Pure Heart, Enlightened Mind
The Life and Letters of an Irish Zen Saint

The preface says that Maura shows us the truest expression of Zen enlightenment - that this book is a staple in Zen for the western reader. I don’t know much about Zen but her journals taught me more about living than I’ve read in a long time - which I imagine is what Zen is really about. One of tho......more

I read this book 15 years ago while living in the Western Pacific. 15 years later I still think about her and her journey. What more can you ask for in a book than one that sticks with you. I intend to read it again because we all know that certain books read you and not the other way around.......more

I did not expect to be swept away by this book like I was. So readable and marvelous. It's diary entries and letters from an Irish woman in her early to mid-20s after she enters a Zen monastery in Japan as its only female and only Westerner and quickly distinguishes herself as a Zen master. The reaso......more

Tip-toeing behind a real-live, Irish smart-ass as she self-deprecatingly achieves that which many continuously both seek and deny the existence of: enlightenment, zen, loss of ego. Due to her youth and subsequent untimely death...feels like a note she left for you.... Gives hope to Irish smart-asses......more

I read this quite awhile ago and just recall that it was very inspiring. A young woman's diary of her experience in a monastery with very austere conditions. It was published by her parents posthumously after she died in a bus crash in Thailand, I think.......more