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remlezar's review against another edition
4.0
I enjoyed this little book quite a bit. I read a library copy, but I was constantly running by excerpts I wish I could have highlighted or underlined. I may buy a copy of it so I can revisit it again in the near future.
Miller's writing is simple, but insightful. This is easy to recommend to anyone who is interested in Zen Buddhism.
Miller's writing is simple, but insightful. This is easy to recommend to anyone who is interested in Zen Buddhism.
inthecommonhours's review against another edition
5.0
Love the magic of pre-ordering and then being surprised one day with the book I so needed in my mailbox. Everything on my nightstand will have to move over.
ETA...three months later: This might be the slowest I've ever read a book. Only 166 pages, but I've been reading it since April. Not because I couldn't get into it, but because ever time I picked it up, I'd reread to find where I left off (something I do with most books, and easily find my page) and would end up starting all over. Each time I opened the book, the words would sound new to me. Surely if I had read this before, I wouldn't have been so blind to whatever foolish reaction I had just had that day!
I finally took to underlining and writing notes, even though that was silly too. Because every page is filled with underlined quotes now, and as Maezen wrote, "You'll always encounter what you need to know when you need to know it, so go ahead and forget this too."
She's funny. What a rare gift, especially in writing about personal responsibility, Buddhism, freedom, death and letting go. She writes about all of those and more, in the context of looking at what is right in front of you---in her case, the 100+ year old Zen garden that happens to be her backyard.
I was so excited to travel with it in April, forgetting that I was driving solo for a change so I couldn't have my feet up on the dashboard with my nose in a book the way we usually travel. I finally finished the book last week as we drove back to Moab from Golden, after a tense week in which we failed to find a new house but succeeded in selling our own. I felt homeless and on edge and full of fear, and Maezen's words were a balm to my stressed-out soul.
Not that I'll ever be finished with it. Its spot on my nightstand is now permanent.
Limiting myself to a handful of my favorite lines:
"When you love, really love, you just see. You see things as they are, not as you expect, and in that wide-open space is love."
"When something bad happens, when you step into the quicksand of your anxiety and doom, when your thoughts begin to race, when fear strangles your breath, despair wretches your heart, and doubt suffocates the light right out of your day, pick up a rock and hold it in your hand. Yes, any old rock will do. Any rock will bring you back to the here and now. Faith in the here and now is faith that never leaves you."
"It's an amazing place we live in when we're not at odds with it. Who can contain the love that this one life brings with it? It is boundless."
"The nature of life is impermanence. One day it'll get your attention. Reality might dawn in a single blow or accumulate in a thousand cuts, but one way or another you'll see that things change. Nothing is solid. Everything disappears. In a million, billion ways the world will fail you. How can you bear it?"
and almost in answer to that very question, several chapters later, there's this:
"Nothing is beneath or beyond you. You can do the smallest things. You carry peace wherever you go and share it with everyone, mindful that we're all doing our best, and headed in the same direction."
ETA...three months later: This might be the slowest I've ever read a book. Only 166 pages, but I've been reading it since April. Not because I couldn't get into it, but because ever time I picked it up, I'd reread to find where I left off (something I do with most books, and easily find my page) and would end up starting all over. Each time I opened the book, the words would sound new to me. Surely if I had read this before, I wouldn't have been so blind to whatever foolish reaction I had just had that day!
I finally took to underlining and writing notes, even though that was silly too. Because every page is filled with underlined quotes now, and as Maezen wrote, "You'll always encounter what you need to know when you need to know it, so go ahead and forget this too."
She's funny. What a rare gift, especially in writing about personal responsibility, Buddhism, freedom, death and letting go. She writes about all of those and more, in the context of looking at what is right in front of you---in her case, the 100+ year old Zen garden that happens to be her backyard.
I was so excited to travel with it in April, forgetting that I was driving solo for a change so I couldn't have my feet up on the dashboard with my nose in a book the way we usually travel. I finally finished the book last week as we drove back to Moab from Golden, after a tense week in which we failed to find a new house but succeeded in selling our own. I felt homeless and on edge and full of fear, and Maezen's words were a balm to my stressed-out soul.
Not that I'll ever be finished with it. Its spot on my nightstand is now permanent.
Limiting myself to a handful of my favorite lines:
"When you love, really love, you just see. You see things as they are, not as you expect, and in that wide-open space is love."
"When something bad happens, when you step into the quicksand of your anxiety and doom, when your thoughts begin to race, when fear strangles your breath, despair wretches your heart, and doubt suffocates the light right out of your day, pick up a rock and hold it in your hand. Yes, any old rock will do. Any rock will bring you back to the here and now. Faith in the here and now is faith that never leaves you."
"It's an amazing place we live in when we're not at odds with it. Who can contain the love that this one life brings with it? It is boundless."
"The nature of life is impermanence. One day it'll get your attention. Reality might dawn in a single blow or accumulate in a thousand cuts, but one way or another you'll see that things change. Nothing is solid. Everything disappears. In a million, billion ways the world will fail you. How can you bear it?"
and almost in answer to that very question, several chapters later, there's this:
"Nothing is beneath or beyond you. You can do the smallest things. You carry peace wherever you go and share it with everyone, mindful that we're all doing our best, and headed in the same direction."
geryon92's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars. I wrote down some great lines from this to remember in the days to come, but I had a hard time connecting to some of the teachings here. I was bummed at a line early on that discredited the use of antidepressants and medications for mental illnesses; I had just started medication a few days before starting this book, and it was discouraging. But the prose was very lovely and I took some good points from this. There were things I needed to hear out of this and many of them were delivered.
bookfairy99's review against another edition
5.0
Part memoir, part zen manual, PARADISE IN PLAIN SIGHT is a beautiful offering of wisdom, knowledge, and inspiration. I love the duality that comes through so clearly in Karen Maezen Miller's writing. She's not a master gardener, but she loves tending to her garden. She's not a zen guru, but she's passionate about zen.
This book shines as a great example of the author practicing what she preaches... there is no "one" answer. No perfect way to do anything. All we've got is this moment, where our lives unfold.
Every time I picked up this book, I felt enveloped in the sense of calm, peace, and ease that continued to linger throughout the day. Reading PARADISE IN PLAIN SIGHT was a beautiful experience, and one I'm very grateful to have had.
This book shines as a great example of the author practicing what she preaches... there is no "one" answer. No perfect way to do anything. All we've got is this moment, where our lives unfold.
Every time I picked up this book, I felt enveloped in the sense of calm, peace, and ease that continued to linger throughout the day. Reading PARADISE IN PLAIN SIGHT was a beautiful experience, and one I'm very grateful to have had.
vgmsonnet's review against another edition
3.0
Karen Maezen Miller’s writing on her garden is lovely. Her writing in general is beautiful: powerful imagery, no wasted words. But if you aren’t a Zen Buddhist, or a wannabe one, you might experience a bit of whiplash between loving some of her insight and bristling at some of the spiritual/philosophical concepts. Miller’s dismissal of antidepressants/ pain meds early on in the book is also problematic for the many people who might need these medications to even begin breathing.
jenlouden's review
The still spareness of this book is startling and penetrates my mind with clarity. Also a compelling example of memoir blended with spiritual insight.
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