Autumn Light

Autumn Light: My Fifty Years in Zen is an artfully told memoir of one woman’s lived experience of Zen Buddhism as it took root in America. The author weaves Zen teachings and practices into her personal story, recounting how they guided her through life’s challenges into a peaceful old age.

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Autumn Light: My Fifty Years in Zen is the story of one woman’s witness to the remarkable half-century when Buddhist philosophy and practice took root in the religious landscape of the West.

Author Edwina Norton has been a devoted practitioner of the Soto school of Zen for the past 50 years. In 2013, at the age of 78, she was ordained a Zen priest and immediately thereafter participated in a rigorous three-month training at Tassajara Zen Mountain Monastery in California. Told in the intimate voice of a dharma friend, Autumn Light weaves Norton’s life experiences with the Zen teachings and practice that sustained her through personal and professional challenges while raising two sons alone. Now retired to the Pacific Northwest, she practices with a small, diverse Zen community of young and older Zen students. Her late-in-life commitment as a priest has sparked a series of challenges that have tested her resolve to follow the rigorous practices of the Zen tradition. Priesthood has also rewarded her with unexpected, new insights into the meaning of her life.