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Into a colourful description of a modern-day trip by car from Vancouver to Toronto-exploring themes such as Canadian history and Aboriginal culture, visiting former childhood haunts, and letting Beatles songs evoke personal memories-the author inserts a series of flashbacks telling a parallel story about his journey from Canada to India and arrival in Japan in 1972 and his nine-year stint as an ordained Zen monk. The only foreigner in history to train at Myoshinji Monastery, he describes his struggle to solve the Zen ko-an "the sound of one hand" and the revelation that compelled him to depart again, alone and unaligned.
The title is derived from a Chinese axiom suggesting that people travel the same road to the truth but each in his or her own unique way; the chapters follow the progress of the Ten Ox-Herding Pictures, an ancient analogy for the human endeavour to overcome adversities and achieve enlightenment.
A reflection on the spirit of our times, Same Road Different Tracks amalgamates an engaging account of a search for the heart of Canada with the dramatic tale of a youthful quest for truth and fulfillment.
