If we were to simply walk past the fires of racism, sexism, and so on, because illusions of separation exist within them, we may well be walking past the widest gateways to enlightenment. …We're always thinking enlightenment is somewhere else, but it's through your body, it's through your life experience. And it’s a misinterpretation to suppose that attending to the fires of our existence cannot lead us to experience the waters of peace. Spiritual awakening arises from our ordinary lives, our everyday struggles with ourselves and each other. The lived experience is the gateway to freedom.
Zenju Earthlyn Manuel, PhD
Guest Teacher
Osho Zenju Earthlyn Manuel, born to parents who migrated from rural Louisiana at the start of WWII, has walked through many different doors spiritually and academically. She was ordained in the Suzuki Roshi lineage. She has a PhD and she’s also a poet and author. Essentially, she’s a Seer in which she has woven herself into various frameworks to ultimately bring forth her visionary work. Zenju has embraced the active role of Seer, in watching for obstacles to awareness, despite the loss of such a role in the American culture. Her transmissions come through her books Opening to Darkness: Eight Gateways for Being with the Absence of Light in Unsettling Times, The Shamanic Bones of Zen, The Deepest Peace, Sanctuary, The Way of Tenderness, and the Black Angel Cards: 36 Oracles and Messages, her first visionary experience. She also teaches from her experience of African and Native American indigenous ceremony and her own awakening on the intersection of spirituality and systemic oppression.
Dharma Library
Can't join us live online or on the land? Study and practice at your convenience with Zenju Earthlyn Manuel through our new library of recordings, articles, and self-paced online courses.