner "you'll do and say weird things you may not understand." One day, though, "you'll realize it's not mumbo jumbo."
I especially loved this: "If you've recognized something in these pages that you want to underline and remember, it's because you already know it. Have faith in yourself as the way."
I highly recommend Paradise in Plain Sight. You can read it and then forget everything Miller says. That's what she suggests: "Your life is the life of the entire universe. How can I add a single thing to it?"
by Mary Ann Moore
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women
June 8, 2014
This small beautiful book has become, since I finished it a week ago, necessary to me. I have marked so many places, that all I need to do is open its pages for a dose of wisdom.
July 14, 2022
Miller writes beautifully and I adore her three books! Her simple and personal writing style is Zen in action. She successfully awakened me to the messy paradise in front of me; she's such a warm, gentle, and accessible teacher. I read many books about Buddhism and mindfulness, but this is one I will definitely return to again and again.
May 10, 2019
Wow, wow, wow. The most beautifully written, most meaningful book about spiritual things I've ever read. I am, in middle age, finally realizing how greatly I harm myself and those I love with my desire to control things (I want to keep everyone safe!), the assumptions I make, and the negative self talk in my head. Karen Maezen Miller points to the way through, which, she would say, is really the Way. Already I feel relief, feel my dark thoughts lifting, feel hope, and recognize a different truth that may lead me to a different kind of life within this body and mind of mine. I'm so grateful. I wish I could give a copy to everyone I know.
March 28, 2018
I enjoyed this little book quite a bit. I read a library copy, but I was constantly running by excerpts I wish I could have highlighted or underlined. I may buy a copy of it so I can revisit it again in the near future.
Miller's writing is simple, but insightful. This is easy to recommend to anyone who is interested in Zen Buddhism.
Miller's writing is simple, but insightful. This is easy to recommend to anyone who is interested in Zen Buddhism.
July 26, 2021
Four and one half stars.
This book has been on my to read list for a few years. I’m glad I waited because it’s wisdom is now appreciated more as I have ventured on my own garden path, seeking to find peace in this world.
It’s a lovely way to end the day- reading and thinking about the lessons nature teaches us when we stop to listen and observe.
This book has been on my to read list for a few years. I’m glad I waited because it’s wisdom is now appreciated more as I have ventured on my own garden path, seeking to find peace in this world.
It’s a lovely way to end the day- reading and thinking about the lessons nature teaches us when we stop to listen and observe.
February 1, 2022
There are a few books I turn to when I need a reminder to focus on the good, pure, noble, and still things in the world. One of my favorites is "Plain and Simple" by Sue Bender. "Paradise in Plain Sight" will join that stack of books to reread when I need to renew and recenter.
February 27, 2017
A always Karen Maezen Miller steps quietly into your life and opens windows you did not know were there to show you your life as you had not imagined it. Magical and real and healing.
October 10, 2015
This book might well be entitled "Zen Buddhist Principles for Beginners". It used gardening as an interesting tie-in, quite nicely.
I have a two-sided view of this book. The first view is that it presents some principles that although they sound deep and mystical, they seem more to be naive or even useless. Examples--- "All of time is contained in this moment." "There is one mind and we share it. One way and we walk it." "In birth there is nothing but birth. In death there is nothing but death." "We are time. Eternity is here right now"--- I mean like wow, learned nothing from those profound statements. Sound good, but carries no meaning at all to me.
The second view is that some things it said really resonated with me, made me reflect. Examples---"Seeing without judging is an act of love." (Oh, that so made me think of my Mom, bless her.) Or, "You have to stop trying to understand before you can see things as they really are." Or, "I am at an age where I am irritating to a precious few, and invisible to everyone else." And, "In Zen we don't find the answers, we lose the questions."
So, I guess I just don't get this Zen thing. Maybe some time I will. For now, I am guided by simpler rules, ones I can wrap my brain around. Like the words of deep wisdom that my wonderful wife offered to me the other day, "Remember: You're you."
I have a two-sided view of this book. The first view is that it presents some principles that although they sound deep and mystical, they seem more to be naive or even useless. Examples--- "All of time is contained in this moment." "There is one mind and we share it. One way and we walk it." "In birth there is nothing but birth. In death there is nothing but death." "We are time. Eternity is here right now"--- I mean like wow, learned nothing from those profound statements. Sound good, but carries no meaning at all to me.
