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The Great Spring: Writing, Zen, and This Zigzag Life
From the beloved writing teacher behind Writing Down the Bones comes a treasury of personal stories reflecting a life filled with journeys—inner and outer—zigzagging around the world and home again
Here, Natalie Goldberg shares those vivid moments that have wakened her to new ways of being. We follow alongside her mapless meanderings in the New Mexican desert and her pilgrimages to Bob Dylan’s birthplace and to Larry McMurtry’s dusty Texas ghost town of rare books. We feel her deep hunger while she sits zazen in a monastery in Japan, and her profound loss when she hears of the passing of a dear friend while teaching in the French countryside.
Through it all, she remains grounded in a life informed by two the practices of writing and of Zen. With humor and insight, Natalie encircles around the essential questions these paths compel her Where does this life lead? Who are we?
This is a book to be relished one awakening at a time. Each story is a reminder that no matter how hard the situation or desolate you may feel, spring will come again, breaking through a cold winter, bringing early yellow forsythia flowers. And the Great Spring of enlightenment—that sudden rush of acceptance, pain cracking open, obstructions shattering—will also burst forth.
Here, Natalie Goldberg shares those vivid moments that have wakened her to new ways of being. We follow alongside her mapless meanderings in the New Mexican desert and her pilgrimages to Bob Dylan’s birthplace and to Larry McMurtry’s dusty Texas ghost town of rare books. We feel her deep hunger while she sits zazen in a monastery in Japan, and her profound loss when she hears of the passing of a dear friend while teaching in the French countryside.
Through it all, she remains grounded in a life informed by two the practices of writing and of Zen. With humor and insight, Natalie encircles around the essential questions these paths compel her Where does this life lead? Who are we?
This is a book to be relished one awakening at a time. Each story is a reminder that no matter how hard the situation or desolate you may feel, spring will come again, breaking through a cold winter, bringing early yellow forsythia flowers. And the Great Spring of enlightenment—that sudden rush of acceptance, pain cracking open, obstructions shattering—will also burst forth.
224 pages, Hardcover
First published February 2, 2016
73 people are currently reading
1012 people want to read
About the author
Natalie Goldberg
57 books1,255 followersNatalie Goldberg lived in Brooklyn until she was six, when her family moved out to Farmingdale, Long Island, where her father owned the bar the Aero Tavern. From a young age, Goldberg was mad for books and reading, and especially loved Carson McCullers's The Ballad of the Sad Cafe , which she read in ninth grade. She thinks that single book led her eventually to put pen to paper when she was twenty-four years old. She received a BA in English literature from George Washington University and an MA in humanities from St. John's University.
Goldberg has painted for as long as she has written, and her paintings can be seen in Living Color: A Writer Paints Her World and Top of My Lungs: Poems and Paintings. They can also be viewed at the Ernesto Mayans Gallery on Canyon Road in Sante Fe.
A dedicated teacher, Goldberg has taught writing and literature for the last thirty-five years. She also leads national workshops and retreats, and her schedule can be accessed via her website: nataliegoldberg.com
In 2006, she completed with the filmmaker Mary Feidt a one-hour documentary, Tangled Up in Bob, about Bob Dylan's childhood on the Iron Range in Northern Minnesota. The film can be obtained on Amazon or the website tangledupinbob.com.
Goldberg has been a serious Zen practitioner since 1974 and studied with Katagiri Roshi from 1978 to 1984.
Goldberg has painted for as long as she has written, and her paintings can be seen in Living Color: A Writer Paints Her World and Top of My Lungs: Poems and Paintings. They can also be viewed at the Ernesto Mayans Gallery on Canyon Road in Sante Fe.
A dedicated teacher, Goldberg has taught writing and literature for the last thirty-five years. She also leads national workshops and retreats, and her schedule can be accessed via her website: nataliegoldberg.com
In 2006, she completed with the filmmaker Mary Feidt a one-hour documentary, Tangled Up in Bob, about Bob Dylan's childhood on the Iron Range in Northern Minnesota. The film can be obtained on Amazon or the website tangledupinbob.com.
