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Dreaming Me: Black, Baptist, and Buddhist--One Woman's Spiritual Journey
Jan Willis is not Baptist or Buddhist. She is simply both. Dreaming Me is the story of her life, as a child growing up in the Jim Crow South, dealing with racism in an Ivy League college, and becoming involved with the Black Panther Party. But it wasn't until meeting Lama Yeshe, a Tibetan Buddhist monk living in the mountains of Nepal, that she realized who the real Jan Willis was, and how to make the most of the life she was living.
384 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2008
21 people are currently reading
333 people want to read
About the author
Jan Willis
10 books6 followersJanice Dean Willis, or Jan Willis is Professor of Religion at Wesleyan University, where she has taught since 1977; and the author of books on Tibetan Buddhism. She has been called influential by Time Magazine, Newsweek, and Ebony Magazine.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
January 8, 2019
I'm so happy to have read this grounded memoir of a spiritual person who pays/paid attention to politics and wrestled both with her own demons and thoughts about how best to contribute to humanity and her more particular community.
June 15, 2024
A WONDERFUL BOOK RECOUNTING HER JOURNEY TO BEING A “BAPTIST-BUDDHIST”
Janice Dean Willis is Professor of Religion at Wesleyan University, where she has taught since 1977. She wrote in the introductory section of this 2001 book, “I am a black woman from the South who teaches Tibetan Buddhism in a mostly white elite college in the northeast. I have come a long way since leaving home. It has had its costs.”
She recounts, “When I went to Cornell as a freshman in 1965… there were almost 250 African students there, studying mostly in the graduate schools… there were only 8 of us home-grown blacks, and we quickly found each other… Like me, the boys had all been drawn from the Southern states… the course I found the most challenging—and the most fun---was the philosophy course. That year, the philosophy department had a visiting philosopher named A.L. Stewart from England… what Stewart presented was a detailed investigation of Wittgenstein’s ‘The Blue and Brown Books.’ I was immediately drawn to Wittgenstein’s thought… It was Wittgenstein’s METHOD of teaching that so intrigued me… Cambridge administrators … let him teach his courses in a little hut. Wittgenstein would sit next to the window… and simply think aloud while his students scribbled furiously to record his words… Here, I thought, was a serious philosopher, one thoroughly committed to the search for truth… I decided to become a philosophy major.” (Pg. 80-81)
She and other students visited Nepal (a major site of Tibetan Buddhism) during college. She recalls, “I had already made up my mind to return to Nepal after leaving Cornell when I picked up a copy of Time magazine and read the story about Fred Hampton’s tragic death… During the summer and early fall of 1969, I had had to make the most important decision of my life: whether to join the Black Panther party or return to the Tibetan Buddhist monastery in Nepal… I was convinced that as a thinking black person in this country, I was left no choice but to join the party; to lay my life on the line for my beliefs and for my people’s freedom. Making the choice troubled my every waking moment and invaded my nights.” (Pg. 124)
She explains, “Amid the revolutionary timbre of the times, I was tossed and pushed along, it seemed inevitably, toward guns and violence. But then, just before taking that fatal step… My whole being---mind, body, and soul---bolted. And even though doing so made me feel like a coward and chickenshit deserter, I had to turn away from it… I decided not to meet with the Panthers. I didn’t know where the path of Buddhism would ultimately take me, but it seemed to offer at least the possibility of a peaceful transformation. I told myself that it offered the best opportunity for clarity---about personal as well as political strategies… I felt calmer that I had in months… I would go back to Nepal.” (Pg. 128-129)
At the monastery in Nepal, she once had a strong argument with two friends; but the Lama told her, “You ARE friends, and friends for life. More important, you three are … Dharma sisters and brothers… Sometimes, when anger rises up so forcefully, it’s good to say to yourself, ‘Buddha’s mind is angry today.’ Because of the way he told me this, as though it were a secret teaching just between the two of us, I listened. The suggestion that MY mind, even filled with anger, was also the Buddha’s mind brought a big smile to my face. My body began to release its tension… I was never able to look at myself the same way again. And of course, I went to town with my two best friends.” (Pg. 157-158)
Later, she recollects, “Lama Yeshe knew a great deal about me… He knew that I prized wisdom over compassion, not seeing that both qualities were essential requisites in any true teacher. He knew that my seeming arrogance was only the flip side of my low self-esteem, and that low self-esteem was my deepest and oldest wound. He also knew that I was intelligent and determined… I realized then how difficult it must have been for this kind teacher to feign anger toward me, or toward any living creature for that matter. I fell forward on the tiny floor… sobbing full-force. I asked for his forgiveness. He had seen into my heart and soul. It struck me that such wisdom and compassion are truly inconceivable. And I knew---from the moment---that I could trust Lama Yeshe to be my teacher and my guide.” (Pg. 164)
