All Life Is Poetry brings together the poetry of poets, known and unknown, modern and ancient, who teach us about who we are, where we live and what we see. Contemplative. Profound. Healing. Join poet and Zen priest, Zenju Earthlyn Manuel reading and discussing poetry the last Sunday of every month. Subscribe to the Newsletter for notices on future episodes
Episode One
The Hill We Climb by Amanda Gorman
Transcript-Ep. 1 – Amanda Gorman
VIDEOS
Coming
RECORDINGS
A Conversation with Zenju Earthlyn Manuel and Kaishin Unique Holland on The Deepest Peace at Barre Center for Buddhist Studies
[More to come – keep an eye out here}
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.
This book was compiled by Zenju Earthlyn Manuel, a Dharma heir of Zenkei Blanche Hartman. It was completed while the Roshi’s life was coming to a close. Zenju Sensei says, “It was a profound experience to receive transmission by listening to the many talks and compliing them so that her teacher’s voice remained in the world.”
Purchase at your favorite bookstore.
Click photo for essay
Click Photo Below for Essay by Zenju Earthlyn Manuel
A beautiful glimpse into the daily practice of a modern contemplative, The Deepest Peace reveals poetic moments of stunning clarity from the eyes of a Zen priest. Through silence, stillness, and practice, Zenju Earthlyn Manuel transmits how it is possible to cultivate and experience peace.
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 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.
“There is a peace that appears without effort. Like the desert filling up your eyes. It appears like snow, wind or rain. The simple willingness to be close to the earth will open ground for the deepest peace. It arrives on its own if we let.”- from The Deepest Peace