Goldberg has been a serious Zen practitioner since 1974 and studied with Katagiri Roshi from 1978 to 1984.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 83 reviews
August 16, 2016
Reading Natalie Goldberg has become an enjoyable pastime for me. I'll read a few books then I feel like it's time to reunite with ole Nat. That's how good of a writer she is. Her stories aren't necessarily life-altering or grand, but her writing is like an old friend, the kind you seem to resume conversations with years later without missing a step.
In this book the autobiographical stories kind of bounce around with vague connections to moving forward in life, zen, and appreciating life. As always she talks about the importance of art and writing in her life, and she talks about noticing things in a profound way.
Honestly this wasn't my favorite book of hers, but the last few paragraphs I would pay to read again for the first time.
In this book the autobiographical stories kind of bounce around with vague connections to moving forward in life, zen, and appreciating life. As always she talks about the importance of art and writing in her life, and she talks about noticing things in a profound way.
Honestly this wasn't my favorite book of hers, but the last few paragraphs I would pay to read again for the first time.
February 4, 2017
At the age of 19, I checked Wild Mind out of the tiny little backwoods library in a dead-end town and it changed my life. Suddenly I was filling volumes of notebooks in 10- and 20- minute intervals and pouring myself onto the page, all the while fascinated with how openly Natalie spoke of her own life. Immediately upon finishing Wild Mind, I went back and found Writing Down the Bones. I remember sobbing after putting down Banana Rose, the inspiration from Living Color, Long Quiet Highway, and was inspired to begin my memoirs by Old Friend From Far Away.
So of course I am biased. I love her. In a sense I've grown up with her. She has shaped me and how I look at certain things. Even though we have never met, her thoughts have helped me through dark places and she has admitted that she doesn't have all the answers -- it's one of those things we learn as we go, when we're younger I think we somehow think that when we reach a certain age we'll understand it all better, but the truth of the matter is we understand even less than we thought we did.
And with that said, I love this book because it is more Natalie, and it has become apparent that we may not have many more Natalie books forthcoming.
So of course I am biased. I love her. In a sense I've grown up with her. She has shaped me and how I look at certain things. Even though we have never met, her thoughts have helped me through dark places and she has admitted that she doesn't have all the answers -- it's one of those things we learn as we go, when we're younger I think we somehow think that when we reach a certain age we'll understand it all better, but the truth of the matter is we understand even less than we thought we did.
And with that said, I love this book because it is more Natalie, and it has become apparent that we may not have many more Natalie books forthcoming.
dnf
April 15, 2017nope, I'm done.dnf at p. 61. I am a fan of many of Goldberg's other books, but this one did not speak to me.
May 20, 2025
Natalie Goldberg has always been this wonderful mishmash of an all-too-human person with a saint. And she uses this wonderful combination of self to explore writing and Zen.
Apparently, she has very quietly had an experience with cancer that brought her right to the edge of life, but she’s come back to center, and now she has pulled together some of her essays that all wend a bit around ideas of the return of life, the great spring. It’s a lovely collection, and I was happy to read it.
Apparently, she has very quietly had an experience with cancer that brought her right to the edge of life, but she’s come back to center, and now she has pulled together some of her essays that all wend a bit around ideas of the return of life, the great spring. It’s a lovely collection, and I was happy to read it.
October 22, 2020
Fans of Goldberg will likely delight just in getting to know her personally through these stories, and there are some memorable ones here. But the collection as a whole is not strong, with too many uneven pieces that end on overly sentimental tones. In her own Writing Down the Bones, Goldberg writes (drawing from author Irving Howe) that "the best art almost becomes sentimental but doesn't." She walks that line successfully a few times in The Great Spring, just not often enough for me to truly recommend it.
March 15, 2021
Someone handed me this book and told me they'd thought of me when reading it; I can truly say it landed with me exactly when I needed it. This book is definitely not for everyone, but if you are interested in a creative life and consider yourself a spiritual person, I think you'd find gems here.
February 18, 2016
As some reviewers have noted, there are some essays that previously appeared elsewhere, but there is enough new material to make this a worthy read. For those looking for a how-to on writing, this is not your book. If you are looking into the deep mind of Natalie G, you would do better to try Thunder and Lightening and Wild Mind. This book, The Great Spring, is more of a reminder for the mature reader that life is life, deal with it, accept it, keep breathing in and breathing out, keep paying attention.
