In 1979, 24-year-old Maura O'Halloran
left her waitressing job in Boston and began
her study of Zen in Japan. Today she is
revered as a "Zen Buddhist saint," and a
statue stands in her honor at the Japanese
Zen Buddhist monastery where she lived.
This is the story of her journey.
At 23 she left Harvard Square for Tokyo?
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| After the ecstasy, the laundry...and always the dishes. |
Commonweal readers already know of Maura O'Halloran, 23, whose mother, Ruth O'Halloran, wrote about her daughter's life in an essay published on Feb. 28, 1992.
A scholarship student at Trinity College, Dublin, who "early gave promise of a rare spirituality," Maura O'Halloran left a waitressing job in Harvard Square at age 23 to begin an apprenticeship as a Buddhist monastic at a zendo in Japan.
There, too, she showed uncommon gifts early on: She glimpsed enlightenment almost immediately and solved koans with the aplomb of a veteran Zen master. She stayed at the zendo for most of two years, resolved to "not stop until I reach complete enlightenment."
In 1982, intending to
return to her family in Dublin, she had set out on a trip through Asia when she was killed in a bus accident in Thailand.
Since then "Maura-san," or "Soshin" -- celebrated during her lifetime in the Japanese media as an anomaly of anomalies, a
female Irish Zen monastic -- has come to be regarded as a Buddhist
bodhisattva or "saint of compassion."
Now, prompted by the Commonweal article, Tuttle & Co. has published the journal Maura "Soshin" O'Halloran kept while at the Buddhist monastery, along with letters she wrote to her family and a series of delicate, lovely drawings by her younger sister, Elizabeth.
Together they form a remarkable record of a life fully lived, a unique and inspiring and even heartbreaking book.
On one level Soshin's personal journal is an account of her determined progress toward Zen enlightenment (
satori).
In an afterword, the American Zen monastic
Patricia Dai-En Bennage sees it as a "record of
a pure heart" (soshin) and a summary of her way, or teaching: "intense meditation, known as
zazen, for long hours in natural...
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Pure Heart, Enlightened Mind: The Life and Letters of an Irish Zen Saint
Maura O'Halloran (author), Beth O'Halloran (illustrator), Ruth O'Halloran (intro)
One of the most beloved Buddhist books of all time — having inspired popular musicians, artists, a documentary film, and countless readers — is now available in an expanded new edition, loaded with illustrations and extras.
It's absolutely absorbing from start to finish. This is a true story to truly fall in love with.
At only 24, Maura O'Halloran left her Irish-American family in the States and traveled to Japan, where she began studying under a Zen Buddhist master.
She would herself become recognized as a Zen master, in an uncommonly brief amount of time.
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| What mighty lass made a go of Zen and satori? |
Pure Heart, Enlightened Mind is Maura O'Halloran's beautifully-written account of her journey. These journal entries and letters home reveal astonishing, wise-beyond-her-years humor, compassion, wisdom, and commitment.
This expanded edition includes never-before-seen entries and poems, the author's unfinished novel, and an afterword that discusses the book's cultural impact.
It will be a must have for her fans and admirers and will surely find her thousands of new ones.
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