The Backward Step

Published originally as biweekly columns, the fifty essays in this collection bring the age-old practice of Zen to bear upon contemporary life. Whether their immediate subject be shoveling snow or baking bread, the "virtues of solitude" or the emotional dimension of social media, these lucid, graceful essays explore the manifold ways by which we might take the "backward step," shifting our orientation from ego-centered thinking to selfless awareness. "Wise and true," writes Roshi Joan Halifax of The Backward Step, "this wonderful book transmits the essence of practice realization."

Ben Howard is Emeritus Professor of English at Alfred University and a longtime lay practitioner of  Zen meditation. His recent books include Firewood and Ashes: New and Selected Poems (2015),  Entering Zen (2011), Leaf, Sunlight, Asphalt (2009), and Dark Pool (2004). Visit his blog, One Time, One Meeting, at practiceofzen.com and his website at howardbw.com.