After she became a professor, she notes that “Over the years, many of my students at Wesleyan have asked me how. or why. I came to be so involved with Tibetan Buddhism… But honestly I don’t have a clue… as to why a black American woman in the late sixties came to be so enamored of and so readily accepted by Tibetan Buddhist refugees living in India and Nepal, that question is deep and perhaps ultimately unfathomable. Now, what is interesting and also true is that Tibetans seems to have no problem with the question at all. Without ever asking them, they have eagerly, and often reverentially, explained to me that, in a former life, I was a Tibetan. And more than that, I was instrumental in helping to establish Buddhism in Tibet.” (Pg. 174)
She details her encounter with the Dalai Lama: “I asked, ‘Given that we have taken bodhisattva vows, Your Holiness, what are we to do it… we find ourselves in a position where we too are facing policemen or National Guardsmen who want to shoot us?’ … [This] brought up again for me my old dilemma about violence versus peace… Though I had chosen to turn away from violence, I was still concerned about becoming too passive. I knew that the Dalai Lama himself had had to face similar issues when his own country was violently invaded by the Chinese… he advised us as follows: ‘You have now entered upon the Mahayana path… The Mahayanist… works for the benefit of beings… your first duty… is to practice patience. You are meditating to gain clarity. You must have clarity in order to act appropriately… if you are certain that there is no other alternative… what you must do is this: First, you must think lovingly and with compassion about the policeman. If you think or call him a pig, then you must let him shoot you! But if you can wish him well, and pray for his future happy rebirth, then of course, you stop him from harming the others. You stop him by any means necessary… When I came out of Tibet, many Khampas with guns accompanied me… They wanted my safety…. Many monks too in Tibet took up guns to fight the Chinese. But when they came here, I made them monks again. You should not believe that the Mahayana asks you to think of beings’ welfare only in some future time. You should try as much as possible to help in the here and now.” (Pg. 181-182)
She explains, “The heart of tantric Buddhism is transformation, the idea that we can change our ordinary negative patterns of seeing and feeling into positive ones. And the method employed to bring about such a transformation is nothing other than visualization, in this case, deity-yoga. Buddhism’s great pantheon of deities, however, is often misunderstood. It appears to some that the Buddhist tradition is advocating the worship of numerous external gods. This is not the case. The deities of tantric Buddhism are none other than the projections of our own innermost selves. Each represents an aspect, or specific quality, of our own enlightened mind---whether compassion, wisdom, tireless beneficial activity, fierce service to others, or universal love.” (Pg. 207-208)
She observes, “During the early days of my meditation… I found my sense of vision in particular to be greatly enhanced. I began to take special notice of the birds… I found that relaxing with the birds was a joy beyond measure. Wasn’t this the same bliss the Christian mystics had spoken of? For the first time, I felt I had some understanding of the great joy and peace that St. Francis enjoyed with God’s creatures. This kind of peacefulness was not limited to Buddhism.” (Pg. 220-221)
One Sunday, she accepted her father’s invitation to attend his church, and she wrote, “I had not attended a Baptist service in almost twenty years. Except for the chapel at Wesleyan, I’d not set foot inside any church… I’d rejected the whole of Christianity as the white man’s way of subjugating all blacks and of denigrating our African cultural and spiritual roots… I believed that it was one thing to say ‘Love your neighbor’ and quite another to know how to do that, especially in the South, where you grew up knowing that your white neighbor did not love, or even respect, you.” (Pg. 270-271)
But after hearing the sermon, she reflected, “I was amazed at how similar so much of it sounded to what I knew from Buddhism… The teachings… were about overcoming suffering, about patience, strength, and the cultivation of true love. And they were delivered with compassion… The message was universal: ‘Practice patience. Think of others always with compassion, and as for yourself, count your blessings. Give up everything to hear that still, small voice.’ I liked very much what I had heard that morning and what I had, myself, experienced… I knew that at this point in my life, this was the right place to be. In this black Baptist sanctuary I, an African American Buddhist, had come home.” (Pg. 274-275)
She summarizes, “I call myself a ‘Baptist-Buddhist’ not to be cute or witty. I call myself a ‘Baptist-Buddhist’ because it is an honest description of who I feel I am.” (Pg. 310)
This marvelous book will be “must reading” for anyone (not only Buddhists, or African-Americans) interested in modern spiritual journeys.
