Ruth Ozeki
Ruth Ozeki
Ruth Ozekiis an American-Canadian novelist, filmmaker and Zen Buddhist priest. She worked in commercial television and media production for over a decade and made several independent films before turning to writing fiction...
NationalityCanadian
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth12 March 1956
CountryCanada
enormous exactly japan looked realized saw shock society suddenly time
The American society around me looked at me and saw Japanese. Then, when I was 19, I went to Japan for the first time. And suddenly - what a shock - I realized I wasn't Japanese; they saw me as American. It was an enormous relief. Now I just appreciate being exactly in the middle.
bullied cool felt fit maybe
Maybe all teenagers feel like they don't fit in. I never felt like a cool kid. I remember being bullied for being Asian.
realise starting time
I think that all writing is in search of lost time. I'm starting to realise that very clearly.
trying
When I'm writing a novel, I'm usually just trying to write about things that are interesting to me.
certainly cross easily fact filmmakers played readily
I've always played that edge of fact and fiction. I used to be a filmmaker, and certainly in film that's a line that filmmakers cross more readily and more easily than novelists.
fiction heard legal people seen
People have always heard voices. Sometimes they're called shamans, sometimes they're called mad, and sometimes they're called fiction writers. I always feel lucky that I live in a culture where fiction writing is legal and not seen as pathology.
writing character prejudice
When I start writing novels, I go into them with a spirit of inquiry, rather than to substantiate prejudices I had in the beginning. If you don't do that, you can't write good characters.
life inspiring fleeting
Life is fleeting. Don't waste a single moment of your precious life. Wake up now! And now! And now!
opportunity life-and-death passing-away
Both life and death manifest in every moment of existence. Our human body appears and disappears moment by moment, without cease, and this ceaseless arising and passing away is what we experience as time and being. They are not separate. They are one thing, and in even a fraction of a second, we have the opportunity to choose, and to turn the course of our action either toward the attainment of truth or away from it. Each instant is utterly critical to the whole world.
bullying pain inspiration
No matter how much bullying they inflict on my body, as long as I have this hope, I can endure any pain.
unhappy important way
The important thing was that we were being polite and not saying all the things that were making us unhappy, which was the only way we knew how to love each other.
understanding ancient length
With the ancient is wisdom; and in length of days understanding.
stories seeds
Every seed has a story.
fallen fallen-leaves
For the time being Words scatter Are they fallen leaves?