Edward Espe Brown

"We all come into this life with a purpose. We're here to do something."

Edward found his way to Zen practice in 1965, and dove in whole-heartedly.

He was the first head cook, or tenzo, at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, and in 1970 his best-selling book, The Tassajara Bread Book, was published. His teacher, Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, ordained him as a priest in 1971, giving him the dharma name Jusan Kainei (“Longevity Mountain, Peaceful Sea”).

In the years since, Edward helped found Greens Restaurant in San Francisco, worked with Deborah Madison in writing The Greens Cookbook, and has written several other cookbooks, including The Complete Tassajara Cookbook, and Tomato Blessings and Radish Teachings.

He edited Not Always So, a collection of Suzuki Roshi’s lectures, and in 2007, he was the subject of a critically acclaimed feature-length documentary film entitled How to Cook Your Life, directed by Doris Dörrie.