Lessons in Essence

Imbued with the tension of Taipei and the beauty of mountain seclusion, Lessons in Essence uncovers timeless human truths in the crises faced by an honest and vulnerable man

Teacher Li is a grumbling Taiwanese master of ancient Chinese arts who suffers constant nightmares about a military takeover of Taiwan by China. His family is in New York seeking U.S. citizenship when Teacher Li has an almost accidental sexual encounter with a student. Knowing everything, his wife returns to Taipei. Miserable, but finding no solace in the city, Teacher Li retreats to the mountains like the Zen hermits of old to write a book about aesthetics. But the purity he seeks is elusive even in mountain exile—he finds a rotting house… Keep Reading