The second view is that some things it said really resonated with me, made me reflect. Examples---"Seeing without judging is an act of love." (Oh, that so made me think of my Mom, bless her.) Or, "You have to stop trying to understand before you can see things as they really are." Or, "I am at an age where I am irritating to a precious few, and invisible to everyone else." And, "In Zen we don't find the answers, we lose the questions."
So, I guess I just don't get this Zen thing. Maybe some time I will. For now, I am guided by simpler rules, ones I can wrap my brain around. Like the words of deep wisdom that my wonderful wife offered to me the other day, "Remember: You're you."
Read
October 21, 2015This is a very special book for readers interested in slowing down. If you love employing metaphors then you'll love Miller's " Paradise in Plain Sight." Her writing is clear and her deep and personal knowledge of Zen, she is a Zen Priest, so if you're new to Zen teaching and philosophy or discovering it for the first time, this is the book for you. I know no more about gardening then I did when I picked up the book but I'm well reminded of my mindfulness practice, encouraged to go back to Yoga class and anchored more in the present than I've been for a while. I'm tagging " Hand Wash Cold " in Goodreads to ensure I make Miller a habit. Among the things I aspire to be in the life, a Buddhist Priest is not one of them. I like my life, I like my world. Miller reminds me, however, that I can embrace each day more fully, become more self aware, appreciate the Paradise that is in Plain Sight.
May 13, 2015
The core of Buddhism is simple. We make our own suffering by trying to force our lives into a certain shape; we let go of suffering by understanding life and accepting it for what it is. This is an easy principle to state, and to believe in. Remembering it and practicing it? That's the difficult part.
That's why I'm glad this book was recommended to me a few weeks ago. Miller deftly uses her history with her own garden to recall her teachers and her principles. As someone who loves gardens and needed a reminder of mindfulness, I found this story a useful way to focus my attention and ask myself a few questions about how to live right now. Putting the answers into practice has also been helpful -- I've set aside some fears and immediately felt better about what I'm doing and why -- but we'll see how soon I need another reminder.
That's why I'm glad this book was recommended to me a few weeks ago. Miller deftly uses her history with her own garden to recall her teachers and her principles. As someone who loves gardens and needed a reminder of mindfulness, I found this story a useful way to focus my attention and ask myself a few questions about how to live right now. Putting the answers into practice has also been helpful -- I've set aside some fears and immediately felt better about what I'm doing and why -- but we'll see how soon I need another reminder.
April 28, 2014
I tried to read this slowly, but it was no use. I ate it up in less than 48 hours. Once again, this author was talking directly to me, it seems. This book is even more powerful than her other work. With beautiful and clear phrasing, Miller walks readers through Zen Buddhism and tells us both what we need to know and already know. The path is clear, we are ready to be awakened, we have all we need, and she is a lovely teacher. I am very glad to have this on my shelf to read again and again, whenever necessary.
March 10, 2015
I enjoyed it, although I did not finish it. I want to get back to it, but had to return it to the library. Full of great reflections in the story line.
A quote I have shared with a few people from page 4:... because for-and-against is a struggle we bring to everything we do. To prove it, just grab hold of what you think is your side of things, the right side, and tug. Wars like that can go on for – oh, I don’t know – forever. You’re putting all your effort into pulling a rope and then blaming the other side for the blister.”
A quote I have shared with a few people from page 4:... because for-and-against is a struggle we bring to everything we do. To prove it, just grab hold of what you think is your side of things, the right side, and tug. Wars like that can go on for – oh, I don’t know – forever. You’re putting all your effort into pulling a rope and then blaming the other side for the blister.”
April 2, 2019
3.5 stars. I wrote down some great lines from this to remember in the days to come, but I had a hard time connecting to some of the teachings here. I was bummed at a line early on that discredited the use of antidepressants and medications for mental illnesses; I had just started medication a few days before starting this book, and it was discouraging. But the prose was very lovely and I took some good points from this. There were things I needed to hear out of this and many of them were delivered.
May 13, 2014
There is an indescribable beauty found within the pages of this book. It is filled with profound wisdom and life teachings and I found myself more and more moved as I read each chapter. This book is filled with such love, life, light and appreciation that I found myself exploring my own garden and humanity. I could feel Maezen’s presence as I read the words and was inspired and challenged by her insight and perception. My life has more color and gratitude after reading.
