Celebrating the Fortieth Anniversary of Parallax Press

publishing landscape, with books distributed
by Penguin Random House and available in
bookstores and libraries worldwide.
In the past four decades, as Thích Nhất
Hạnh became one of the most revered and
influential spiritual leaders of our time, not
surprisingly, his books became bestsellers,
estimated to have sold more than four million
copies. Thầy’s passing in 2022 completed
only his physical lifespan; his bodhisattva
qualities continue to resonate through his
teachings and the teachings of his students,
some of whom are now authoring books
themselves.
Through
changing
and
challenging
times, the Parallax family has also grown and
transformed. From the beginning, editors at
Parallax have been instrumental in producing
many of Thầy’s bestsellers released by the
major international publishers, such as Peace
Is Every Step and The Heart of the Buddha’s
Teaching, as well as providing books for practitioners with a focus on deep practice and
Engaged Buddhism.
In the early 1990s in London, I picked up a
book that would change my life. The cover
had a vibrant abstract painting, a splash of
color on a white background, and the title
was Being Peace. Turning to the first page, I
read the famous opening words: 
Life is filled with suffering, but it is
also filled with many wonders, like the
blue sky, the sunshine, and the eyes
of a baby. To suffer is not enough. We
must also be in touch with the wonders of life. They are within us and all
around us, everywhere, any time.
I was smitten. In his gentle voice, Thầy had
a way of making the world’s sorrows recede
just enough to allow joy to shine through my
melancholic mind. “Do we need to make a
special effort to enjoy the beauty of the blue
sky?” Thầy asks. At the time, I was finding
life quite heavy, a weight to be lifted rather
than a joy. Thầy’s words illuminated a new
way of living. Many years later, after moving
to the United States and entering publishing
myself, I had lunch with Parallax’s founding
publisher, Arnie Kotler, who started Parallax
over the proverbial kitchen table with his wife,
Therese Fitzgerald, and I had the opportunity
to thank him for his work. Together, Arnie and
Therese shepherded the manuscript of Being
Peace and more than thirty other books by
Thích Nhất Hạnh through the publication
process and out into the world, where they
would touch the lives of millions of readers,
including me.
 I also got to know Travis Masch, Arnie’s
successor, through being neighbors; eventually Rachel Neumann, Parallax’s third
publisher, invited me to join the Parallax
family. Although as a young person I’d taken
40TH ANNIVERSARY OF PARALLAX PRESS

a retreat with Thầy, it wasn’t until I’d hit
middle age and Thầy was no longer actively
teaching that I began to practice mindfulness in earnest. At my first work retreat, I
met Thầy’s monastic students, inspiring
teachers in their own right. Until then, I’d
largely worked in a way that kept my “inner”
spiritual life and my “outer” professional life
separate. Coming in contact with people
who prioritized mindfulness in daily life like
the monastic Dharma teachers of the Plum
Village Editorial Team—the sisters and
brothers with whom Parallax works most
closely—I came to see it was possible to
live and work in a more holistic way. Acting
from this unbroken wholeness (to borrow
our author John Bell’s book title) is key to
publishing the books that our culture needs
to transform and heal. 
On the origins of Parallax, Arnie writes:  
In 1985, I accompanied Thích Nhất
Hạnh on his teaching tour across
the United States. Sitting in a small
room at the Providence Zen Center
with about twelve retreatants, Thầy
(meaning “teacher,” the name his
students call him) held my hand
tenderly as he spoke, and I felt seen,
loved, and appreciated. Here was
the loving father—and mother—I
longed for. When he suggested we
start a publishing company together, I
enthusiastically agreed.
For the next eighteen months,
I established Parallax Press’s
infrastructure while also transcribing
tapes of Thích Nhất Hạnh’s lectures
and editing them into the book Being
Peace. When the first 5,000 copies
were delivered, it felt like giving birth.
I kept the trunk of my car filled with
books and felt joy and gratitude as
Bookpeople agreed to distribute
copies, Black Oak Books put them on
a front table, and retreatants in Santa
Barbara and other cities where Thích
Nhất Hạnh taught purchased copies
directly from the publisher. Parallax
Press was up and running.
Thích Nhất Hạnh, his senior
assistants, and I worked closely
together for fourteen years. I
edited transcriptions of his talks
and translations of his Vietnamese
writings, and Parallax published sixty
books and tapes, more than half by
him. His books sold in the tens of
thousands and were translated into
nearly thirty languages.… Hundreds
of people were now participating in
each of his retreats, and thousands
were attending his lectures. These
dynamic, creative individuals formed
what poet Deena Metzger called “the
40TH ANNIVERSARY OF PARALLAX PRESS

