Stoep Zen

Lao Tsu meets Oom Schalk Lourens in this delightful meditation on what it means to practise Zen in a changing South Africa. Antony Osler – Buddhist monk, legal adviser, farmer and father – contemplates life as it passes by the stoep of his Karoo farm, sharing anecdotes and conversations, poetic images and indelible characters, watching the seasons, the people and his country as everything changes, just so. ‘I lift my eyes to Coleskop and fear no evil But if I don’t watch my step I will fall into an aardvarkgat.’ Zen practice is to find the heart of each moment, as Osler reminds us. His title is as full of heart as it is of wisdom; his musings on humility, acceptance, reconciliation and love are gentle and often humorous – reminders of what it is to be human.