My Master’s Robe: Memories of a Novice Monk

This collection of stories describes Thich Nhat Hanh’s experiences as a novice monk in central Vietnam. They offer a portrait of him as a young man testing the Buddhist teachings, planting seeds that would carry him through the ordeals of the Vietnam war and its aftermath. This simplicity and clarity of monastic life provides the background against which characters including the elderly cook, the master who sews by lamplight, the lizard who dares to eat rice offered for the Buddha and a young French soldier seeking understanding and learning are presented.