interdenominational floating sangha.”
And each summer, people gathered
at Plum Village for what felt like an
international Dharma festival.… As we
worked together creating books and
producing retreats and lectures, Thích
Nhất Hạnh offered me encouragement
and sincere appreciation.1
Early days of Plum Village with Thầy, Arnie, and Sister Chan
Khong. Photo by Jim Forest, courtesy of plumvillage.org
*
Arnie’s successor, Travis Masch, a kindly
Order of Interbeing member from Germany,
initially joined Parallax to help run the
business side of the operation. After six
years, the board of directors invited him to
serve as the publisher, a position he then
held for thirteen years. Prior to stepping into
the publisher role myself, I was fortunate to
sit down with Travis and ask for his advice
about how best to work in a spiritual
community. Here’s a condensed version of
the wisdom he shared:

♦Don’t rush. Take the long view. 

♦For a mission-driven press like
Parallax, it’s important for those who
work there to be practitioners. Always
take the practice into account in your
interactions. It is invaluable to rest in
practice as a common basis.

♦Hold regular staff retreats at a practice
center. Retreats are an opportunity
to remind Parallax staff where we’re
coming from and going to. Try to see
yourselves not only as a publishing
company but as a sangha so actions
can flow from that space.

♦Be a mediator. See the priorities of the
community and the business, and try to
balance needs. Remember you are there
to be of service.

♦When you’re upset with someone, light
the candle of compassion. Remember,
they are struggling. If someone had a
certain difficult character trait before
entering the practice, this can lead to
being unchecked on the playing field
of a spiritual community. Remember
that community practice is not always
enough as a skill set to deal with difficult
feelings, and the needed skills to solve
interpersonal issues may not be present.
You can be sure that if someone is
difficult for you, that experience is
shared by others.

♦It’s good to remember everyone is
human and carries their childhood
heritage with them.
40TH ANNIVERSARY OF PARALLAX PRESS

♦Whether in the monastery or in the
world, the energy of intense (egoic)
aspiration can’t be sustained. There has
to be an equal amount of letting go,
letting be, gentleness toward self and
others, and true maturity.

♦Develop a sense of safety and
security within yourself. Be kind. Be
compassionate, no matter what, to
everyone, including yourself. There are
so many resources for spiritual growth—
Plum Village is a good practice country!
Thầy with Parallax Press staff in the 2000s. Left to right, back
row: Sister Lăng Nghiêm, Sister Hương Nghiêm, Kenley
Neufeld, Sister Chân Không. Front row: Sister Pine, Rachel
B. Neumann, Thầy, Leslie Schneider, Travis Masch, Heather
Harrison, Terri Saul, Terry Barber, Sophie Marchant. Photo by
Brother Pháp Nguyện, courtesy of Buddhadharma magazine
The books from Travis’ time reflect his
interest in mindfulness as a transformative
practice for healing relationships and building community.
*
Travis was aided during his tenure by editor
Rachel B. Neumann, who would become
the dynamic third publisher of Parallax.
Prior to being hired at Parallax as Thầy’s
editor, Rachel had been a fast-talking Village
Voice journalist in New York. Absorbing the
Dharma through reading and editing Thầy’s
books and in the swirl of life with her family,
Rachel specialized in applying mindfulness
to everyday situations. As she writes in her
humorous memoir, Not Quite Nirvana: A
Skeptic’s Journey to Mindfulness, “Every
mindfulness teaching should come with a big
warning on it: Try this at home.”
One of the things that attracted me to
Parallax when Rachel invited me to join
was the emphasis on mindfulness practice
at work. As Rachel describes in her book,
every day at the office begins with a sitting
meditation. 
When I started working for Thầy, [I]
was told that part of the office culture
was to sit for fifteen minutes most
mornings. Fifteen minutes seemed like
an excruciatingly long time to sit still
without anything to read, but I was
willing to try it. After all, I was pregnant
and tired and sitting down with my eyes
closed, even if I had to sit up straight
while I did it, seemed like it might
actually be a nice rest.
For the last ten years, I have begun
most workday mornings like this: My
40TH ANNIVERSARY OF PARALLAX PRESS