Thank you Natalie. My favorite essay was Wandering.
Thank you Natalie. My favorite essay was Wandering.
July 21, 2017
In The Great Spring, Natalie Goldberg's language breathes with poetry. Having read so many of her books on writing and Zen over the years, I was taken with the way her insights and her voice have become wiser, fresher and clearer over a life of spiritual seeking and steady, showing-up-on-the-page writing practice. She may have some regrets that her path did not include the Zen title of Roshi, but in her writing, she most certainly has earned whatever its literary equivalent would be.
March 6, 2017
Twenty years ago someone gave me Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within and it was exactly what I needed. This weekend I read this and it was exactly what I needed.
June 12, 2020
Did a seasoned Zen practitioner and writing teacher really use the phrase, "We sound retarded"? And her editors let it go by? This was my introduction to Natalie Goldberg, whose work I've heard such good things about, but I can't read from someone who doesn't see the cruelty of these words. I'm not interested in voices that speak up for a few marginalized groups and stomp on others.
August 12, 2018
Not one of Natalie's better books, but I still liked it. She's a fantastic writer.
December 28, 2016
I live a quiet life. Most of us do, most of the time, and Natalie Goldberg is no different. Yet now and again, to all of us, comes a moment of intense feeling. Some piece of our history, some love or loss, rises up and all but overwhelms us.
No one is better at showing such moments than Natalie Goldberg. I take this to be her life study. She is adept both at opening herself up to these emotions, or visions, and at setting them down in words. Her devotion to writing has gone on as long as her practice of Zen, and here the two are paired. “The terrible truth,” she says, “which is rarely mentioned, is that meditation doesn’t directly lead us to some vaporous, glaze-eyed peace. It drops us right into the personal meat of human suffering.”
That’s what this book does, over and over. We float along on a light river of prose, then are plunged into that personal meat. It’s often unexpected, and always rewarding. This is a beautiful read.
No one is better at showing such moments than Natalie Goldberg. I take this to be her life study. She is adept both at opening herself up to these emotions, or visions, and at setting them down in words. Her devotion to writing has gone on as long as her practice of Zen, and here the two are paired. “The terrible truth,” she says, “which is rarely mentioned, is that meditation doesn’t directly lead us to some vaporous, glaze-eyed peace. It drops us right into the personal meat of human suffering.”
That’s what this book does, over and over. We float along on a light river of prose, then are plunged into that personal meat. It’s often unexpected, and always rewarding. This is a beautiful read.
October 18, 2019
I'm a Natalie Goldberg fan, and sometimes I grow weary--not this time. This book is marvelous. You get so many new insights into her life, and you get hints about things that make you want to read other books, like THE GREAT FAILURE or about her health, LET THE WHOLE THUNDERING WORLD COME HOME. In the latter, Goldberg's current girlfriend is Yukwon, but her name is unveiled as Baksim in some of these stories. I'm calling them stories even though their nonfiction because I don't like saying the word essay, but the one on her relationship with Zen is the most essay-like. Years ago, I saw criticism that this book is no good, but that person's opinion is incorrect. There's more energy in the first part of the book, and afterwards, it feels like a late night conversation. I enjoyed it, and I would read this again.
July 4, 2016
"Even if you can't write, you can see the way a writer does, notice, take in, digest the details and stories that surround you." That is the one quote I took from this book.
I have been a fan of Natalie Goldberg for many years; since I discovered her first book, "Writing Down the Bones." I have read all of her books since and found this one of the most disappointing. It is a series of memories written in chapters. Not related in any way except as parts of her life.
It seemed the subject of writing was at the bottom of the list as far as subjects. Most is about her travels and people she has met, most of whom she seemed extremely disappointed in. I found it sad. I wanted to like the book but it seemed more of a series of rants. I hope others can get more from it than I did.
I have been a fan of Natalie Goldberg for many years; since I discovered her first book, "Writing Down the Bones." I have read all of her books since and found this one of the most disappointing. It is a series of memories written in chapters. Not related in any way except as parts of her life.
