Synopses & Reviews
In Together Under One Roof, Lin Jensen turns his keen eye and powerful prose explicitly to the teachings of the Buddha, to traditional Zen stories, and to the practices of meditation and compassion as well as the intricacies of everyday language and the natural world, truth and beauty, family, and the myriad ways our simplest actions affect our whole lives. His previous two works, memoirs of growing up and growing old and of the hard-won but gentle wisdom gained in his daily public meditations for peace, were both critical successes earning a special place in readers' hearts. This book takes up symphonic variations on one main theme: we are all "in it" together, we are all living under one roof and there's always a glowing hearth right here in this, the Buddha's household.
Review
"Lin Jensen brings humility and all its gifts rare nowadays to the conveying of wisdom and the opening of the Way. Humour, humanity, even humus, the earth itself, are all at play in this genuinely humble man, so hearing his stories and encountering his modesty is like drinking fresh and deep from the old source. I value and trust it, and recommend a long cool draft of it." Susan Murphy author of Upside-down Zen
Review
"Jensen's graceful writing reveals the miraculous in the ordinary and the gentle ease of kindness and we see that enlightenment and compassion are one and the same. Like letters from a good friend, the voice in these singularly valuable essays is personal and honest, speaking directly to what most matters in our lives: each other. This book will make you glad to have read it, and glad to be alive." Robert Langan author of Minding What Matters
Review
"These simply-spoken reflections feel like arrows of truth. Illuminating the mind so swiftly and convincingly that the point of them is unforgettable." Sylvia Boorstein, author of Happiness is an Inside Job
Review
"Together Under One Roof restores our faith in the eternal, unbroken tradition of truth that lies right at home, underfoot, as we are. Gently, humorously, humanely, he reminds each of us to keep the house we live in, the wide-open room we share as one. Treasure this book as a housewarming gift." Karen Maezen Miller author of Momma Zen: Walking the Crooked Path of Motherhood
Review
"There are a few books that I turn to again and again for sustenance, succor, meaning....It's a rare thing when something is added to that small pile of important texts, but I'm thrilled to say that this summer a book's been added. It's Lin Jensen's Together under One Roof: Making a Home of the Buddha's Household." Chris Faatz, Powells.com (Read the entire Powells.com review)
About the Author
Lin Jensen is the critically acclaimed author of the memoir Bad Dog! A Memoir of Love, Beauty, and Redemption in Dark Places and Pavement: Reflections on Mercy, Activism, and Doing "Nothing" for Peace, a fearless and funny account of curbside social action. He is also the author of Together Under One Roof: Making a Home of the Buddha's Household.