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

How to experience peace in troubled times was my odyssey for this new book of poetry and prose. We will always have to tend with the human condition. The words are meant to create an experience of meditation rather than impose teachings. Read an excerpt at zenju.org
 
“Reading Zenju’s book is a profound meditation in itself. Exquisitely crafted and perfectly paced – you will feel your whole being calming down, responding with layered grace to the rich gifts offered here.”
Naomi Shihab Nye, Young People’s Poet Laureate
 

 

“Solitude, silence, darkness, the warmth and chill of the earth, the ancientness of time held in the arms of the ancestors … such is the atmosphere of Zenju Earthlyn Manuel’s new book…..
Norman Fischer, Zen priest, poet, and author of The World Could Be Otherwise: Imagination and The Bodhisattva Path
 

Order at Bookshop.org, Amazon.com or Parallax.org.