It seemed the subject of writing was at the bottom of the list as far as subjects. Most is about her travels and people she has met, most of whom she seemed extremely disappointed in. I found it sad. I wanted to like the book but it seemed more of a series of rants. I hope others can get more from it than I did.
November 13, 2017
This is a beautifully written book. It was heartwarming to hear it spoken by the author. However, it had so many beautiful passages, I wished I were reading it in the “flesh” as my highlighter would have been busy indeed. Makes me want to read her other books.
July 23, 2020
A collection of unconnected ramblings. Each story starts out good, but in the end I’m not particularly inspired. It all feels a bit contrived and the messages, if any, that the author attempts to convey are esoteric. Not a bad read, but there was lost potential.
October 18, 2021
Really enjoyed the vignettes in this book.
August 10, 2016
Easy reading like all Natalie Goldberg's books. Interesting essay like stories of her writing and zen life.
July 11, 2024
Natalie shares practice through sharing her life experiences. And as a result we learn more about living life more fully and being present for it.
November 23, 2018
Just an enjoyable, and stimulating, collection of essays. I read it as I was thinking about writing a short memoir piece of my own, seeking inspiration. Goldberg sets a high standard1
March 2, 2024
I fucking love Natalie Goldberg's work. I've been craving more of her writing so this was the perfect time to read this and now I want to devour the rest.
January 2, 2021
Recommended and given to me by my mom. Some interesting insights on Buddhism, writing, life. In one essay, she quotes Thich Nhat Hahn, "It is not because of impermanence that we suffer but because of our ideas about permanence." I like that, and many of the essays hinge on the idea of impermanence--moments when Natalie wrestles with it, moments when she briefly accepts it.
My favorite essays included:
- "On the Shores of Lake Biwa," about a time Natalie travelled to a zen monastery in Japan and struggled to settle into the strict practice. After she leaves, she goes to the train station and stuffs her mouth with m&ms, only to realize one of the monks is waiting at the platform, watching her. He pulls an Almond Joy out of his robes and they both laugh and laugh.
- "Dog-Bite Enlightenment," in which Natalie is bitten by a dog, and she recognizes it as "no act of personal violence. This was the result of the lineage of private property, of ownership, of fear of loss of possessions." She adds, "I do not mean to sound high-handed here, or even political--I just saw into the depth of the act, where and how it came about."
-"Meeting the Chinese in St. Paul," about koans (which I had never heard of before reading this book) and going back to the source and letting go of understanding in order to gain it. This essay had my favorite ending. Natalie tells her friend Rob how she has solved the koan about the fan and the rhinoceros, and he admits he has no idea what she's talking about. She writes,
"I abruptly started to laugh, big eruptions through my entire body. This was one whole world. Rob Wilder was my relation. We had plunged right into the lineage together. No one left out. His not understanding was part of it. The water glass, the spoon, the flowers in the vase, all glimmered and shook. Who was laughing? Hours melted in my hand. The walls of the building dissolved.
Everyone and no one lifted the spoon to take the next bite of cereal."
I disliked the essay about hiking because it seemed to have a too-strongly defined moral to the story. I disliked that she used the r-word in an essay, especially because this book was published in 2016 and she should have known better.
Overall, I like her willingness to admit her imperfections. It makes her unique, it makes her advice on zen and writing more credible, and it makes her a really likeable narrator.
My favorite essays included:
- "On the Shores of Lake Biwa," about a time Natalie travelled to a zen monastery in Japan and struggled to settle into the strict practice. After she leaves, she goes to the train station and stuffs her mouth with m&ms, only to realize one of the monks is waiting at the platform, watching her. He pulls an Almond Joy out of his robes and they both laugh and laugh.
- "Dog-Bite Enlightenment," in which Natalie is bitten by a dog, and she recognizes it as "no act of personal violence. This was the result of the lineage of private property, of ownership, of fear of loss of possessions." She adds, "I do not mean to sound high-handed here, or even political--I just saw into the depth of the act, where and how it came about."
