A personal account of one woman's spiritual journey, this memoir examines what happens when a talented female teacher takes the masculine assumptions of Zen practice and turns them inside out. Setting out as a young woman to learn from Asian teachers, the author met with formidable masters and struggled diligently to learn meditation. Only after meeting Cheri Huber did she begin to understand and internalize the tenets of Zen Buddhism. Discussion of belief and practice blends with an unflinching frankness about personal difficulties, the honest search for growth, and revealing interactions between student and teacher.

This Side of Nirvana: Memoirs of a Spiritually Challenged Buddhist, Sara Jenkins, Keep It Simple Books, 264 pages, $13.00

Sara Jenkins is the author of Hello at Last: Embracing the Koan of Friendship & Meditation and Sweet Zen. She lives in Lake Junaluska, North Carolina. Cheri Huber is the founder of the Zen Center in Palo Alto, California, and the Zen Monastery Peace Center in Murphys, California. She is the author of Suffering Is Optional; There Is Nothing Wrong With You; and When You're Falling, Dive. She lives in Murphys, California.