Janice Dean Willis is Professor of Religion at Wesleyan University, where she has taught since 1977. She wrote in the introductory section of this 2001 book, “I am a black woman from the South who teaches Tibetan Buddhism in a mostly white elite college in the northeast. I have come a long way since leaving home. It has had its costs.”
She recounts, “When I went to Cornell as a freshman in 1965… there were almost 250 African students there, studying mostly in the graduate schools… there were only 8 of us home-grown blacks, and we quickly found each other… Like me, the boys had all been drawn from the Southern states… the course I found the most challenging—and the most fun---was the philosophy course. That year, the philosophy department had a visiting philosopher named A.L. Stewart from England… what Stewart presented was a detailed investigation of Wittgenstein’s ‘The Blue and Brown Books.’ I was immediately drawn to Wittgenstein’s thought… It was Wittgenstein’s METHOD of teaching that so intrigued me… Cambridge administrators … let him teach his courses in a little hut. Wittgenstein would sit next to the window… and simply think aloud while his students scribbled furiously to record his words… Here, I thought, was a serious philosopher, one thoroughly committed to the search for truth… I decided to become a philosophy major.” (Pg. 80-81)
She and other students visited Nepal (a major site of Tibetan Buddhism) during college. She recalls, “I had already made up my mind to return to Nepal after leaving Cornell when I picked up a copy of Time magazine and read the story about Fred Hampton’s tragic death… During the summer and early fall of 1969, I had had to make the most important decision of my life: whether to join the Black Panther party or return to the Tibetan Buddhist monastery in Nepal… I was convinced that as a thinking black person in this country, I was left no choice but to join the party; to lay my life on the line for my beliefs and for my people’s freedom. Making the choice troubled my every waking moment and invaded my nights.” (Pg. 124)
She explains, “Amid the revolutionary timbre of the times, I was tossed and pushed along, it seemed inevitably, toward guns and violence. But then, just before taking that fatal step… My whole being---mind, body, and soul---bolted. And even though doing so made me feel like a coward and chickenshit deserter, I had to turn away from it… I decided not to meet with the Panthers. I didn’t know where the path of Buddhism would ultimately take me, but it seemed to offer at least the possibility of a peaceful transformation. I told myself that it offered the best opportunity for clarity---about personal as well as political strategies… I felt calmer that I had in months… I would go back to Nepal.” (Pg. 128-129)
At the monastery in Nepal, she once had a strong argument with two friends; but the Lama told her, “You ARE friends, and friends for life. More important, you three are … Dharma sisters and brothers… Sometimes, when anger rises up so forcefully, it’s good to say to yourself, ‘Buddha’s mind is angry today.’ Because of the way he told me this, as though it were a secret teaching just between the two of us, I listened. The suggestion that MY mind, even filled with anger, was also the Buddha’s mind brought a big smile to my face. My body began to release its tension… I was never able to look at myself the same way again. And of course, I went to town with my two best friends.” (Pg. 157-158)
Later, she recollects, “Lama Yeshe knew a great deal about me… He knew that I prized wisdom over compassion, not seeing that both qualities were essential requisites in any true teacher. He knew that my seeming arrogance was only the flip side of my low self-esteem, and that low self-esteem was my deepest and oldest wound. He also knew that I was intelligent and determined… I realized then how difficult it must have been for this kind teacher to feign anger toward me, or toward any living creature for that matter. I fell forward on the tiny floor… sobbing full-force. I asked for his forgiveness. He had seen into my heart and soul. It struck me that such wisdom and compassion are truly inconceivable. And I knew---from the moment---that I could trust Lama Yeshe to be my teacher and my guide.” (Pg. 164)
After she became a professor, she notes that “Over the years, many of my students at Wesleyan have asked me how. or why. I came to be so involved with Tibetan Buddhism… But honestly I don’t have a clue… as to why a black American woman in the late sixties came to be so enamored of and so readily accepted by Tibetan Buddhist refugees living in India and Nepal, that question is deep and perhaps ultimately unfathomable. Now, what is interesting and also true is that Tibetans seems to have no problem with the question at all. Without ever asking them, they have eagerly, and often reverentially, explained to me that, in a former life, I was a Tibetan. And more than that, I was instrumental in helping to establish Buddhism in Tibet.” (Pg. 174)
