PURE HEART, ENLIGHTENED MIND: The Zen Journals and Letters of an Irish Woman in Japan (Maura "Soshin" O'Halloran)

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At the age of 24, Maura O'Halloran travelled to Japan, where she began to study Zen, first in an old temple tucked away in the back streets of Tokyo, then in a remote temple in Northern Japan. One thousand days later she received her dharma transmission. Planning to establish a Zen centre in Ireland, she was travelling back when she was tragically killed in a road accident. She was 27 years old. She is now venerated as a Buddhist saint. This collection of letters and journals, with its lively, sharp and amusing observations, eloquently brings to life the rigours, hardships and ultimate joy of the life of a Zen Buddhist.