Guest speaker Walter Mason will colourfully explain the Zen of Jane Austen.

Walter Mason is the author of many travel books about Asia and is a highly regarded speaker and teacher, visiting festivals and also talking on the ABC. His talk to JASA Brisbane will explore Jane Austen and Zen.

He has explored Jane's novels and has discerned that Jane could have been a Zen master. Despite the unlikelihood of Jane's being aware of Buddhism, Walter has found many parallels as he speaks of some tenets of Buddhism (friendship, kind-heartedness, suffering, sickness and death) being apparent in Jane Austen novels. An interesting interpretation.