He's Leaving Home
Author | : Kiyohiro Miura |
Publisher | : Tuttle Publishing |
Total Pages | : 116 |
Release | : 1996 |
ISBN-10 | : STANFORD:36105018335625 |
ISBN-13 | : |
Rating | : 4/5 (25 Downloads) |
Book excerpt: When the narrator begins taking his mischievous six year-old son Ryota with him to his weekly Zen meditation meeting, it's not so much for his spirituality but to afford his mother a bit of peace and quiet. So, when Ryota suddenly announces he wants to become a Zen monk, the surprised father imagines he'll outgrow it. In this Akutagawa Prize-winning semi-autobiographical novel, author Kiyohiro Miura explores a parent's conflicting emotions: pride at the noble path his son has chosen clashes with sadness over losing a child. By exploring aspects of Zen through one modern, everyday family's experience with it, the author succeeds in providing profound but accessible insights into a mysterious Eastern philosophy.