The Shamanic Bones of Zen

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Author :
Publisher : Shambhala Publications
ISBN 13 : 0834844273
Total Pages : 191 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (348 download)

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Book Synopsis The Shamanic Bones of Zen by : Zenju Earthlyn Manuel

Download or read book The Shamanic Bones of Zen written by Zenju Earthlyn Manuel and published by Shambhala Publications. This book was released on 2022-02-08 with total page 191 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Conceived at the crossroads of Buddhism and indigenous earth-based practice, The Shamanic Bones of Zen explores the deep human traditions of transformation that are made possible by meditation, ceremony, ritual, dreams, and spiritual connection to one’s ancestry. In The Shamanic Bones of Zen, celebrated author and Buddhist teacher Zenju Earthlyn Manuel undertakes a rich exploration of the connections between contemporary Zen practice and shamanic, or indigenous, spirituality. Drawing on her personal journey with the black church, with African, Caribbean, and Native American ceremonial practices, and with Nichiren and Zen Buddhism, she builds a compelling case for discovering and cultivating the shamanic, or magical, elements in Buddhism—many of which have been marginalized by colonialist and modernist forces in the religion. Displaying reverence for the Zen tradition, creativity in expressing her own intuitive seeing, and profound gratitude for the guidance of spirit, Manuel models the path of a seeker unafraid to plumb the depths of her ancestry and face the totality of the present. The book conveys guidance for readers interested in Zen practice including ritual, preparing sanctuaries, engaging in chanting practices, and deepening embodiment with ceremony. "I often felt my ancestors at ease with my practice of Zen. I felt they had led me through other traditions to this practice of ritual and ceremony,“ writes Manuel. ”The ancestors needed me to be still and breathe as they approached with what they had to offer my life.”

The Shamanic Bones of Zen

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Author :
Publisher : Shambhala Publications
ISBN 13 : 1611809193
Total Pages : 191 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (118 download)

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Book Synopsis The Shamanic Bones of Zen by : Zenju Earthlyn Manuel

Download or read book The Shamanic Bones of Zen written by Zenju Earthlyn Manuel and published by Shambhala Publications. This book was released on 2022-02-08 with total page 191 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Conceived at the crossroads of Buddhism and indigenous earth-based practice, The Shamanic Bones of Zen explores the deep human traditions of transformation that are made possible by meditation, ceremony, ritual, dreams, and spiritual connection to one’s ancestry. In The Shamanic Bones of Zen, celebrated author and Buddhist teacher Zenju Earthlyn Manuel undertakes a rich exploration of the connections between contemporary Zen practice and shamanic, or indigenous, spirituality. Drawing on her personal journey with the black church, with African, Caribbean, and Native American ceremonial practices, and with Nichiren and Zen Buddhism, she builds a compelling case for discovering and cultivating the shamanic, or magical, elements in Buddhism—many of which have been marginalized by colonialist and modernist forces in the religion. Displaying reverence for the Zen tradition, creativity in expressing her own intuitive seeing, and profound gratitude for the guidance of spirit, Manuel models the path of a seeker unafraid to plumb the depths of her ancestry and face the totality of the present. The book conveys guidance for readers interested in Zen practice including ritual, preparing sanctuaries, engaging in chanting practices, and deepening embodiment with ceremony. "I often felt my ancestors at ease with my practice of Zen. I felt they had led me through other traditions to this practice of ritual and ceremony,“ writes Manuel. ”The ancestors needed me to be still and breathe as they approached with what they had to offer my life.”

The Way of Tenderness

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Author :
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1614291497
Total Pages : 152 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (142 download)

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Book Synopsis The Way of Tenderness by : Zenju Earthlyn Manuel

Download or read book The Way of Tenderness written by Zenju Earthlyn Manuel and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2015-02-17 with total page 152 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “What does liberation mean when I have incarnated in a particular body, with a particular shape, color, and sex?” In The Way of Tenderness, Zen priest Zenju Earthlyn Manuel brings Buddhist philosophies of emptiness and appearance to bear on race, sexuality, and gender, using wisdom forged through personal experience and practice to rethink problems of identity and privilege. Manuel brings her own experiences as a bisexual black woman into conversation with Buddhism to square our ultimately empty nature with superficial perspectives of everyday life. Her hard-won insights reveal that dry wisdom alone is not sufficient to heal the wounds of the marginalized; an effective practice must embrace the tenderness found where conventional reality and emptiness intersect. Only warmth and compassion can cure hatred and heal the damage it wreaks within us. This is a book that will teach us all.

