Journeys in Search of True Home, from the American Heartland to the Buddha Dharma

Steve Kanji Ruhl

Paperback
978-1-948626-80-4
US $21.99 Indiepubs Bookshop Amazon
eBook available
December 2022

Winner of the 2023 Nautilus Book Awards Gold Prize for Memoir

This luminous memoir combines the hardscrabble setting of Appalachia with the spiritual wisdom of Shunryu Suzuki’s classic Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind.

"Ruhl charts his extraordinary life, from growing up in Appalachia to becoming a Zen Buddhist minister....[His] Ruhl’s remembrance is exceedingly intelligent and full of lucid insights into the character of Zen Buddhism as well as the failings of ‘contemporary pop-Buddhism’ in the Western world." —Kirkus Reviews

"In this incisive memoir, Zen Buddhist minister Ruhl (Enlightened Contemporaries) reflects on his tumultuous relationship with his Appalachian Pennsylvania roots... Readers will find this a powerful synthesis of American Zen philosophy and cultural analysis." —Publishers Weekly

Appalachian Zen describes a journey we all take, one that Buddhism calls “seeking our true home.” Edgy, lyrical, and lovingly rendered, this book recounts how a kid from a Pennsylvania mill-town trailer park grew up—surrounded by backwoods farms and amid grief, violence, and passionate yearning—to become something improbable: a Buddhist minister teaching Zen. Author Steve Kanji Ruhl takes readers on an adventure of discovery, roving far from the Appalachian Mountains of central Pennsylvania on a footloose Zen pilgrimage to Japan and beyond.

Featuring vivid firsthand accounts of spiritual seeking and teaching in Japanese temples, as well as forays to Tokyo and Hiroshima, the alleys of Kyoto, Amish cornfields near the Susquehanna, and a monastery in the Catskills, Appalachian Zen includes robust historical sketches, rapt nature passages, and cultural references ranging from Proust to punk rock. Throughout the book, Ruhl engages Buddhist themes of awakening and the death of the self by confronting the lives and deaths, including two by suicide, of his loved ones. This provocative memoir tells how it feels to practice Zen, and to move toward a life of hard-won forgiveness, healing, and freedom.

Steve Kanji Ruhl, an ordained Zen Buddhist minister, is the author of Enlightened Contemporaries and two volumes of poems, The Constant Yes of Things and Paintings of Rice Cakes Satisfy Hunger. He received his Master of Divinity degree from Harvard University and has been a speaker at Harvard’s Center for World Religions, Yale Divinity School, the Omega Institute, and elsewhere. A Buddhist adviser at Yale University, he also teaches through his Touch the Earth cyber-sangha. He lives in Leverett, Massachusetts.

“Amazing and intense. A unique, entertaining, and valuable contribution to the Dharma literature, Appalachian Zen addresses a part of the Western Dharma world that hasn't received much attention: class.” –Rev. Sumi Loundon Kim, Buddhist Chaplain, Yale University, author of Blue Jean Buddha and Sitting Together

“Zen is becoming native to America and the West, and there's no better place to see what this looks like than with Steve Kanji Ruhl’s Appalachian Zen. It's an intimate memoir; you can taste and smell and feel his journey into the depths. At the same time, it's a very good invitation into the details of a contemporary Zen life. I strongly recommend it.” –James Ishmael Ford, author of Introduction to Zen Koans: Learning the Language of Dragons

“Appalachian Zen is the record of the journey of a restless soul in search of home, who finds it, finally, in the dynamic silence of Zen. Steve Kanji Ruhl’s poetic descriptions of his birthplace in hardscrabble Appalachian Pennsylvania, his wanderings through Japan, his education in elite universities, and of the often harrowing incidents of his life, make this book an engrossing read. What is life, what is death, why are we here? No one avoids such questions, here explored with honesty and depth.” – Norman Fischer, Zen priest and poet, author of When You Greet Me I Bow: Reflections from a Life in Zen and Selected Poems 1980-2013

