Rainman’s Third Cure
An “unforgettable” memoir of searching for enlightenment, from the actor, Zen teacher, and bestselling author of Sleeping Where I Fall (San Francisco Chronicle).
With a title inspired by a Bob Dylan lyric that Peter Coyote considers representative of two competing forces—the transcendental, inclusive, and ecstatic world of love, and the competitive, status-seeking world of wealth and power—this spiritual autobiography tells the tale of a young man caught between these options, and the journey that leads him from the privileged halls of power to Greenwich Village jazz bars, to jail, to the White House, to lessons from a man who literally held the power of life and death over others, to government service and international success on stage and screen.
Moving beyond the 1960s counterculture covered in his previous memoir, Coyote provides intimate portraits of mentors who shaped him—a violent, intimidating father; a bebop bass player who teaches him that life can be improvised; a Mafia consiglieri who demonstrates to him that men can be bought and manipulated; an ex-game warden who initiates him into the laws of nature; a gay dancer in Martha Graham’s company who introduces him to Mexico and marijuana; beat poet Gary Snyder, who introduces him to Zen practice, and finally fashion designer Nino Cerruti, who made the world of haute monde Europe available to him.
What begins as a flirtation with Zen deepens into a lifelong avocation, ordination as a priest, and finally the road to Transmission—acknowledgement that he is ready to be an independent teacher. Through Zen, Coyote discovers a third option, and in this energetic, reflective and intelligent memoir, he shares both his experiences and the wisdom he has gained from them.
“Peter’s Coyote’s new memoir is just plain wonderful—richly textured, beautifully written, sad, sweet, sometimes funny, always wise. It is about childhood losses and joy, growing up, mentors, loyalty, the search for Truth, survival, the sixties, the seventies, transcendence, healing, disasters. It is told by a writer of deep wisdom, self-knowledge and charm . . . I gobbled it up.” —Anne Lamott