The Deepest Peace

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Author :
Publisher : Parallax Press
ISBN 13 : 1946764671
Total Pages : 161 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (467 download)

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Book Synopsis The Deepest Peace by : Zenju Earthlyn Manuel

Download or read book The Deepest Peace written by Zenju Earthlyn Manuel and published by Parallax Press. This book was released on 2020-12-01 with total page 161 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This beautiful glimpse into the mind of a modern Zen priest shows us how we can cultivate and experience peace through silence, stillness, and practice. “A balm for our troubled hearts and minds . . . soulful, warm, and welcoming, and—at times—heartbreaking.” —Lion's Roar While there is suffering in the world and in each of us, there is also the possibility and the experience of peace. As Zenju Earthlyn Manuel—a Zen priest and disciple of Thich Nhat Hanh who has written at length on race, gender, sexual orientation, and homelessness—writes in the introduction: “I have testified many times of my suffering. Before I die, I must speak of peace.” The Deepest Peace is a poetic, lyrical ode to the ways contemplative practice illuminates daily life. It is at once a window into Zenju’s personal practice and an invitation to begin our own.

Bringing Zen Home

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Author :
Publisher : University of Hawaii Press
ISBN 13 : 0824860136
Total Pages : 281 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (248 download)

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Book Synopsis Bringing Zen Home by : Paula Arai

Download or read book Bringing Zen Home written by Paula Arai and published by University of Hawaii Press. This book was released on 2011-09-30 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Healing lies at the heart of Zen in the home, as Paula Arai discovered in her pioneering research on the ritual lives of Zen Buddhist laywomen. She reveals a vital stream of religious practice that flourishes outside the bounds of formal institutions through sacred rites that women develop and transmit to one another. Everyday objects and common materials are used in inventive ways. For example, polishing cloths, vivified by prayer and mantra recitation, become potent tools. The creation of beauty through the arts of tea ceremony, calligraphy, poetry, and flower arrangement become rites of healing. Bringing Zen Home brings a fresh perspective to Zen scholarship by uncovering a previously unrecognized but nonetheless vibrant strand of lay practice. The creativity of domestic Zen is evident in the ritual activities that women fashion, weaving tradition and innovation, to gain a sense of wholeness and balance in the midst of illness, loss, and anguish. Their rituals include chanting, ingesting elixirs and consecrated substances, and contemplative approaches that elevate cleaning, cooking, child-rearing, and caring for the sick and dying into spiritual disciplines. Creating beauty is central to domestic Zen and figures prominently in Arai’s analyses. She also discovers a novel application of the concept of Buddha nature as the women honor deceased loved ones as “personal Buddhas.” One of the hallmarks of the study is its longitudinal nature, spanning fourteen years of fieldwork. Arai developed a “second-person,” or relational, approach to ethnographic research prompted by recent trends in psychobiology. This allowed her to cultivate relationships of trust and mutual vulnerability over many years to inquire into not only the practices but also their ongoing and changing roles. The women in her study entrusted her with their life stories, personal reflections, and religious insights, yielding an ethnography rich in descriptive and narrative detail as well as nuanced explorations of the experiential dimensions and effects of rituals. In Bringing Zen Home, the first study of the ritual lives of Zen laywomen, Arai applies a cutting-edge ethnographic method to reveal a thriving domain of religious practice. Her work represents an important contribution on a number of fronts—to Zen studies, ritual studies, scholarship on women and religion, and the cross-cultural study of healing.

Zen Women

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Author :
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 0861719565
Total Pages : 321 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (617 download)

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Book Synopsis Zen Women by : Grace Schireson

Download or read book Zen Women written by Grace Schireson and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2009-11-10 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This landmark presentation at last makes heard the centuries of Zen's female voices. Through exploring the teachings and history of Zen's female ancestors, from the time of the Buddha to ancient and modern female masters in China, Korea, and Japan, Grace Schireson offers us a view of a more balanced Dharma practice, one that is especially applicable to our complex lives, embedded as they are in webs of family relations and responsibilities, and the challenges of love and work. Part I of this book describes female practitioners as they are portrayed in the classic literature of "Patriarchs' Zen"--often as "tea-ladies," bit players in the drama of male students' enlightenments; as "iron maidens," tough-as-nails women always jousting with their male counterparts; or women who themselves become "macho masters," teaching the same Patriarchs' Zen as the men do. Part II of this book presents a different view--a view of how women Zen masters entered Zen practice and how they embodied and taught Zen uniquely as women. This section examines many urgent and illuminating questions about our Zen grandmothers: How did it affect them to be taught by men? What did they feel as they trying to fit into this male practice environment, and how did their Zen training help them with their feelings? How did their lives and relationships differ from that of their male teachers? How did they express the Dharma in their own way for other female students? How was their teaching consistently different from that of male ancestors? And then part III explores how women's practice provides flexible and pragmatic solutions to issues arising in contemporary Western Zen centers.