July 10, 2014
This is a special book. In the simplest of ways do we become reminded of the beauty of life and our place therein. I am grateful to have read an article in Shambhala Sun that led me to 'Paradise.' I took it with me everywhere until I finished it, and I was sad when I read the last word on the last page. A page-turner to say the least, essential to growth, and authentically poetic. Wise.
Enjoy!
Enjoy!
August 9, 2014
There are times when a book comes across my lap and speaks to my soul from the first moment I crack open the binding to the last time I turn a page and Paradise in Plain Sight was just such a book. I loved each and every moment of reading this book and can't wait to read it once again!
June 10, 2014
A book to be savoured, cherished and frequently re-read.
August 18, 2014
I couldn't recommend all of Karen Maezen Miller's work more. Simple and beautiful
September 2, 2014
Absolutely loved this book.
February 15, 2022
Part memoir, part zen manual, PARADISE IN PLAIN SIGHT is a beautiful offering of wisdom, knowledge, and inspiration. I love the duality that comes through so clearly in Karen Maezen Miller's writing. She's not a master gardener, but she loves tending to her garden. She's not a zen guru, but she's passionate about zen.
This book shines as a great example of the author practicing what she preaches... there is no "one" answer. No perfect way to do anything. All we've got is this moment, where our lives unfold.
Every time I picked up this book, I felt enveloped in the sense of calm, peace, and ease that continued to linger throughout the day. Reading PARADISE IN PLAIN SIGHT was a beautiful experience, and one I'm very grateful to have had.
This book shines as a great example of the author practicing what she preaches... there is no "one" answer. No perfect way to do anything. All we've got is this moment, where our lives unfold.
Every time I picked up this book, I felt enveloped in the sense of calm, peace, and ease that continued to linger throughout the day. Reading PARADISE IN PLAIN SIGHT was a beautiful experience, and one I'm very grateful to have had.
August 21, 2023
I actually read this book quite some time ago—I forgot that I had put it on Goodreads as a "want to read." The fact that the book still sticks with me after all this time speaks to the quality of this book and author. Maezen takes some potentially esoteric concepts and relates them to everyday life in a way that brings them home. This is one of those books I come back to from time to time to remind me that "enlightenment" (whatever that is) lies right here, right now, not in some far-off place. As I read through it again, I'm reminded it is accessible without being simplistic. I'm grateful for these ongoing seeds of wisdom.
March 21, 2019
I enjoyed reading this book. I liked the author's poetic style of writing and the peaceful sense I got from the descriptions of the garden - which I would like to see. The author fluidly wove her life and garden with Zen teachings so that I felt I got a lesson by example.
There were certain things that sort of threw me - her daughter describing her as screaming a lot. What was that about? And I was a little confused about the gardener. He died. Then he was mentioned in a wheel chair. Were there 2 or just 1. And why did she crop her hair?
There were certain things that sort of threw me - her daughter describing her as screaming a lot. What was that about? And I was a little confused about the gardener. He died. Then he was mentioned in a wheel chair. Were there 2 or just 1. And why did she crop her hair?
September 10, 2019
Karen Maezen Miller’s writing on her garden is lovely. Her writing in general is beautiful: powerful imagery, no wasted words. But if you aren’t a Zen Buddhist, or a wannabe one, you might experience a bit of whiplash between loving some of her insight and bristling at some of the spiritual/philosophical concepts. Miller’s dismissal of antidepressants/ pain meds early on in the book is also problematic for the many people who might need these medications to even begin breathing.
November 20, 2019
This was recommended by a friend as a good introduction to Zen Buddism, and I enjoyed it in that capacity. The author describes the principles of Buddhism in the extended metaphor of her own lifetime of gardening, with chapters like "Weeds" and "Flowers", etc. This could get heavy-handed, but manages not to and is really helpful to hang on to the concepts.
March 12, 2019
Calming, inspiring, beautiful.
April 12, 2021
This was an informative read for a new zen gardener. And I learned more about my sycamore too!
May 30, 2021
Zen and gardening. Nice combination.
August 23, 2021
Very well written and entertaining short book about Buddhism and meditation.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 66 reviews