-"Meeting the Chinese in St. Paul," about koans (which I had never heard of before reading this book) and going back to the source and letting go of understanding in order to gain it. This essay had my favorite ending. Natalie tells her friend Rob how she has solved the koan about the fan and the rhinoceros, and he admits he has no idea what she's talking about. She writes,
"I abruptly started to laugh, big eruptions through my entire body. This was one whole world. Rob Wilder was my relation. We had plunged right into the lineage together. No one left out. His not understanding was part of it. The water glass, the spoon, the flowers in the vase, all glimmered and shook. Who was laughing? Hours melted in my hand. The walls of the building dissolved.
Everyone and no one lifted the spoon to take the next bite of cereal."
I disliked the essay about hiking because it seemed to have a too-strongly defined moral to the story. I disliked that she used the r-word in an essay, especially because this book was published in 2016 and she should have known better.
Overall, I like her willingness to admit her imperfections. It makes her unique, it makes her advice on zen and writing more credible, and it makes her a really likeable narrator.
March 10, 2019
Okay I'm feeling self-conscious that I'm going to come off really grouchy here but I found Natalie's opening chapters about Zen in Japan really disappointing and I'm having trouble finishing the book.
She plays the fool in a way that comes across as playing for our sympathy as readers. I'm sure it's meant to be endearing, but it's just not flattering. It reminds me of how hard it is to go on with a detective novel when the protagonist starts making dumb decisions which the author calculates will create exciting plot twists.
I'm a Zen student myself and although I don't know Japanese I've tried to educate myself in the basics of Japanese language and culture and how our Western expressions of Zen differ from the variety of ways Zen is practiced and thought about in Japan. Bottom line: these opening chapters just feel respectful of the tradition and her Japanese hosts in this book when she shows up this clueless.
So many passages in these opening chapters made me cringe. For example in the first few pages after going on about her ignorance around Japanese language, and I was already "come on Natalie, a few simple phrases are easy to learn," she gets excited and realizes she does "know some Japanese" and starts chanting the verse for putting on the robe done in Soto monasteries, and tells us her partner is wincing with us. Not surprisingly her Japanese friends are mystified.
No modern Japanese person would recognize these sounds, as like all liturgical chanting it's not in modern Japanese but in "Sino-Japanese" which is the onyomi pronunciation of the Chinese characters. And done in an American accent at that most likely.
I've met and appreciated Natalie and her work but I'm concerned that after being surrounded by adoring workshop audiences and reviews of her works as "a writing guru" or "beloved author and teacher" all these years that she's just getting lazy. I warmly encourage her to be her intelligent self and present us with work that's challenging and interesting. This "geek shucks, I have no idea about this stuff!" prose that sets it up so she can detail her confusion and reactivity isn't worth the paper it's printed on. I set the book down with a grouchy, "oh come on Natalie, grow up!" I have to admit.
Okay, grouchiness out. I don't know if anyone will ever read this but I just had to get that off my chest.
She plays the fool in a way that comes across as playing for our sympathy as readers. I'm sure it's meant to be endearing, but it's just not flattering. It reminds me of how hard it is to go on with a detective novel when the protagonist starts making dumb decisions which the author calculates will create exciting plot twists.
I'm a Zen student myself and although I don't know Japanese I've tried to educate myself in the basics of Japanese language and culture and how our Western expressions of Zen differ from the variety of ways Zen is practiced and thought about in Japan. Bottom line: these opening chapters just feel respectful of the tradition and her Japanese hosts in this book when she shows up this clueless.
So many passages in these opening chapters made me cringe. For example in the first few pages after going on about her ignorance around Japanese language, and I was already "come on Natalie, a few simple phrases are easy to learn," she gets excited and realizes she does "know some Japanese" and starts chanting the verse for putting on the robe done in Soto monasteries, and tells us her partner is wincing with us. Not surprisingly her Japanese friends are mystified.
No modern Japanese person would recognize these sounds, as like all liturgical chanting it's not in modern Japanese but in "Sino-Japanese" which is the onyomi pronunciation of the Chinese characters. And done in an American accent at that most likely.