Shoes Outside the Door

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Author :
Publisher : Catapult
ISBN 13 : 1582432546
Total Pages : 407 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (824 download)

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Book Synopsis Shoes Outside the Door by : Michael Downing

Download or read book Shoes Outside the Door written by Michael Downing and published by Catapult. This book was released on 2002-08-15 with total page 407 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A close-up look at the scandals that rocked the San Francisco Zen Center, a leader in alternative religious practice and the counterculture in America, and their repercussions. The remarkable forty-year history of the people who established the first Buddhist monastery outside of Asia in the history of the world has never been told. Michael Downing wondered why. "I'm living proof of why you better not speak out," explained one ordained Zen priest. "The degree to which I was scapegoated publicly was most effective in keeping everyone else quiet." In 1959, a Soto Zen priest took leave of his family in Japan to minister to the congregation of a Buddhist temple in San Francisco. Alan Watts and others spread the word that an authentic Zen Roshi was living there, and students, poets, drifters, and seekers began to attend his lectures. Impressed by their sincerity and commitment, Suzuki Roshi began to offer instruction in zazen (meditation) and other Buddhist practices to these devoted young spiritual pioneers. The San Francisco Zen Center was born. And then, in 1983, meltdown. A sex scandal rocked Zen Center, and it triggered tragedies and headlines about abuse of power that called into question the whole matter of alternative religious practice in America. Overnight the most prominent community of Buddhists in the West found itself at the vanguard of a cultural revolt against spiritual authority. For Shoes Outside the Door, Michael Downing spent three years studying documents and interviewing more than eighty people who were there, at ground zero. As engaging as any mystery, as mysterious as any political campaign, as political as any family gathering, this story will haunt and challenge readers as they unravel this essential chapter of American history.

Zen Flesh, Zen Bones

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Author :
Publisher : Tuttle Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1462902987
Total Pages : 220 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (629 download)

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Book Synopsis Zen Flesh, Zen Bones by : Paul Reps

Download or read book Zen Flesh, Zen Bones written by Paul Reps and published by Tuttle Publishing. This book was released on 1998-09-15 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "It has stayed with me for the last 30 years, a classic portraying Zen mind to our linear thinking." --Phil Jackson, Head Coach of the Chicago Bulls and author of Sacred Hoops Zen Flesh, Zen Bones offers a collection of accessible, primary Zen sources so that readers can contemplate the meaning of Zen for themselves. Within the pages, readers will find: 101 Zen Stories, a collection of tales that recount actual experiences of Chinese and Japanese Zen teachers over a period of more than five centuries The Gateless Gate, the famous thirteenth-century collection of Zen koans Ten Bulls, a twelfth century commentary on the stages of awareness leading to enlightenment Centering, a 4,000 year-old teaching from India that some consider to be the roots of Zen. When Zen Flesh, Zen Bones was published in 1957, it became an instant sensation with an entire generation of readers who were just beginning to experiment with Zen. Over the years it has inspired leading American Zen teachers, students, and practitioners. Its popularity is as high today as ever.

Seeds for a Boundless Life

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Author :
Publisher : Shambhala Publications
ISBN 13 : 0834803046
Total Pages : 192 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (348 download)

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Book Synopsis Seeds for a Boundless Life by : Zenkei Blanche Hartman

Download or read book Seeds for a Boundless Life written by Zenkei Blanche Hartman and published by Shambhala Publications. This book was released on 2015-08-25 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Zenkei Blanche Hartman is an American Zen legend. A teacher in the lineage of Shunryu Suzuki, author of Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, she was the first female abbot of an American Zen center. She is greatly revered, especially in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she has lived and taught for many years. This, her long-awaited first book, is a collection of short teachings taken from her talks on the subject of boundlessness—the boundlessness that sees beyond our small, limited self to include all others. To live a boundless life she encourages living the vows prescribed by the Buddha and living life with the curiosity of a child. The short, stand-alone pieces can be dipped into whenever one is in need of inspiration.

