Toni Packer

Toni Packer (1927–2013) began studying Zen at the Rochester Zen Center in 1967 with Roshi Philip Kapleau (author of The Three Pillars of Zen). She taught and led retreats at Springwater Center in Springwater, New York.

Lenore Friedman

Lenore Friedman is a psychotherapist in private practice in Berkeley, California. She has been interested in Buddhism since the late 1950s and has practiced Buddhist meditation since the late 1960s.

"This is some of the clearest, most grounded Buddhist-oriented teaching I have come across in a very long time." —Stephen Levine, author of A Gradual Awakening

"Toni shakes us out of the branches of our tree so we can see the root." —Charlotte Joko Beck, author of Everyday Zen

"This book is an essential corrective for the troubles of the world—many of which are discussed—and should be read by everyone." —Anne Bancroft, author of Weavers of Wisdom and Zen: Direct Pointing to Reality