"The Shamanic Bones of Zen"

In The Shamanic Bones of Zen: Revealing the Ancestral Spirit and Mystical Heart of a Sacred Tradition, 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.

Manuel is an ordained Zen Buddhist priest who previously led the Kasai River Healing Sangha in Oakland and now lives in New Mexico where she leads the Still Breathing Zen Sangha. For many years Manuel has also practiced singing, drumming and ceremonies from a variety of Indigenous traditions including Caribbean, Native American Lakota and Vodou from Dahomey, Africa. She writes, "I wondered: if the shamanic bones or Indigenous roots that were suppressed in the rising of Buddhism were unearthed, would the practice make more sense to practitioners, especially to black, Indigenous and people of color?"

Manuel speaks in deeply personal rather than theoretical terms about the underlying shamanic reality of Zen practice. Such awareness is crucial for the development of contemporary Western Zen. 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. The Shamanic Bones of Zen will turn your conception of Zen inside out.

Return of the Sacred Feminine

"The world will be saved by Western Women." --Dalai Lama
 

We live in an age of accelerated change and transformation. It is a head-spinning, anxiety-inducing time. We see severe climate change, devastating oil spills, species dying off, and a deadly global pandemic that has affected everything and everyone. We find corruption and stagnation in business, politics and religions around the world. We see worldwide systemic racism, inequality and oppression. We see mass social delusion, extremism and a plethora of misinformation and unfounded conspiracy theories. We witness fear, anger and hopelessness in our communities.

 

None of the countless issues we face on this planet today can be resolved by our current masculine, left-brain analytical thinking. A functioning, sustainable whole requires the feminine and the masculine to be integrated within the individual and within humanity as a whole, and we are increasingly aware of the dysfunctional results of millennia of human development based almost solely on patriarchal, masculine value systems. The patriarchy has now reached a toxic degenerate phase. After the leak of the Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito opinion that will most likely overturn Roe v. Wade, we see the true patriarchal hatred of, contempt for, and prejudice against women. With autocrats like Vladimir Putin, we see the twisted rage of the male ego, which turns cruel and psychopathic, given unlimited power over others.
 

The feminine wasn't always subordinate to the masculine. According to world mythology, it was the Earth, Nature herself, who provided our oldest ancestral forefathers and mothers with the concept of the Great Mother and with a value system based on Nature's ways and cycles. The Great Mother was a symbol of life itself, for all life emerged from her womb. She sustained all of life through the nourishment she provided, and all living things returned to her upon death. Therefore, the Great Mother was seen as the life-giving, nurturing, creative and intuitive force. 
 

The feminine principle stems in its origins from this nature-based concept, as the female body exhibits the same patterns and cycles as nature. Consequently, the feminine was seen as the life-giving, nurturing, sustaining and life-embracing force, the creative vessel of life that contained, birthed, nurtured and protected. Not surprising, then, that ancient people respected the feminine. The power of the feminine as a calm receptive energy is the key to bringing balance to the world's excessively masculine state -- in other words, aggressive, extroverted, loud, superficial, materialistic, ego-driven culture.

Meeting My Spirit Guide

An excerpt from my new book, Shamanic Journeys: An Anthology.
 

My journey into shamanism began in 1988 when I learned how to take a shamanic journey. Learning to journey is the first step in becoming a shamanic practitioner. Once I learned to journey, my shamanic training began. I sought out and met my spirit helpers and guardian spirit. I made friends with the spirits of Nature. I communed with the archetypal realms of the collective soul. The spirit world became my classroom, and the spirits became my teachers. My first powerful journeys took place outside in the wild, immersed in the natural world. They were transcendent flights of the soul that I shall never forget.
 

I remember riding my bicycle through the forest one summer day when a monarch butterfly flew directly into my path. The butterfly is an archetypal symbol of transformation, transmutation and the human soul in world mythology and religion. Virtually all cultures have marveled at the process that transforms a caterpillar into a fluttering butterfly. When I encounter one of these remarkable beings, I stop and observe them carefully. I have learned to trust these endearing spirit guides. I once had the soul of a deceased relative appear to me as a butterfly on the day that she passed away. The butterfly landed on my nose while I was hiking that day. I felt her presence and knew that she was with me. Butterflies have brought me messages from my ancestors and guided me to specific places of power in the web of life on many occasions.
 

