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In 1976 Rev. Master Jiu-Kennett was very ill and was told she had only a few months to live. In the face of imminent death, she went deeply into meditation to reflect on her life in preparation for death. As a result, she had a deep religious experience over several months and went on to live another twenty years doing her Buddhist practice and helping others to do the same. This book is the diary of those months.

Originally published in two volumes, this book is based on the diaries of the years in Japan of Roshi Jiyu-Kennett, one of the first Western women to become a Zen Master. In addition to telling the story of Roshi Jiyu-KennettÕs search for the Truth and how she found enlightenment in the midst of suffering, illness and hardship, it gives the reader a rare and illuminating insight into life in a large Zen training monastery. Above all this is a work of faith which demonstrates the perseverance, compassion and trust with which a person must enter the religious life if he or she wishes to understand its perfection. In Books One and Two (originally published as Volume One) Roshi Jiyu-Kennett describes her going to Japan and her life as a junior monk in one of the largest Zen monasteries of the country, including her first experience of enlightenment, her Transmission as heir in the Dharma to the Chief Abbot and her graduation as a full priest.

Late in December of 1961, Peggy Kennett, British organist and medieval music scholar, boarded a steamer headed for the Far East. Eight years later she returned to the West as one of the first Western women ever to be recognized as a Zen Master. These are her words, as transcribed from some of the more than one thousand tapes recorded of the lectures she gave until her death in 1996. In this first volume, Rev. Master Jiyu-Kennett speaks of the basic aspects of Soto Zen in her characteristic down-to-earth, practical, and good-humored way. For those who did not have the opportunity to meet her, this book gives some of the flavor of what it was like to study with this remarkable woman and Buddhist teacher. For those who did, it will add a new richness to their appreciation of her teaching.