This Side of Nirvana

An inspired account of the spiritual restlessness that eventually led the author to the calm of Buddhist practice, this lyrically written autobiography takes the reader on a spiritual journey through a variety of exotic places ranging from ancient sacred sites in India to a Buddhist center ensconced in an abandoned Baptist church in Nashville to a Buddhist retreat center in the heart of North Carolina's Appalachia. Throughout her search, Jenkins confronts the struggles faced by everyone who dares to ask the ultimate questions of being and the possibility of temporal happiness. She wrestles with questions of self-worth and the sense that finding peace is complicated and too difficult for the average spiritual seeker. In the end, she discovers a "path that can be followed by anyone, even those of us who need remedial training in concentration or who, for whatever reasons, consider ourselves to be 'spiritually challenged'...that begins with sitting still with a wandering, restless mind. Noticing and accepting all one's imperfections, again and again and yet again. Learning to love, in spite of everything."