What Is the Sound of One Hand Clapping?

Hakuin Ekaku transformed fear into realizing that compassion for others is life's purpose. To awaken to this truth, Hakuin faced doubt in his mind, meditating on conundrums. He created one of the greatest of all: "What is the sound of one hand clapping?" Hakuin, who lived near Japan's Mount Fuji in the eighteenth century, advocated discipline and living a virtuous life.

Richard Diedrichs grew up in Los Angeles. He edited travel and health magazines in Seattle, worked as an editor at the schools of Engineering and Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley, and then taught Fourth and Fifth grades and Kindergarten in public elementary schools in the San Francisco Bay Area. Richard has published novels, short stories, nonfiction and essays. He currently works as an assistant editor at Narrative Magazine. Richard lives in a beach town on the south central California coast.