"Disillusioned with the rat race, thirty-year-old Kaoru Nonomura left his family, his girlfriend, and his job as a designer in Tokyo to undertake a year of ascetic training at Eiheiji, Japan's strictest and most revered Zen monastery. Deep in the mountains of remote Fukui Prefecture, trainee monks live a life of hardship that few could endure ... Yet Nonomura's account of his time at Eiheiji is full of warmth, humor, and gratitude ... A bestseller in his native Japan, Nonomura's beautifully written, inspiring memoir offers insight into his determined quest to infuse his life with spiritual meaning"--Page 4 of cover.

The end and the beginning. Resolve ; Jizo cloister ; Dragon gate ; Main gate ; Temporary quarters ; Lavatory ; Facing the wall ; Buddha bowl ; Evening service ; Night sitting -- Etiquette is Zen. Morning service ; Morning meal ; Cleaning the corridors ; Dignified dress ; Washing the face ; Verses ; Noon ; Stick -- Alone in the freezing dark. Entering the hall ; Monks' hall ; Common quarters ; Wake-up bell ; Bell tower ; Self-reflection ; Food server ; Monks' food ; Shaving the head ; Daikan ; Hunger -- The passage of time. Escape ; Registration ceremony ; First bath ; Beginning intensive training ; Manual labor ; Penance ; Main lecture ; Transfer -- The source of the warmth of life. New job ; Sales ; Distribution of goods ; Guest pavilion ; Inspection ; Washrags ; Ending intensive training -- The colors of the peak, the echo in the valley. Attentant to the director ; Conference room ; In attendance ; Morning session ; Incense bearer ; Preparations for winter ; Intensive sitting ; Year-end cleaning ; New year's day ; New arrivals ; Just sit ; Departure survey ; Leaving -- Afterword to the Japanese First Edition -- Afterword to the Japanese Paperback Edition -- Notes.