Sep 21, 2016
2016 Mindfulness Retreat for People of Color
Dear Friends,
We are happy to continue sharing the Dharma talks from The Path of
True Love: Healing Ourselves, our recent mindfulness retreat for
People of Color.
Rev. Zenju Earthlyn Manuel begins her talk by reflecting on her
early encounter with Zen as a person of color. Rev. Zenju refers to
people of color meditation groups as "cultural sanctuaries" and
responds to the perceptions of these spaces as "exclusionary" and
counter to "oneness." Rev. Zenju also presents the teachings
on store consciousness and the direct experience of transformation
when seeds arise.
Rev. Zenju also reads selections from her latest work, The Way of
Tenderness: Awakening Through Race, Sexuality, and Gender.
A few excerpts Rev. Zenju's talk:
We as people of color have specific spiritual work to contend
with, and the term "people of color" suggests that work rather than
the idea of separation based on skin color for the sake of harming
those who are white---that is not the intention.
***
The civil rights movement...it wasn't about us being able to
sit at the counter in Newberry's to eat hamburgers...it wasn't
just that. It was about love, creating love and seeing people
as people and creating love and to rid ourselves of a consciousness
of hatred. That's what that movement was about. Of course, we
took some of the gifts that came out of that movement, the civil
rights movement, but at the same time, it was still misunderstood
that it was for one particular group of people when it was for the
entire humanity.
***
My embodiment was exactly where the awakening was going to
happen. Where else was it going to happen? It wasn't going to drop
from the sky. I've been given a gift about who I am, all that I
have experienced so that I can awaken to something much larger than
that, much further than that---and still have that...When I began
to see this is my gateway...I felt I needed to share with people
that we already have what we need to head toward enlightenment or
to engage it, to engage oneness. I can engage oneness because
I am here, the oneness that is right here...When I began to see
this embodiment was the gateway to boundlessness, I began to walk
it differently--not where it was something that burdened me, but
something that could be used...
--Rev. Zenju Earthlyn Manuel
Let us now stop, listen deeply and contemplate these teachings and
sharings to cultivate our individual and collective healing and
awakening.
To stay connected with Rev. Zenju, visit http://zenju.org/.