Books

Karen Maezen Miller is a Zen priest, but she’s not the kind most of us probably picture. She doesn’t often wear robes. Instead, she sports the same kind of ordinary clothes that we do, she does the same kinds of ordinary activities, and she faces the same kinds of ordinary challenges. Miller got married when she was twenty-three. She and her husband had successful careers and the accoutrements of that lifestyle—dinnerware, furniture, a house on street lined with oak trees. But by age thirty-five, Miller wanted out. Hand Wash Cold is the story of her divorce and subsequent romances and of how she finally came to Zen. It is also—without being dogmatic—a guide to finding true happiness by paying attention to ourselves, to our relationships, and to suds and stains.