Growing up in a quaint mountainside village in Japan, eleven-year-old Oda leaves his family to study with the monks at a nearby Buddhist temple. From that time, this quiet and peaceful refuge is the only home the monk has ever known until his fortieth birthday draws near and he is ordered by his superior to cross the ocean and open a temple in Brooklyn.
Torn from the serene life of his homeland temple, New York proves a severe shock to Oda's system. More than that, he has to work with a motley crew of American Buddhists whose misguided practices lead to a host of hilarious cultural misunderstandings. It is only when the curmudgeonly Oda comes to appreciate this new and surprising flock, flaws and all, that he sees his own shortcomings and finally finds that sense of belonging he has always sought.
Funny, rich and entertaining, this is a charming story about the meaning and rewards of true acceptance in the unlikeliest of places.
'... a complex, beautiful book that lingers in the imagination long after the last line is read.' Robin Black, author of If I Loved You, I Would Tell You This
