I Opened the Gate, Laughing: An Inner Journey

by Mayumi Oda

Book Overview

This enchanting book is a meditation on a womans search for inner peace and a reawakening of the creative self. Constrained by a traditional Japanese upbringing, devastated by a crumbling marriage and the deaths of friends and family, artist Mayumi Oda finds herself returning to the teachings and practice of her Buddhist childhood. At Green Gulch Farm, the beautiful Zen retreat in Northern California, she finds a new tranquility and creative spirit through her pen, her brush, and her trowel. A little gem, this heartfelt narrative is sprinkled with verse and contemplative vignettes and is awash with Odas watercolors and lush prints. It will move anyone who has sought a slower pace, a sacred place...the garden path.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0811833860
• ISBN13: 9780811833868
• Release Date: March 2002
• Publisher: Chronicle Books
• Length: 96 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 1.0" x 1.0"

Customer Reviews

What A Pleasure!

I bought this book because I was writing an article for [...] about Mayumi Oda, whose art I love. But the book is such a pleasure to read, to see, and to hold, that I forgot I had an agenda. The book is beautifully bound and the paper is of such high quality it's a treat to turn a page. The text appears on pages charmingly illustrated by the author: a joy for the eye. And the story itself is lively and well told as Mayumi Oda takes the reader on her journey from pre and post-war Japan to America, as artist, mother, Zen student, activist . . . woman. If any of these topics strikes a chord, or if you just like beautiful books, I think you'll love "I Opened The Gate, Laughing". Lynne Farr is the author of Off The Grid Without A Paddle