Wine & Wisdom (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781969453007)

Ji Gong the Crazy Monk drinks wine in taverns, befriends criminals, and breaks every rule of proper Buddhist conduct. To the temple authorities, he's a dangerous disgrace. To the people of 12th-century Hangzhou, he's something far more unsettling: a man whose unconventional compassion actually works.

In a world where rigid hierarchies keep everyone in their place, where the wealthy hoard while the poor suffer, where criminals are condemned and outcasts forgotten, Ji Gong offers something revolutionary: a different way of seeing, of being, of living that challenges everything society holds sacred.

But transformation comes at a price. The more people he touches, the more powerful forces take notice. The more boundaries he crosses, the more dangerous his path becomes. And the more he follows his conscience, the more he must choose between the safety of conformity and the cost of authentic faith.

Some call him mad. Others call him holy. The truth may be more radical than either: he might simply be awake in a world determined to sleep.

Based on China's beloved folk hero, Wine & Wisdom is a timeless story of one man's journey toward a truth so simple and so threatening that it could change everything.