Through stories of all-night meditation sessions, strenuous martial arts training, rigorous honing of traditional Japanese arts, and more, Zen priest Cristina Moon shows that whoever you are, it’s possible to cultivate and share fearlessness.

Offering a bracing account of three years of mind-body-spirit training at Daihonzan Chozen-ji, a Rinzai Zen temple and martial arts dojo, Moon powerfully captures the rigors and realizations that finally shaped her into a Zen priest whose highest directive is to give fearlessness. 

Told with immersive detail and an unique Asian American female perspective, Three Years on the Great Mountain chronicles Moon's straight-up-the-mountain training regimen at Chozen-ji, conducted every day and often through the nights. Through the spiritual forging of daily Zen meditation, manual labor, swordsmanship, and Japanese tea ceremony, she discovers a newfound conviction that self mastery and spiritual growth can take fierce form. Embraced by local Hawaiʻi and Japanese culture, and a community of discipline, respect, and discovery, she discovers a profound sense of home.