Tofu Roshi

Returning to my occasional series of posts about excellent, interesting or useful books to fellow T'ai Chi folks, here's the first of the next bunch. 

The Life and Ltters of Tofu Roshi, by Susan Ichi Su Moon (Shambala Books, 1988) is one of my favourite books and is laugh-out-loud funny, if you have any experience of meditation centres, gurus or Zen. Tofu Roshi, the abbot of a fictional California Zendo the 'No Way Zen Center' is our sandal-stealing advice-giving hero / fool. As it says in the foreword: 'Many teachers in their pride, vainly boast that they know nothing, but it is Tofu alone who has truly suceeded in achieving total ignornace.'

This book is, bizarrely, a pretty good Zen primer too. The perfect Christmas gift for a friend with too many pairs of Birkenstocks.