The monarch butterfly fluttered across the road in front of my bicycle and into the pine forest. I felt the urge to follow it. Over the years, I have learned to trust my intuition and follow my inner urges. This is a common form of communication and instruction by helping spirits.
 

I got off my bike and pursued the butterfly into the woods on foot. When it paused or changed directions so did I. If I lost sight of it, the monarch would soon reappear. Eventually, the butterfly led me to an area of disturbed soil under the forest canopy. I found several badger burrows dug into the sandy pumice soil. Badger is a spirit helper who connects us to our inner knowing and helps us see below the surface of things. The energy felt different here. There was an electrical tingle in my hands and scalp. I knew instantly that this was a power place for me -- a place to journey.
 

I returned the next day on my bike, bringing a Walkman cassette player and headphones so I could journey listening to the sound of drumming. I also brought a voice activated micro-cassette recorder so that I could narrate and record my journey as it transpired. This can be distracting at first, but it is one of the best ways I know to make sure you are getting all the information your helping spirits are giving you. On my first journey sitting near the entrance to a badger den, I encountered some very influential teachers.

The drumbeats carry me away on the wings of an eagle. I soar high over South Sister (a volcanic peak in the Central Oregon Cascades) and then dive into a cave on her south flank. Clear quartz crystals shimmer from the walls, floor and ceiling. I transform into a man and follow a narrow path through the crystal cave. The path leads me through a labyrinth of twists and turns until the cave ends abruptly in a wall of crystals. A small portal appears in the wall and sucks my awareness into a dark tunnel. I spiral downward and come out of the tunnel onto the rim of a red mesa. I see a pueblo below me at the base of the mesa. I hear drumming and chanting and see many dancers.

Suddenly, I become one of the dancers. I gaze at the man who plays the booming drum. He wears a ceremonial kilt, sash and red headband. He smiles at me and chants loudly. At the sound of his voice, I transform into a golden eagle and take flight. I circle the pueblo and then glide over the desert. I soar towards the sun high above the Earth. I see the Earth below transform into a beautiful crystal globe. I fold my wings and plunge to the Earth below. I fly across the desert to the ruins of an ancestral Puebloan cliff dwelling built high in the alcove of a towering sandstone cliff. I fly into a doorway and transform once again into a man. 

 

I look at the floor of the room and see the white bones of a human skeleton. The skeleton rises, transforming into a beautiful Pueblo woman wearing a royal blue shawl and a radiant white knee-length manta-dress embroidered with corn designs. Her black hair is styled in a traditional butterfly whorl. She wears white buckskin moccasins and a woven red sash around her waist. She walks toward me and gently caresses my cheek with her hand. She smiles and says, "I am your guide."  

 

I clasp her outstretched hand and we both transform into golden eagles. We fly away from the cliff dwelling and soar high above the desert. As the sun begins to set on the horizon, we separate and I return rapidly to the red mesa above the pueblo. I enter a small portal in the top of the mesa and retrace the passage back to my body.

The spirit guide I encountered in the preceding journey became my mentor in the ways of the spirit world. Known as Corn Woman or Corn Mother, she is an important deity archetype in Pueblo mythology. She represents fertility, life and the feminine aspects of this world. The importance of corn deities in Pueblo mythology reflects the importance of corn in the Pueblo diet. Each pueblo performs a ritual Corn Dance to honor Corn Woman and pray for rain, growth and fertility. A drummer and a chorus of chanting men support the lines of colorful dancers who move in a continually changing zigzag pattern. The dancers make gestures to indicate their requests to Corn Woman: lowering the arms depicts the lowering clouds, moving the arms in a zigzag motion denotes lightning, lowering the palms signifies rain, and lifting the hands symbolizes the growing stalks of corn.
 

The drummer I met in my spirit journey later manifested as a human guide in the physical world. Like the drummer in my journey, he wore a red bandana around his forehead and carried a drum. The shaman's name is Jade Grigori, and he mentored me in shamanic drumming.