A Pure Heart, an Enlightened Mind

At twenty years old, Mora O'Halloran participates in university demonstrations, encourages waitresses to form a union, and volunteers with children with autism. Mora takes inspiration from the Catholic saint Mother Teresa, but meditates at home in a lotus position, surprising her family, — in 1970s Ireland, Buddhist practices are not yet popular. At twenty-four, she travels to Japan without any specific plans and spends three years in a Buddhist monastery.
The book collects Mora O'Halloran's diaries and letters from these three years: from the beginning of her journey to Japan until the end of her apprenticeship at Tōshō-ji monastery. She became the first Western woman to receive the transmission of dharma and earned the right to teach Zen. However, on her way from Tokyo to Dublin, Mora died in a car accident — she was twenty-seven years old. In memory of the “great enlightened one,” a statue of Mora in the form of the bodhisattva of compassion has been installed at the Kannon-ji temple.
Despite the seriousness of her spiritual quest, O'Halloran's tone is far from pious detachment: in her letters, she pokes fun at the arrogance of Hawaiian Krishna devotees, criticizes gender inequality, and sketches out a dissertation plan.
Her diaries reflect a monastic life dedicated to work and understanding: “emptiness” and other concepts of Zen philosophy are hardly expressible in words, but cooking rice and sharing meals day after day become a meditation.

Translator: Sofia Abasheva