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One Breath at a Time

by Han Seo-yun

Trinity Books · October 28, 2026

Zen practice for a mind that never stops running.

Reading time: About 4 h 10 min (at 230 words a minute)

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Details

AuthorSouth Korea Han Seo-yun
CategoryZen stories / Yoga and meditation / Calming the mind
Language of the bookEnglish
PublishedOctober 28, 2026
Length272 pages
Product numberTB-K0007-EN
Reading timeAbout 4 h 10 min (at 230 words a minute)
Print-ready PDFA5 · interior PDF and cover PDF (with bleed: two versions, 3 mm and 3.175 mm, can be downloaded.) · 272 pages

Categories of this book

CategoriesThought, philosophy and religionZen stories

CategoriesHealth and bodyYoga and meditation

CategoriesSelf-help and workCalming the mind

About this book

Do you eat lunch without tasting it, lie awake replaying the day, or feel that you are living slightly to one side of your own life? A busy mind is not a personal failure. It is what minds do. But it can learn to settle.

Zen practice for a mind that never stops running.

One Breath at a Time is a warm, practical introduction to Zen as a way of attention for ordinary, crowded days. In plain language, it explains the simplest and oldest practices of the tradition: coming back to the breath, sitting still for a few minutes, letting thoughts pass like clouds, doing one thing at a time, finding calm in chores, beginner's mind, walking slowly, eating with attention, keeping a quieter room, being at peace with not knowing, meeting strong feelings, listening fully and resting when tired.

Each chapter begins with an everyday scene, retells a classic Zen story or instruction in clear modern words, shows how the idea helps people of different ages and lives, and ends with practical steps, a short guided practice and answers to common questions. No belief is required, and every practice can be done on a chair, at a sink or on the way to work.