She details her encounter with the Dalai Lama: “I asked, ‘Given that we have taken bodhisattva vows, Your Holiness, what are we to do it… we find ourselves in a position where we too are facing policemen or National Guardsmen who want to shoot us?’ … [This] brought up again for me my old dilemma about violence versus peace… Though I had chosen to turn away from violence, I was still concerned about becoming too passive. I knew that the Dalai Lama himself had had to face similar issues when his own country was violently invaded by the Chinese… he advised us as follows: ‘You have now entered upon the Mahayana path… The Mahayanist… works for the benefit of beings… your first duty… is to practice patience. You are meditating to gain clarity. You must have clarity in order to act appropriately… if you are certain that there is no other alternative… what you must do is this: First, you must think lovingly and with compassion about the policeman. If you think or call him a pig, then you must let him shoot you! But if you can wish him well, and pray for his future happy rebirth, then of course, you stop him from harming the others. You stop him by any means necessary… When I came out of Tibet, many Khampas with guns accompanied me… They wanted my safety…. Many monks too in Tibet took up guns to fight the Chinese. But when they came here, I made them monks again. You should not believe that the Mahayana asks you to think of beings’ welfare only in some future time. You should try as much as possible to help in the here and now.” (Pg. 181-182)
She explains, “The heart of tantric Buddhism is transformation, the idea that we can change our ordinary negative patterns of seeing and feeling into positive ones. And the method employed to bring about such a transformation is nothing other than visualization, in this case, deity-yoga. Buddhism’s great pantheon of deities, however, is often misunderstood. It appears to some that the Buddhist tradition is advocating the worship of numerous external gods. This is not the case. The deities of tantric Buddhism are none other than the projections of our own innermost selves. Each represents an aspect, or specific quality, of our own enlightened mind---whether compassion, wisdom, tireless beneficial activity, fierce service to others, or universal love.” (Pg. 207-208)
She observes, “During the early days of my meditation… I found my sense of vision in particular to be greatly enhanced. I began to take special notice of the birds… I found that relaxing with the birds was a joy beyond measure. Wasn’t this the same bliss the Christian mystics had spoken of? For the first time, I felt I had some understanding of the great joy and peace that St. Francis enjoyed with God’s creatures. This kind of peacefulness was not limited to Buddhism.” (Pg. 220-221)
One Sunday, she accepted her father’s invitation to attend his church, and she wrote, “I had not attended a Baptist service in almost twenty years. Except for the chapel at Wesleyan, I’d not set foot inside any church… I’d rejected the whole of Christianity as the white man’s way of subjugating all blacks and of denigrating our African cultural and spiritual roots… I believed that it was one thing to say ‘Love your neighbor’ and quite another to know how to do that, especially in the South, where you grew up knowing that your white neighbor did not love, or even respect, you.” (Pg. 270-271)
But after hearing the sermon, she reflected, “I was amazed at how similar so much of it sounded to what I knew from Buddhism… The teachings… were about overcoming suffering, about patience, strength, and the cultivation of true love. And they were delivered with compassion… The message was universal: ‘Practice patience. Think of others always with compassion, and as for yourself, count your blessings. Give up everything to hear that still, small voice.’ I liked very much what I had heard that morning and what I had, myself, experienced… I knew that at this point in my life, this was the right place to be. In this black Baptist sanctuary I, an African American Buddhist, had come home.” (Pg. 274-275)
She summarizes, “I call myself a ‘Baptist-Buddhist’ not to be cute or witty. I call myself a ‘Baptist-Buddhist’ because it is an honest description of who I feel I am.” (Pg. 310)
This marvelous book will be “must reading” for anyone (not only Buddhists, or African-Americans) interested in modern spiritual journeys.
Read
December 22, 2024Dreaming me is about a spiritual journey of a black woman, Jan Willis who learns to heal from the experiences 0f racism during her childhood in the Jim crow South and throughout her life with the practices of Tibetan Buddhism taught to her by Lama Yeshe.
A regular trope is the character with great intelligence but lacks self confidence. Jan takes a rather extraordinary route and with the wisdom of Lama Yeshe attacks this problem head on. A most fascinating exposition of the power of Buddhism. The man expertly identifies the cause of her suffering and shows her the way that she can heal from it.
This memoir echoes some of the same themes found in Alex Haley's autobiography of Malcom X wherein Malcom too documents a journey beginning with racism taking away a vital sense of personhood and the spiritual undertaking that restores it.
