“The obstacle is the path.” “Live the life in front of you.” “Be Still. Stay Chill.”

What better creature to teach us to live in the moment and be flexible and chill out (so we won’t flip out!) than the biped birds at the bottom of the earth? Penguins are intuitive, practical, and cooperative; they naturally know the art of keeping chill. Jonathan Chester’s renowned penguin photography whimsically illustrates the sage Zen wisdom presented here in every enlightened spread.

With their preternatural composure, it’s easy to imagine penguins as little Zen masters. They are patient, tolerant, aware of their surroundings, and live in the moment… all tenets of the Zen philosophy. A penguin’s life is not an easy life, and yet the Zen masters of the Antarctic waddle on. What can they teach us? As this little book shows, quite a lot actually.

“To endow animals with human emotions has long been a scientific taboo. But if we do not, we risk missing something fundamental, about both animals and us.” —Frans de Waal