I've met and appreciated Natalie and her work but I'm concerned that after being surrounded by adoring workshop audiences and reviews of her works as "a writing guru" or "beloved author and teacher" all these years that she's just getting lazy. I warmly encourage her to be her intelligent self and present us with work that's challenging and interesting. This "geek shucks, I have no idea about this stuff!" prose that sets it up so she can detail her confusion and reactivity isn't worth the paper it's printed on. I set the book down with a grouchy, "oh come on Natalie, grow up!" I have to admit.
Okay, grouchiness out. I don't know if anyone will ever read this but I just had to get that off my chest.
own-but-do-not-want-to-read
November 25, 2024A quiet book that I took far too long to read. (I picked it up, read half, and put it down again for two years.)
I met Natalie Goldberg once at a signing for The Great Failure in Boulder. “I’m so proud of you,” she said to the assembled audience. “You’ve grown up.”
She signed two of my books with a heart made out to Avi, before that was my legal name.
I feel like I’ve spent my whole adulthood with Natalie’s quiet wisdom—or quiet observations in any case.
This book was a collection of one-chapter stories. It meandered, but it felt appropriate given the topic. I found it relaxing to read and didn’t gain any great insight from it. I’m not a Zen practitioner, but I understand enough from her past books for it to make sense for her.
I met Natalie Goldberg once at a signing for The Great Failure in Boulder. “I’m so proud of you,” she said to the assembled audience. “You’ve grown up.”
She signed two of my books with a heart made out to Avi, before that was my legal name.
I feel like I’ve spent my whole adulthood with Natalie’s quiet wisdom—or quiet observations in any case.
This book was a collection of one-chapter stories. It meandered, but it felt appropriate given the topic. I found it relaxing to read and didn’t gain any great insight from it. I’m not a Zen practitioner, but I understand enough from her past books for it to make sense for her.
July 8, 2022
Definitely not a compelling read, as the thoughts and themes seemed to deteriorate as the chapters went on, after a strong start of Lake Biwa and time spent in Japan (I'm always a sucker for that, and it gets my attention). Very little content about writing, and I will never, ever become enamoured by Zen Buddhism again. Everything was hardship and death and riddles, and Goldberg's voice was strangely melodramatic and weepy to me. I understand this was a compilation, but many selections seem out of place and disconnected the way they were put together.
I'll enjoy her other books so much more. This was a ragtag collection of stuff that really didn't matter to me.
I'll enjoy her other books so much more. This was a ragtag collection of stuff that really didn't matter to me.
September 10, 2017
I enjoy Natalie’s prose -- her rhythm and descriptors but especially her insight into the everyday as well as the extraordinary of life. I’d only ever read WDTB (I’ve re-read it several times even) and while I didn’t connect with every essay in this collection, I found reading it calming. Quieting. And there were several occasions to pull out the highlighter and mark passages which cut into a deep truth for me. I believe it was C.S. Lewis who said, “We read to know we’re not alone,” and that’s exactly how I felt at the close of this book.
September 24, 2017
In practicing he twin disciplines of Zen and writing, Goldberg has found a way of life she shares in this collection of essays. If you are interested in writing advice, you will find that here. If you are interested in Buddhism, you will find some of that here. The essential message for either kind of reader is embedded in the title, which celebrates the rebirth we experience when we leave the old behind and greet the new.
September 26, 2017
"Sometimes I feel like I am walking the line between the void and a real good hamburger." Anyone on a spiritual quest can identify with that sentiment immediately. It seemed like this book was about Golberg making sense of her "zigzag" life and I appreciated her capacity to put a framework around this life of writing, Zen, and lots of travel and relationships. This book didn't grab on the whole like her other works have but there are moments of deep insight that quite luminous.
February 3, 2018
The subtitle on the cover really sums up the thrust of this book: Natalie's peripatetic search for Zen enlightenment. It didn't smack me in the brain like Writing Down the Bones or Wild Mind, as my interest in Zen Buddhism is minimal, but it is good, and provides much insight into the motivation of her life.
March 15, 2019
Good grief. I loved Goldberg’s writing books, which I read decades ago, but now I’m questioning that. I thought this memoir comprised of essays would be really good, yet instead I found it navel gazing at its worst. A name dropper, this was all me, me, me, not the kind of memoir I like. Self introspection is one thing, self absorption is another.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 83 reviews