Bargainin' for Salvation

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Author :
Publisher : Continuum
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 296 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (91 download)

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Book Synopsis Bargainin' for Salvation by : Steven Heine

Download or read book Bargainin' for Salvation written by Steven Heine and published by Continuum. This book was released on 2009-05 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Throughout his various stages, Dylan's work reveals an affinity with the Zen worldview, where enlightenment can be attained through self-contemplation and intuition rather than through faith and devotion. Much has been made of Dylan's Christian periods, but never before has a book engaged Dylan's deep and rich oeuvre through a Buddhist lens."--Back cover.

Returning to Silence

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Publisher : Shambhala Publications
ISBN 13 : 0834841002
Total Pages : 208 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (348 download)

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Book Synopsis Returning to Silence by : Dainin Katagiri

Download or read book Returning to Silence written by Dainin Katagiri and published by Shambhala Publications. This book was released on 2017-10-24 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For twenty-five hundred years Buddhism has taught that everyone is Buddha—already enlightened, lacking nothing. But still there is the question of how we can experience that truth in our lives. In this book, Dainin Katagiri points to the manifestation of enlightenment right here, right now, in our everyday routine. Genuineness of practice lies in "just living" our lives wholeheartedly. The Zen practice of sitting meditation (zazen) is this not a means to an end but is the activity of enlightenment itself. That is why Katagiri Roshi says, "Don't expect enlightenment—just sit down!" Based on the author's talks to his American students, Returning to Silence contains the basic teachings of the Buddha, with special emphasis on the meaning of faith and on meditation. It also offers a commentary on "The Bodhisattva's Four Methods of Guidance" from Dogen Zenji's Shobogenzo, which speaks in depth about the appropriate actions of those who guide others in the practice of the Buddha Way. Throughout these pages, Katagiri Roshi energetically brings to life the message that "Buddha is your daily life."

The Light Inside the Dark

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Author :
Publisher : Harper Collins
ISBN 13 : 0060931116
Total Pages : 280 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (69 download)

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Book Synopsis The Light Inside the Dark by : John Tarrant

Download or read book The Light Inside the Dark written by John Tarrant and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 1999-11-03 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this landmark guide to the spiritual journey, respected Zen teacher and psychotherapist John Tarrant brings together ancient Eastern traditions and the Western passion for the soul. Using real-life stories, Zen tales, and Greek myths, The Light Inside the Dark shows how our darkest experiences can be the gates to wisdom and joy. Tarrant leads us through the inevitable descents of our journey--from the everyday world of work and family into the treasure cave of the interior life--from which we return with greater love of life's vivid, common gifts. Written with empathy and a poet's skill, The Light Inside the Dark is the freshest and most challenging work on the soul to he published in years.

Tibetan Zen

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Publisher : Shambhala Publications
ISBN 13 : 0834802848
Total Pages : 176 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (348 download)

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Book Synopsis Tibetan Zen by : Sam van Schaik

Download or read book Tibetan Zen written by Sam van Schaik and published by Shambhala Publications. This book was released on 2015-08-25 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Until the early twentieth century, hardly any traces of the Tibetan tradition of Chinese Chan Buddhism, or Zen, remained. Then the discovery of a sealed cave in Dunhuang, full of manuscripts in various languages dating from the first millennium CE, transformed our understanding of early Zen. This book translates some of the earliest surviving Tibetan Zen manuscripts preserved in Dunhuang. The translations illuminate different aspects of the Zen tradition, with brief introductions that not only discuss the roles of ritual, debate, lineage, and meditation in the early Zen tradition but also explain how these texts were embedded in actual practices.

Stopping and Seeing

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Author :
Publisher : Shambhala Publications
ISBN 13 : 0834829398
Total Pages : 224 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (348 download)

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Book Synopsis Stopping and Seeing by :

Download or read book Stopping and Seeing written by and published by Shambhala Publications. This book was released on 1997-03-25 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Stopping" and "seeing" are sometimes referred to as the yin and yang of Buddhist meditation—complementary twin halves of a unified whole. In essence, "stopping and seeing" refers to stopping delusion and seeing truth, processes back to basic Buddhist practice. One of the most comprehensive manuals written on these two essential points of Buddhist meditation is "The Great Stopping and Seeing," a monumental work written by sixth-century Buddhist master Chih-i. Stopping and Seeing, the first translation of this essential text, covers the principles and methods of a wide variety of Buddhist meditation techniques and provides an in-depth presentation of the dynamics of these practices.