"This beautifully written memoir traces the author’s pilgrim’s progress from the conservative American heartland to the depths of the Buddhist dharma, mirroring Martin Buber’s claim that every journey has a 'secret destination of which the traveler is unaware.' Insightful, accessible, and emotionally transparent, this epic spiritual journey from West to East and back again will open your mind and widen your heart. I recommend it highly.” – Mark Matousek, author of Sex Death Enlightenment and When You’re Falling, Dive

“A wise, wonderful, and fierce book.” – Andrew Harvey

“Ruhl charts his extraordinary life, from growing up in Appalachia to becoming a Zen Buddhist minister....[His] Ruhl’s remembrance is exceedingly intelligent and full of lucid insights into the character of Zen Buddhism as well as the failings of ‘contemporary pop-Buddhism’ in the Western world.” – Kirkus Reviews

"In this incisive memoir, Zen Buddhist minister Ruhl (Enlightened Contemporaries) reflects on his tumultuous relationship with his Appalachian Pennsylvania roots... Readers will find this a powerful synthesis of American Zen philosophy and cultural analysis.” – Publishers Weekly

“Steve Kanji Ruhl’s Appalachian Zen, a riveting account of the seeker’s journey, a long winding road of loss, love, forgiveness and liberation, is destined to become a classic among spiritual memoirs. It shows us that Zen is not so much about ritual or practice as it is about a life lived with courage and curiosity.” – Willa Blythe Baker, founder and spiritual director, Natural Dharma Fellowship, author of The Wakeful Body and Everyday Dharma

“Steve Kanji Ruhl’s Appalachian Zen is a memoir about a Buddhist awakening.
     Ruhl grew up in a trailer park in Appalachia with a deep yearning to be somewhere else. He began to practice Zen Buddhism, viewing it as a welcome contrast to his harsh daily realities. And as he grew toward spiritual depth, finding his practice poignant during times of loss, he began to feel a deeper sense of presence and meaning: 'a life of alert composure, of transparent presence in the here-and-now.' He became a Zen Buddhist minister and continued to seek a personal home—a place of inward and outward peace and forgiveness, even during difficult circumstances.
     Moving from a backdrop of loss toward a mature, grounded adulthood of freedom, wholeness, and connection, this peaceful, honest, and earthy narrative is interwoven with reflections on nature, history, poetry, and culture. Travel is a powerful feature of Ruhl’s story, too. Each place that he visits, from the Appalachian Mountains to Japan, is rendered with heartfelt beauty, though Ruhl is also careful to observe the pains that are evident in each place where he stops.
     Ruhl’s prose is open-minded and heartfelt, transitioning between approaches and time periods in a smooth, clear, and orienting manner. Deep healing and diligent practice are continually evident in its movements. Ruhl’s story also leans into an introductory sense of Zen Buddhism itself, delving into how its practices have transformative power. Quotes from teachers and practitioners of Zen Buddhism increase its insights.
     Appalachian Zen is a stirring religious memoir about finding a home and a spiritual resting place.” – Foreword

“This stands out among American Buddhist memoirs due to Ruhl's exploration of the effect of class on his spiritual journey. His poetic and visceral descriptions of his hardscrabble youth and Zen training are captivating.” – Library Journal

“In Appalachian Zen: Journeys in Search of True Home, from the American Heartland to the Buddha Dharma (Monkfish Book Publishing), Steve Kanji Ruhl relays his aching, grim story of homesickness for a place or thing or state of mind that, for years, he couldn't seem to locate. It certainly wasn't homesickness for his actual hometown, a place of desperation, cruelty, violence, and crushing poverty. Ruhl's journey takes the reader through hallowed texts of ancient and contemporary literature, finally leading this poor Appalachian kid, whose ancestors were indentured servants and factory workers, to Zen Buddhism. Sentence for sentence, Ruhl's language is brilliant and lyrical, and his unflinching story is an important commentary on American Zen -- not as hobby or spiritual consolation among upper-class practitioners, but as real and ancient medicine, eminently available to anyone. Today, Ruhl is a Zen minister and teacher.” – Lion's Roar