The Backward Step: Essays on Zen Practice

by Ben Howard

Published originally as biweekly columns, the fifty essays in this collection bring the age-old practice of Zen to bear upon contemporary life. Whether their immediate subject be shoveling snow or baking bread, the "virtues of solitude" or the emotional dimension of social media, these lucid, graceful essays explore the manifold ways by which we might take the "backward step," shifting our orientation from ego-centered thinking to selfless awareness. "Wise and true," writes Roshi Joan Halifax of The Backward Step, "this wonderful book transmits the essence of practice realization."

234 pages, Paperback

First published January 15, 2014

Reviews

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this moving and very beautiful writing on embedding zen practice in the everyday ordinary and mundane and elevating the practice to be profound.