"What if our deluded minds aren’t a barrier to enlightenment at all?" asks Zenju Earthlyn Manuel. "What if they are the very path to it?" If your inability to cut off ceaseless thought has ever left you feeling hopeless or inadequate, you’re not alone. Anyone who has practiced earnestly for any length of time has likely wrestled with the thinking mind, motivated by a [...]
Sweeping My Heart
When Zenju Earthlyn Manuel was assigned to clean the Zen temple, she felt generations of oppression rise in her. Conversing with her ancestors about what this work really meant helped her see how it could be healing. Zen practice is a return to the ordinary. It is only in the secular world that Zen is perceived by some as a high and holy practice. The robes are seen as [...]
On Awakening Through Race, Sexuality, and Gender
I was hungry when I attended my first Nichiren Buddhist meeting in 1988. I mean that literally. I wanted to go out to eat at a restaurant with two friends of mine, but they insisted that I first attend a Buddhist meeting with them that evening before we ate. With some irritation and a good deal of resistance I sat through the meeting with the group as they [...]