coworkers and I sit in a circle with our
eyes closed. We begin the sitting with
the ringing of the meditation bell…. One
person invites the bell, the rest of us
just sit with our eyes closed. We just sit.
Sometimes the phone rings. Sometimes
someone coughs or shifts. I hear it … 
just as it is, a cough or a shift.…
The practice of daily sitting continues
at Parallax to this day (though it has morphed into a Zoom session as we now work
remotely). With the help of senior editor
Terry Barber, who had a deep experiential
knowledge of Thầy’s teachings from having
lived in Plum Village centers for ten years, an
introductory book on sitting meditation was
formed from transcripts of Thầy’s teachings.
This would become the first book in the
best-selling Mindfulness Essentials series,
How to Sit. Illustrated by Rachel’s husband,
artist Jason DeAntonis, and designed by
book design maestra Debbie Berne, these
cute, pocket-sized, beginner-friendly books
began a new era of Parallax’s publishing
program. The books took off and became a
familiar sight in bookstores all over America. 
Rachel went on to become an agent, and I
became publisher in 2019, paying attention
not only to our books but also to how we operate as a company. While Parallax is a small
indie press, it is also part of a vast organism—
the international Plum Village community.
And in addition to Plum Village folks, many
non-practitioners would join the staff just to
work in publishing and lend a hand in ways
large and small. This retrospective would be
incomplete without mentioning the many
talented staff, interns, and volunteers who
passed through the doors of Parallax, some
of whom stayed for years and became practitioners in the process.
During my six years as publisher, I worked
with stellar people, first and foremost the
Plum Village editorial team, who somehow
manage to find the time to help Parallax in the
midst of their busy monastic duties: Brother
Pháp Dung, Sister Lăng Nghiêm, Brother
Pháp Lưu, Brother Brother Pháp Linh, Sister
Hiến Nghiêm, Sister Trì Nghiêm, and Sister
Trai Nghiêm. Through them, I learned what
publishing (and living) from the heart looks
like. I’m deeply grateful for board members
Jo Confino and Judith Kendra, my mentors
and guiding lights, and our entire working
board and colleagues at the Thích Nhất
Hạnh Foundation. Thank you for lending
me an ear (and sometimes a shoulder to cry
on). Our current staff of publishing professionals is composed of sincere Plum Village
practitioners, including Order of Interbeing
members and aspirants. I would also like
to mention former board members Chau
Yoder and Kenley Neufeld for their decades
of service to Parallax; past staffers Heather
40TH ANNIVERSARY OF PARALLAX PRESS

Harrison, a former Lonely Planet sales director, who joined after reading Thầy’s book
Anger, for her willingness to muck in and
do whatever was needed to help; and Jacob
Surpin, who brought a fresh eye to Parallax
and edited with flair and sensitivity. 
In particular, I’d like to honor the memory
of Dharmacharya Terry Barber (1946–2024),
our longest-serving member of staff, who
joined in 2005 and eventually became the
editorial director of our Palm Leaves imprint
of scholarly books. Frequently self-effacing
and placing herself in the background, yet
undeniably carrying the spirit of the Dharma
with her warm heart and discerning mind,
she was instrumental in editing all of Thầy’s
books for Parallax with great patience, love,
and dedication. As a publisher and as a practitioner, whenever I’m in a quandary, I think to
myself, “What would Terry do?” and in every
case, this question helps me choose the
better and kinder option.
The past six years, as our global society
has struggled with existential threats from
the Covid-19 pandemic, the rise of fascism,
wars, genocide, the unprecedented number
of people without a safe home, and our leaders’ failure to respond to the climate crisis
underlying it all, our community continues to
grow and thrive, and so does our publishing
program. Perhaps the need for teachings that
help us liberate ourselves from ignorance and
suffering is at an all-time high. It’s incredibly
exciting to see books by the next generation
Terry Barber and Hisae Matsuda in 2019 with Sister Chân
Đức’s memoir, True Virtue.
of Dharma teachers who were trained by
Thầy—both lay and monastic—take wing and
bring transformative insights and practices
to readers worldwide, applying the timeless
teachings of Buddhism to our very present
joys and sorrows.
A NEW ERA:
I’m delighted to introduce our new publisher,
Matthew Friberg, to lead Parallax in the next
era. Matt ordained in the Order of Interbeing
just before joining Parallax Press as our
dedicated Plum Village senior editor four
years ago, taking the Fourteen Mindfulness
Trainings with his mentor, Dharma teacher
and Parallax author Richard Brady. With a
professional background in academic publishing, Matt brings an insightful presence to
40TH ANNIVERSARY OF PARALLAX PRESS

