Well-written cookbooks are a joy to work with and New World Library's Just Enough: Vegan Recipes and Stories from Japan’s Buddhist Temples is destined to become your next favorite.

Fresh out of college, author Gesshin Claire Greenwood found her way to a Buddhist monastery in Japan and was ordained as a Buddhist nun. Zen appealed to Greenwood because of its all-encompassing approach to life and how to live it, its willingness to face life’s big questions, and its radically simple yet profound emphasis on presence, reality, the now. At the monastery, she also discovered an affinity for working in the kitchen, especially the practice of creating delicious, satisfying meals using whatever was at hand — even when what was at hand was bamboo. Based on the philosophy of oryoki, or “just enough,” this book combines stories with recipes. From perfect rice, potatoes, and broths to hearty stews, colorful stir-fries, hot and cold noodles, and delicate sorbet, Greenwood shows food to be a direct, daily way to understand Zen practice. With eloquent prose, she takes readers into monasteries and markets, messy kitchens and predawn meditation rooms, and offers food for thought that nourishes and delights body, mind, and spirit.

New World Library, publisher of "books and audios that inspire and challenge us to improve the quality of our lives and our world", celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2007 buoyed by the continuing success of Eckhart Tolle's The Power of Now and Practicing the Power of Now. In 2001, New World Library worked with the Joseph Campbell Foundation to introduce The Collected Works of Joseph Campbell series.

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Bookplate signed by Gesshin Claire Greenwood