In August 1968, naturalist-explorer Peter Matthiessen returned form Africa to his home in Sagaponack, Long Island, to find three Japanese Zen masters in his driveway - guests of his wife, a new student of Zen. Thirteen years later, Matthiessen was ordained a Buddhist monk. Written in the same format as his best-selling The Snow Leopard, Nine-Headed Dragon River reveals Matthiessen’s most daring adventure of all: the quest for his spiritual roots.