the role of publisher. I can’t wait to see the
beautiful books that will emerge with his
guidance and support. In an increasingly polarized landscape for the exchange of ideas,
books and reading culture have become a
refuge for people wishing to share deep aspirations and nuanced storytelling, those wishing to turn off the domination of the screen
and the algorithm, especially among young
people of Matt’s generation.
As we complete the first quarter of the
twenty-first century, we are halfway to the
top of the hill of the century that Thay envisioned. Climbing this hill together already
brings great joy. As a microcosm of our society, Parallax has collectively gone through so
much since we began in 1986, and the times
we’re living in call for a new way of living and
working, centered in our values of peace and
collective awakening. During the global pandemic, when the whole world went quiet, we
began working from home, and we decided
to have a 100 percent remote office. Unlike
many other workplaces, we aren’t going back
to how things were, with punishing commutes
and the pressure of fitting life in around one’s
work. Instead, we’re coming full circle and
moving forward at once. We’ll continue to
work from our kitchen tables (or home offices
as the case may be) and also take refuge in
the sangha and build more time together in
person. This year, our ruby anniversary, with
the monastics’ blessing, we plan to build a
mobile “tiny office” at Deer Park Monastery
in a hidden valley in the mountains near San
Diego, so staff can spend significant time in
the community and go deeper into publishing from the heart, with all the opportunities
to practice that arise when living in a monastery. For our golden anniversary in 2036, who
knows how the view will open up around
books and the Dharma? Let’s envision it will
be even easier for a young person to open
the pages of a book and enter the stream.
Parallax staff joyfully together at Blue Cliff Monastery in 2025:
Leslie Schneider, Matthew Friberg, Hisae Matsuda, Katie
Eberle, Katie Sheehan, Heather Weightman, Elizabeth McKellar,
Jacopo Miceli, Tony Lulek, John Matsuoka, Jess Brown
1 Arnie Kotler, “Letting Go of My Father,” Inquiring
Mind, Spring 2007 Vol 23 No. 2., Sati Center for
Buddhist Studies, Redwood City, CA.
40TH ANNIVERSARY OF PARALLAX PRESS
Born in Japan and raised in London, Hisae
Matsuda/Perfect Absorption of the Heart (she/
her) first encountered Zen Master Thích Nhất
Hạnh on retreat in England in 1993. She joined
Parallax in 2016, serving as acquisitions director
and publisher and editing books along the way.
In 2025 she returned to her original vocation of
editing. She is based in the San Francisco Bay
Area, California, US; Plum Village, France; and
Japan.

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Empathy, compassion, kindness, and generosity can become the
foundation of a new social and economic order that will, at the
same time, be fair to all those living on the earth today and sustainable for the well-being of future generations.
—Tho Ha Vinh, PhD, A Culture of Happiness
Dear Brother True Great Understanding (Chân Đại Tuệ),
The whole of the Plum Village multifold community is breathing for you and with you. In each breath we feel gratitude for
your true commitment to the Applied Buddhism that was handed
down to you by our beloved teacher Thầy (Sư Ông Làng Mai).
We know there is no coming and no going and the wonderful
work you have done in Bhutan, Vietnam, Europe and other places
as a Plum Village Dharma teacher can never be lost. That work is
a beacon of light for true happiness in this world of conflict and
grief.
We are committed to continuing the work you have started in
helping happy teachers to change the world.
We send our condolences to your collaboratoer and partner, dear Lisi, Sister Chân Đại Kiều (True Great Bridge). We
know that she understands that you are much more than your
body and she can continue to be with you in all she does. 
In Loving Memory of
Dharma Teacher
Tho Ha Vinh
The Plum Village Community would like to express our deep
gratitude and honor the life, teachings, and legacy of our beloved
Dharma Teacher Tho Ha Vinh (True Great Understanding) in the
wake of his passing on the 26th of September, 2025