Zen Life

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Author :
Publisher : National Geographic Books
ISBN 13 : 0834802139
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (348 download)

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Book Synopsis Zen Life by : Masao Abe

Download or read book Zen Life written by Masao Abe and published by National Geographic Books. This book was released on 1995-03-01 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki was a remarkable man. Throughout his long life he worked untiringly to bring the message of Zen, and Buddhism in general, to the West, and his reputation as a scholar and gifted teacher was internationally recognized. Above and beyond his scholarship, however, Suzuki touched in some special way everyone who met him. He embodied the satori—awakening—that he had experienced while still a young man studying with his own Zen master; his simplicity in the midst of complexity and his utter lack of intellectual snobbery combined to create an extraordinary impression of warmth, yet quiet authority. And indeed, he touched the lives of many—from theologians and philosophers to psychologists, poets, musicians, and artists the world over; thinkers as diverse as Thomas Merton, Paul Tillich, Carl Jung, Erich Fromm, Dr. Hu Shi, Allen Ginsberg, and Bernard Leach—to name a few. A Zen Life: D. T. Suzuki Remembered is a heartfelt tribute to this man. A very personal collection of essays, it provides an intimate view of what Suzuki meant to those who knew him. In the present volume Masao Abe, in collaboration with photographer Francis Haar, brings together some of the many accolades paid to Dr. Suzuki after his death in 1966. Several contributions were written especially for this volume, or appear here for the first time in English; these include the reminiscences of Mihoko Okamura, Suzuki's assistant and traveling companion for many years, as well as autobiographical essays of great interest by Suzuki. Most important, all the pieces, old and new, are now available in this volume for the broader reading public Suzuki deserves. In all the contributions one thing shines through—the sheer presence of D. T. Suzuki. Francis Haar's sensitive photographic portraits, counterpoised to the text, make this book one to treasure if you are already acquainted with Suzuki's life and work and a wonderful place to start, if you are not.

The Hidden Lamp

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Author :
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1614291330
Total Pages : 440 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (142 download)

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Book Synopsis The Hidden Lamp by : Zenshin Florence Caplow

Download or read book The Hidden Lamp written by Zenshin Florence Caplow and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2013-10-21 with total page 440 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Hidden Lamp is a collection of one hundred koans and stories of Buddhist women from the time of the Buddha to the present day. This revolutionary book brings together many teaching stories that were hidden for centuries, unknown until this volume. These stories are extraordinary expressions of freedom and fearlessness, relevant for men and women of any time or place. In these pages we meet nuns, laywomen practicing with their families, famous teachers honored by emperors, and old women selling tea on the side of the road. Each story is accompanied by a reflection by a contemporary woman teacher--personal responses that help bring the old stories alive for readers today--and concluded by a final meditation for the reader, a question from the editors meant to spark further rumination and inquiry. These are the voices of the women ancestors of every contemporary Buddhist.

The Falling Sky

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Author :
Publisher : Harvard University Press
ISBN 13 : 0674293576
Total Pages : 649 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (742 download)

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Book Synopsis The Falling Sky by : Davi Kopenawa

Download or read book The Falling Sky written by Davi Kopenawa and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2023-01-31 with total page 649 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The 10th anniversary edition A Guardian Best Book about Deforestation A New Scientist Best Book of the Year A Taipei Times Best Book of the Year “A perfectly grounded account of what it is like to live an indigenous life in communion with one’s personal spirits. We are losing worlds upon worlds.” —Louise Erdrich, New York Times Book Review “The Yanomami of the Amazon, like all the indigenous peoples of the Americas and Australia, have experienced the end of what was once their world. Yet they have survived and somehow succeeded in making sense of a wounded existence. They have a lot to teach us.” —Amitav Ghosh, The Guardian “A literary treasure...a must for anyone who wants to understand more of the diverse beauty and wonder of existence.” —New Scientist A now classic account of the life and thought of Davi Kopenawa, shaman and spokesman for the Yanomami, The Falling Sky paints an unforgettable picture of an indigenous culture living in harmony with the Amazon forest and its creatures, and its devastating encounter with the global mining industry. In richly evocative language, Kopenawa recounts his initiation as a shaman and first experience of outsiders: missionaries, cattle ranchers, government officials, and gold prospectors seeking to extract the riches of the Amazon. A coming-of-age story entwined with a rare first-person articulation of shamanic philosophy, this impassioned plea to respect indigenous peoples’ rights is a powerful rebuke to the accelerating depredation of the Amazon and other natural treasures threatened by climate change and development.