Contents

  • One Breath at a Time
  • Introduction: A Busy Mind and a Quiet Tradition
  • How to Use This Book
  • Chapter 1: A Mind With Too Many Windows Open
    1. Lunch Without a Taste
    2. Why the Mind Runs
    3. A Short, Honest History of Zen
    4. Practice, Not Belief
    5. What Zen Is Not
    6. Three Busy Minds
    7. The Simplest Practice: Coming Back
    8. Practical Steps
    9. A Short Practice: Three Breaths Before
    10. Questions People Often Ask
    11. Chapter Summary
  • Chapter 2: Coming Back to the Breath
    1. The Waiting Room
    2. Why the Breath
    3. Counting Breaths: A Traditional Method
    4. Not Controlling, Just Noticing
    5. An Old Instruction
    6. Three Lives and the Breath
    7. When the Breath Is Not Comfortable
    8. Practical Steps
    9. A Short Practice: Counting to Ten
    10. Questions People Often Ask
    11. Chapter Summary
  • Chapter 3: Sitting Still for a Few Minutes
    1. Five Quiet Minutes After the Door Closes
    2. What Zazen Is
    3. Dōgen's Instructions, Retold
    4. Sitting on a Chair Is Fine
    5. Eyes, Hands and Stillness
    6. Why Stillness Helps
    7. Three Lives Sitting Still
    8. A Place and a Time
    9. Practical Steps
    10. A Short Practice: Five Minutes of Just Sitting
    11. Questions People Often Ask
    12. Chapter Summary
More
  • Chapter 4: Thoughts Are Like Clouds
    1. A Train of Thoughts at Midnight
    2. The Mind Makes Thoughts as the Sky Makes Clouds
    3. The Flag and the Wind
    4. Noticing Without Following
    5. Why Fighting Thoughts Does Not Work
    6. Thoughts Are Not Always Facts
    7. Three Lives and Their Thoughts
    8. Practical Steps
    9. A Short Practice: Watching Clouds
    10. Questions People Often Ask
    11. Chapter Summary
  • Chapter 5: Doing One Thing at a Time
    1. Dinner, Homework and a Phone Call
    2. The Myth of Doing Everything at Once
    3. The Old Cook in the Sun
    4. "Other People Are Not Me"
    5. "If Not Now, Then When?"
    6. The Cook on the Ship
    7. Three Lives, One Thing at a Time
    8. Practical Steps
    9. A Short Practice: One Task, Fully
    10. Questions People Often Ask
    11. Chapter Summary
  • Chapter 6: Wash Your Bowl: Calm in Everyday Chores
    1. Standing at the Sink
    2. "Have You Eaten Your Rice Gruel?"
    3. Carrying Water, Carrying Firewood
    4. Work as Practice
    5. Life After the Chore
    6. How Attention Changes a Task
    7. Three Lives, Three Chores
    8. Chores and Fairness
    9. Practical Steps
    10. A Short Practice: Washing One Bowl
    11. Questions People Often Ask
    12. Chapter Summary
  • Chapter 7: Beginner's Mind
    1. The Same Street, Twice
    2. The Mind of a Beginner
    3. A Book About Beginner's Mind
    4. The Overflowing Cup
    5. How Familiarity Closes Our Eyes
    6. Beginner's Mind With People
    7. Beginner's Mind and Learning at Any Age
    8. Three Lives With Fresh Eyes
    9. Practical Steps
    10. A Short Practice: Meeting an Orange
    11. Questions People Often Ask
    12. Chapter Summary
  • Chapter 8: Walking Slowly
    1. The Race to the Station
    2. Walking Between Sittings
    3. How Kinhin Is Done
    4. Why Walk Slowly?
    5. Walking in Daily Life
    6. Walking and the Senses
    7. When Walking Is Difficult
    8. Three Lives on Foot
    9. Practical Steps
    10. A Short Practice: Ten Slow Steps
    11. Questions People Often Ask
    12. Chapter Summary
  • Chapter 9: Eating With Attention
    1. Lunch in a Parked Car
    2. Eating Without Tasting
    3. "When Hungry, Eat"
    4. The Meal Reflections
    5. Eating in a Zen Monastery
    6. Where Our Food Comes From
    7. Eating With Others
    8. A Word of Care
    9. Three Lives at the Table
    10. Practical Steps
    11. A Short Practice: The First Three Bites
    12. Questions People Often Ask
    13. Chapter Summary
  • Chapter 10: A Quieter Room, a Quieter Mind
    1. The Kitchen Table Office
    2. Cleaning as Practice
    3. Simplicity Is Not Shopping
    4. The Value of Empty Space
    5. Things and Attention
    6. Caring for Things
    7. Sounds, Light and Screens
    8. Three Lives, Three Rooms
    9. Practical Steps
    10. A Short Practice: Clearing One Surface
    11. Questions People Often Ask
    12. Chapter Summary
  • Chapter 11: It Is All Right Not to Know
    1. Waiting for the Announcement
    2. "Who Is Standing Before Me?"
    3. "Not Knowing Is Most Intimate"
    4. What Koans Do
    5. The Rush to Know
    6. Don't-Know Mind in Daily Life
    7. Not Knowing and Fear
    8. Three Lives Without Answers
    9. Practical Steps
    10. A Short Practice: Sitting With "I Do Not Know"
    11. Questions People Often Ask
    12. Chapter Summary
  • Chapter 12: When Feelings Rise Like Waves
    1. Juice on the Keyboard
    2. Waves on the Ocean
    3. The Monk Who Could Not Show His Temper
    4. Feeling Without Being Swept Away
    5. Meeting Anger
    6. Meeting Fear and Worry
    7. Meeting Sadness and Grief
    8. When Feelings Are Too Big
    9. Three Lives and Their Waves
    10. Practical Steps
    11. A Short Practice: Riding One Wave
    12. Questions People Often Ask
    13. Chapter Summary
  • Chapter 13: Listening With Your Whole Attention
    1. "You Are Not Listening"
    2. Hearing and Listening
    3. "Do You Hear the Stream?"
    4. Listening to Sounds as Practice
    5. The One Who Hears the Cries of the World
    6. Listening to People
    7. The Gift of Silence
    8. Listening to Yourself
    9. Three Lives and Their Listening
    10. Practical Steps
    11. A Short Practice: Five Minutes of Sound
    12. Questions People Often Ask
    13. Chapter Summary
  • Chapter 14: When Tired, Rest
    1. A Day Off That Was Not
    2. A Busy Mind Forgets How to Rest
    3. "When Tired, Sleep"
    4. Rest Is Not Another Task
    5. Doing Nothing on Purpose
    6. Bringing Practice to Bed
    7. Rest During the Day
    8. When Rest Is Hard to Find
    9. Three Lives and Their Rest
    10. Practical Steps
    11. A Short Practice: Lying Down and Letting Go
    12. Questions People Often Ask
    13. Chapter Summary
  • Chapter 15: Ordinary Life Is the Practice
    1. Lunch, a Year Later
    2. "Ordinary Mind Is the Way"
    3. The Best Season
    4. The Ten Ox-Herding Pictures
    5. Returning to the Market With Open Hands
    6. A Day of Practice
    7. When Practice Fades
    8. Practice and Kindness
    9. Three Lives, a Year Later
    10. Practical Steps
    11. A Short Practice: One Ordinary Day
    12. Questions People Often Ask
    13. Chapter Summary and Farewell
  • Closing Words
  • Key Terms in This Book
  • A Note on the Sources
  • A Note on Health and Safety
  • About the Author
  • Colophon

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