Great Road

From beloved Zen teacher and poet Norman Fischer, a new collection of wise and surprising essays that explores what it means to dive fully into spiritual practice and to embody our deepest aspirations in every waking moment.

The essence of the Buddhist path is to live life itself as a continuous spiritual practice. In this wide-ranging collection of essays, Norman Fischer meditates on the philosophy of “continuous practice” as taught by Japanese Zen master Eihei Dogen. Fischer breaks Dogen’s philosophy free from the Zen box, weaving together Eastern and Western perspectives with reflections from literature, Western philosophy, and his own life spent among America’s Zen masters. He muses on the life of the Buddha, meditation, and the work of Western thinkers like Simone Weil and William Wordsworth—ultimately taking us on a journey into the heart of life itself.

By turns spiritual, philosophical, literary, and personal, The Great Road makes a compelling case for living compassionately, recognizing the extraordinary within the ordinary, and continuously engaging with fundamental mysteries of life.