A regular trope is the character with great intelligence but lacks self confidence. Jan takes a rather extraordinary route and with the wisdom of Lama Yeshe attacks this problem head on. A most fascinating exposition of the power of Buddhism. The man expertly identifies the cause of her suffering and shows her the way that she can heal from it.
This memoir echoes some of the same themes found in Alex Haley's autobiography of Malcom X wherein Malcom too documents a journey beginning with racism taking away a vital sense of personhood and the spiritual undertaking that restores it.
May 20, 2023
A fascinating story of a fascinating person. I've read some of Willis's work in Buddhist philosophy, so it was interesting to read this autobiography that's as philosophically and religiously interesting as it is personally engaging. Most academics' lives are not all that interesting (a lot of reading and thinking and not much else), but Willis does all that while she explores her journey from growing up Black in rural Alabama in the 50's and 60's to college up north to India and Nepal to study Buddhism through a brief engagement with the Black Panthers and then a life in academia as a religious studies professor in the Northeast with some African American Baptist roots among her Tibetan Buddhist lessons. On that last point, I appreciated both her descriptions of a non dualist experience as well as her journeys back home as an adult. And it's all engaging and well-written, too (not a thing most academics spend much time cultivating)!
My blog review: https://examinedworlds.blogspot.com/2...
My blog review: https://examinedworlds.blogspot.com/2...
August 31, 2019
Dynamic
Jan Willis is someone that I identified with. Not being Black, some would scoff at this but I am Buddhist and a Lutheran. I was born shortly after her and watched in horror with my family at black degradation during the 50s and 60s. I saw the fight and was in awe of Black courage. We all suffer and I identified with Ms. Willis' pain and subsequent learning from Buddhism. She is a great teacher and author and I have greatly benefited from her story!
Jan Willis is someone that I identified with. Not being Black, some would scoff at this but I am Buddhist and a Lutheran. I was born shortly after her and watched in horror with my family at black degradation during the 50s and 60s. I saw the fight and was in awe of Black courage. We all suffer and I identified with Ms. Willis' pain and subsequent learning from Buddhism. She is a great teacher and author and I have greatly benefited from her story!
September 8, 2023
The best book I've read in recent times. I don't think I've ever connected more with a book and it's author more than I have with this. As someone who's upbringing was shockingly similar to the author's, I've finally been able to put words to my thoughts around spirituality and existing as a Queer Black person in this word. Phenomenal writing and world building by Dr. Willis. This book couldn't have been better!
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April 10, 2023very interesting and inspirational
May 17, 2023
i think this is my favorite book ever?
November 1, 2024
incredible.
December 31, 2024
I read this for my Feminist Theology class. Really interesting integration of navigating a multireligious perspective.
March 11, 2024
How do we choose peace in a world that only respects violence?
March 3, 2009
Dreaming Me: Black, Baptist, and Buddhist is a beautifully written memoir in which Jan Willis charts her spiritual life’s journey towards self-love. An exceptionally gifted intellectual and a gentle soul by nature, Willis tells the story of having her self-worth consistently undermined by racism. She grew up in a Southern, Black rural town terrorized by the Klu Klux Klan, where she observed the “crippling effects” of the KKK on her community’s self-esteem. As a child, Willis’ mother referred to her intelligence as evil. Years later, even Willis’ full scholarship to an Ivy league college came with the cost of tokenization and criticism from her town. Willis’ spiritual path is a journey of self-acceptance and fulfilling her potential in spite of the oppressive effects of racism.
Her experiences of racial oppression in Docena, Alabama are vivid and disturbing. Her life’s story serves a reminder that some living African Americans carry these hateful memories with them today. Hers is a traumatic experience of racism many Americans would like to think of as an ancient history. This oppression spans from a girlhood memory of watching through the window as the Klan burns crosses in the nearest alleyway, to recent research on her family lineage, in which she speaks with a living local historian, a librarian who makes the cutting remark that Willis’ intellect is accounted for by a certain White male in her ancestry. Willis portrays racism as such a dominant force throughout her early life in particular, that when reading the book, I wondered when the focus on spirituality was going to kick in.
It comes during her undergraduate studies, starting when Willis spends a year living in India. She finds herself especially at home amongst the Tibetans there. After her study abroad, she and several friends travel to Nepal, where Willis stops to visit a Tibetan stupa. Willis meditates at the stupa, experiencing intense inner peace during her visit. A monk residing there invites Willis to stay and study at the temple. Though Willis returns back to college in the states to finish her undergraduate degree, she remembers her experience at the shrine and the monk’s invitation.
