GENKAKU ADAM FISHER, AUTHOR OF ANSWER YOUR LOVE LETTERS: FOOTNOTES TO A ZEN PRACTICE: "What happens in Special Karma is nothing very special . and for that reason, for anyone interested in the fine-print factuality of spiritual life, Special Karma is really quite special indeed. There are vegetables to cook and clothes to wash and periods of intense silent meditation and encounters with fellow students . all of it flowing smoothly and with a wonderful redolence of things just out of reach. It is a quiet book whose carefully-worded sentences build a cocoon of understanding around the reader. Special Karma provides a wonderful picture of what it is like when the challenge is accepted and the implications of that invitation are, for better and for worse, embraced." ABBESS MYOAN GRACE SCHIRESON, FOUNDER AND HEAD TEACHER OF THE EMPTY NEST ZEN GROUP AND AUTHOR OF ZEN WOMEN: BEYOND TEA LADIES, IRON MAIDENS, AND MACHO MASTERS: "I have just finished reading Special Karma, and I want to express my gratitude to Merry White Benezra for her steady view of Zen practice-both its shining beauty and its shadows. There are many reasons to read Special Karma: To understand Zen monastic practice, to see the dangers of unbalanced Zen practice, to learn how a teacher's wisdom and blind spots affect Zen training, and to keep the discussion of these matters alive so that 'secrets' do not allow abuse to continue.

Benezra has illuminated all of these important topics in a well written, gripping novel. I congratulate Benezra and her book for bringing more attention to the importance of exposing this kind of harm." SANDY BOUCHER, AUTHOR OF TURNING THE WHEEL: AMERICAN WOMEN CREATING THE NEW BUDDHISM: "Special Karma is the only novel I know of that presents the theme of the sexual misconduct of a Zen master. But the book is not an expose or diatribe. Benezra eschews sensational treatment of this delicate subject, and handles it instead with an understatement and irony consistent with the thoughtful, personal tone of the whole book. The author's extraordinary sensitivity to nature prompts some luminous writing on the seasonal changes that the protagonist observes from the shelter of her Zen center. And the relationships in the book reveal a developed sense of the subtleties of human interaction. I hope you will read Special Karma with as much pleasure as I have.

" GENJO MARINELLO, ABBOT OF CHOBO-JI: "It is my sincere hope that the continued dialogue prompted by such courageous and revelatory writing as Merry's will keep the pressure on.".