Upon graduation, Willis finds herself faced with the most difficult choice she would ever have to make: work for the Black Panther Party or return to the Tibetan monastery, the choice between, in Willis’ own words, "a 'piece' or peace?" Out of a commitment to following her own path, and with a university traveling scholarship from her Master's program, Willis returns to the stupa, where she spends a year dedicated to her spiritual practice. There she learns to live with both pride and humility, a challenge which, she remarks, is made additionally difficult for all African Americans due to the trauma of slavery.
She finds what she is seeking in Buddhism. Willis spends a year in Tibet living at a Buddhist monastery, and eventually goes on to teach Buddhist Studiesin order to give the gift of believing in oneself to others. Ultimately, as an adult, Willis settled into a life she chose for herself. She revisits her family, her hometown, and her father’s Baptist church. Having come full-circle, Willis expands the concept of her spirituality identity to see herself as a Baptist-Buddhist.
I found Jan Willis’ story astonishing, in part due to the opportunities which open to her at pivotal moments in her life. Looking back on her life’s accomplishments, receiving the praise of her students and her spiritual guide, Lama Yeshe, upon her teachings in the classroom, Willis recognizes that she has always had a lioness spirit, longing to really roar. This book is a powerful and vulnerable telling of a phenomenal woman’s life. Neither Black, Baptist, nor Buddhist, I found this autobiography beautiful and enlightening. I imagine that for readers who can more closely identify with Jan Willis’ experience, Dreaming Me offers a model of profound hope and inspiration.
Review by Kathryn Berg
Her experiences of racial oppression in Docena, Alabama are vivid and disturbing. Her life’s story serves a reminder that some living African Americans carry these hateful memories with them today. Hers is a traumatic experience of racism many Americans would like to think of as an ancient history. This oppression spans from a girlhood memory of watching through the window as the Klan burns crosses in the nearest alleyway, to recent research on her family lineage, in which she speaks with a living local historian, a librarian who makes the cutting remark that Willis’ intellect is accounted for by a certain White male in her ancestry. Willis portrays racism as such a dominant force throughout her early life in particular, that when reading the book, I wondered when the focus on spirituality was going to kick in.
It comes during her undergraduate studies, starting when Willis spends a year living in India. She finds herself especially at home amongst the Tibetans there. After her study abroad, she and several friends travel to Nepal, where Willis stops to visit a Tibetan stupa. Willis meditates at the stupa, experiencing intense inner peace during her visit. A monk residing there invites Willis to stay and study at the temple. Though Willis returns back to college in the states to finish her undergraduate degree, she remembers her experience at the shrine and the monk’s invitation.
Upon graduation, Willis finds herself faced with the most difficult choice she would ever have to make: work for the Black Panther Party or return to the Tibetan monastery, the choice between, in Willis’ own words, "a 'piece' or peace?" Out of a commitment to following her own path, and with a university traveling scholarship from her Master's program, Willis returns to the stupa, where she spends a year dedicated to her spiritual practice. There she learns to live with both pride and humility, a challenge which, she remarks, is made additionally difficult for all African Americans due to the trauma of slavery.
She finds what she is seeking in Buddhism. Willis spends a year in Tibet living at a Buddhist monastery, and eventually goes on to teach Buddhist Studiesin order to give the gift of believing in oneself to others. Ultimately, as an adult, Willis settled into a life she chose for herself. She revisits her family, her hometown, and her father’s Baptist church. Having come full-circle, Willis expands the concept of her spirituality identity to see herself as a Baptist-Buddhist.
I found Jan Willis’ story astonishing, in part due to the opportunities which open to her at pivotal moments in her life. Looking back on her life’s accomplishments, receiving the praise of her students and her spiritual guide, Lama Yeshe, upon her teachings in the classroom, Willis recognizes that she has always had a lioness spirit, longing to really roar. This book is a powerful and vulnerable telling of a phenomenal woman’s life. Neither Black, Baptist, nor Buddhist, I found this autobiography beautiful and enlightening. I imagine that for readers who can more closely identify with Jan Willis’ experience, Dreaming Me offers a model of profound hope and inspiration.
Review by Kathryn Berg
August 18, 2008
This was a beautiful book about one woman's path, from a childhood of discrimination (growing up Black in the south), to an ivy league education, a choice between joining the Black Panthers and Buddhism. I loved it
October 16, 2012
How does someone overcome the scars of growing black in the south?
July 7, 2013
A stunning, well-written memoir about an amazing woman!
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews