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The Shamanic Bones of Zen: Revealing the Ancestral Spirit and Mystical Heart of a Sacred Tradition
Conceived at the crossroads of Buddhism and indigenous earth-based practice, The Shamanic Bones of Zen explores the deep human traditions of transformation that are made possible by meditation, ceremony, ritual, dreams, and spiritual connection to one’s ancestry.
In The Shamanic Bones of Zen , 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.
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.
"I often felt my ancestors at ease with my practice of Zen. I felt they had led me through other traditions to this practice of ritual and ceremony,“ writes Manuel. ”The ancestors needed me to be still and breathe as they approached with what they had to offer my life.”
In The Shamanic Bones of Zen , 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.
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.
"I often felt my ancestors at ease with my practice of Zen. I felt they had led me through other traditions to this practice of ritual and ceremony,“ writes Manuel. ”The ancestors needed me to be still and breathe as they approached with what they had to offer my life.”
192 pages, Paperback
Published February 8, 2022
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397 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
February 14, 2022
Reviewing this book is going to have to come at a later time, as I feel like one needs to leave this space gently and let the experience distill through a course of integration as one does when coming out of retreat.
This was possibly one of the most meaningful books relating to any spiritual path that I've ever read. While it was centered in the ancestral intersection within shamanic practices and Zen Buddhism, Zenju's explorations always take us on a deeper journey and transmission.
So much richness in these pages. I'll return later to 'review' the work. For now, I'm just sitting quietly with a deep bow to her wisdom.
This was possibly one of the most meaningful books relating to any spiritual path that I've ever read. While it was centered in the ancestral intersection within shamanic practices and Zen Buddhism, Zenju's explorations always take us on a deeper journey and transmission.
So much richness in these pages. I'll return later to 'review' the work. For now, I'm just sitting quietly with a deep bow to her wisdom.
February 25, 2022
What an honour to be one of the first three reviewers for this beautiful and important book! As an immigrant, finding books in the West that talk about Buddhism as it is practiced in Asia is rare. This book is filled with stories, explanations, wisdom, and mystique. I already loved Zenju after Way of Tenderness, but this book is different. It brings Buddhism home to us. I heard it as an audio book. The narrator was different, but the chants were recited by Zenju. That felt lovely too. As a Dhamma practitioner writer, I learned a lot about stepping full throttle into my power with ease and humility. Fantastic! I will be revisiting it again and again.
February 25, 2022
I am not a Zen practitioner. I am a Tibetan Buddhist practitioner. But there are so many words, lessons, and teachings that came together while reading “The Shamanic Bones of Zen.” I am going to read this book again, underlining those words, lessons and teachings. I will also pursue further teachings from Zenju Osho.
June 21, 2022
I think those who have practiced Zen meditation for some time will get the most from this book. It delves into subjects that may be of interest if you have practiced and that experience has raised questions about the purpose and meaning of the Zen rituals, chanting and ceremony. For those readers I would give it a rating of 4 stars. The focus on shamanic roots is interesting but felt forced in some instances. Though the discussion does help to place and explain some parts of Zen practice that may seem idiosyncratic. Or it at least suggests one explanation. I enjoyed the chants Zenju wrote and included at the end of the book as well as the instructions for preparing for a meditation retreat. The chapter title artwork is pretty, but then I love all things trees.
March 2, 2024
For me, this book suffers from what a lot of spiritual books suffer from. That is, a lot of it feels like the author validating her own experience, or trying to sell the concept that Shamanism and Zen Buddhism have more in common than is commonly accepted. But I never knew that was in question. There are some valuable insights here, but overall, this ranges between reading like an autobiography and the author still attempting to validate her own spiritual experience. If you're reading this for direction, I would not recommend, unfortunately.
April 22, 2022
Shamanic Bones will resonate with a reader seeking the many layered traditions of Zen rituals. Manuel's studies connect with shamanic origins across cultures. Her resources are extensive, books, oral, dreams, and the depths of transpersonal experiences. The book did not speak to me personally, although I value all of those resources. I am not in a Zen community. I read it because I am in awe of Zenju Earthlyn and her writing.
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August 1, 2022DNF JFC just deleted all I wrote ugh
This is for people probably already practicing Zen or Buddhism or shamanism or researching any of the above. I’m not! But I was interested but now I’m too tired. But the first few chapters and the zazen chapter gave me hella solace one dark week of my soul.
Thank you Zenju Earthlyn Manuel for the little I did read 🫶 I’ve been meditating more and deeper stronger since 🙏
This is for people probably already practicing Zen or Buddhism or shamanism or researching any of the above. I’m not! But I was interested but now I’m too tired. But the first few chapters and the zazen chapter gave me hella solace one dark week of my soul.
Thank you Zenju Earthlyn Manuel for the little I did read 🫶 I’ve been meditating more and deeper stronger since 🙏
April 19, 2024
A brilliant book and it felt so warm just reading it. Do not expect that there are any shamanic rituals or chants being disclosed but it explains so well Zen Practices as a shamanic practice. The author is a Black Woman who has been ordained in the Zen practices and who has tried and experimented different indigenous rituals and communities. This helps with the really good and holistic understanding of origins, identity and mysticism in all its forms. Absolutely enchanting!
October 2, 2024
Important insight into Zen practice and indigenous spirituality. Love this thought, written about how the author felt after sesshin--5 to 9 days of sitting for 8 hours a day: "When I walked out the doors into the busy streets, it was clear, though I was on the same planet where I had suffered, I had found a new place inside me to live."
March 2, 2022
The book shows how faith can be more alike than different. The personal experiences made it relatable.
April 13, 2022
All over the place. Could not finish it.
June 30, 2022
My soul recognized itself in this book. What a gift.
August 7, 2022
The questions in this book are my favorite part.
October 11, 2022
A start! Want to read more on this!!
May 23, 2023
Beautiful and deep
Read
July 1, 2023"We are only passing through to learn, to grow, to love, and then we return home."
December 8, 2023
Illuminating!
December 2, 2024
Not for me
September 8, 2025
INSPIRING perspective on Zen buddhism.
Loved Zenju's Earthlyn Manuel writing, and the book is filled with rituals to take into your own practice, for which I am very grateful.
Loved Zenju's Earthlyn Manuel writing, and the book is filled with rituals to take into your own practice, for which I am very grateful.
August 13, 2023
The Shamanic Bones of Zen connects Zen practice, especially its rituals, to ancient Shamanic practices that led to altered states. It is an extremely personal book that reflects the experience of its author, Zenju Earhlyn Manuel, and points to the ancient roots of this practice, the way in which even the Buddha, in the fifth century BC, said that what he was teaching was ancient.
I had thought, when I saw advanced publicity for this book, that it must be a scholarly work which established a connection I’d always suspected. For years, as I’ve settled every morning in the sitting posture, I’ve felt I was doing an ancient practice which connected me to early humans. I feel that even more at our zendo, especially on long retreats, where we sit in the early morning or late evening, surrounded by others doing the same thing, and stare at the wall in the dim light of the room. I feel connected to all the people through the centuries who have engaged in this practice.
Zenju Earthlyn Manuel actually is a scholar, in addition to being a Zen teacher. She is perhaps best known for her writing on race, especially The Way of Tenderness, which was enormously popular some years ago. She has a complicated spiritual path; she grew up in the Church of Christ, where she was “an avid reader of the Bible and enjoyed the true mystic teachings on Christ’s path,” but left that rather conservative church because it didn’t allow women to be preachers and she could see teaching in her future. She entered Buddhism through Soka Gakkai, the Nichiren group which has a huge following worldwide. That branch of Buddhism concentrates especially on chanting, believes that chanting the name of the Lotus Sutra is itself a mystical practice, and she did that discipline for years. Eventually she moved over to Zen, and trained in the tradition of the San Francisco Zen Center, receiving Dharma transmission from Zenkei Blanche Hartman. In that group she found the role of teacher that she was meant for all along.
She is especially drawn to the ritual practices of Soto Zen, in which she feels the connection with her ancestors and with the earth itself. Zazen itself, of course, is a kind of ritual—we are re-enacting the enlightenment experience of the Buddha—but Soto Zen is also full of others, including a lot of bowing and chanting. New practitioners typically resist those (I certainly did) and come around only after a number of years, but Manuel, perhaps because of her background in Soka Gakkai, took to them right away.
People often speak of qualifications for writing. Manuel has a solid pedigree; it doesn’t get much better than the San Francisco Zen Center and Blanche Hartman. But she writes this book from a different kind of authority, that of her experience of life, her connection with the earth, and her deep intuition. She talks about how people accept her when she talks about race, but have questioned her qualifications on other subjects; a magazine ran her article on zazen past a group of “experts” before they would publish it.[1] But she wrote this book from an authority that no one can question. People can agree or not, but it’s not a matter of doctrine.
I’ve done plenty of resisting ritual in my life, partly because I wanted to get back to the “real” practice (zazen), partly because I felt awkward and inexperienced. This book made me take another look at that, as did a recent talk at our Zen Center about the rituals of Dharma transmission, and a recent experience of the Bodhisattva Ceremony, which has always moved me. Ritual is not an adjunct to Soto Zen practice. It’s at the heart of it.
www.davidguy.org
I had thought, when I saw advanced publicity for this book, that it must be a scholarly work which established a connection I’d always suspected. For years, as I’ve settled every morning in the sitting posture, I’ve felt I was doing an ancient practice which connected me to early humans. I feel that even more at our zendo, especially on long retreats, where we sit in the early morning or late evening, surrounded by others doing the same thing, and stare at the wall in the dim light of the room. I feel connected to all the people through the centuries who have engaged in this practice.
Zenju Earthlyn Manuel actually is a scholar, in addition to being a Zen teacher. She is perhaps best known for her writing on race, especially The Way of Tenderness, which was enormously popular some years ago. She has a complicated spiritual path; she grew up in the Church of Christ, where she was “an avid reader of the Bible and enjoyed the true mystic teachings on Christ’s path,” but left that rather conservative church because it didn’t allow women to be preachers and she could see teaching in her future. She entered Buddhism through Soka Gakkai, the Nichiren group which has a huge following worldwide. That branch of Buddhism concentrates especially on chanting, believes that chanting the name of the Lotus Sutra is itself a mystical practice, and she did that discipline for years. Eventually she moved over to Zen, and trained in the tradition of the San Francisco Zen Center, receiving Dharma transmission from Zenkei Blanche Hartman. In that group she found the role of teacher that she was meant for all along.
She is especially drawn to the ritual practices of Soto Zen, in which she feels the connection with her ancestors and with the earth itself. Zazen itself, of course, is a kind of ritual—we are re-enacting the enlightenment experience of the Buddha—but Soto Zen is also full of others, including a lot of bowing and chanting. New practitioners typically resist those (I certainly did) and come around only after a number of years, but Manuel, perhaps because of her background in Soka Gakkai, took to them right away.
People often speak of qualifications for writing. Manuel has a solid pedigree; it doesn’t get much better than the San Francisco Zen Center and Blanche Hartman. But she writes this book from a different kind of authority, that of her experience of life, her connection with the earth, and her deep intuition. She talks about how people accept her when she talks about race, but have questioned her qualifications on other subjects; a magazine ran her article on zazen past a group of “experts” before they would publish it.[1] But she wrote this book from an authority that no one can question. People can agree or not, but it’s not a matter of doctrine.
I’ve done plenty of resisting ritual in my life, partly because I wanted to get back to the “real” practice (zazen), partly because I felt awkward and inexperienced. This book made me take another look at that, as did a recent talk at our Zen Center about the rituals of Dharma transmission, and a recent experience of the Bodhisattva Ceremony, which has always moved me. Ritual is not an adjunct to Soto Zen practice. It’s at the heart of it.
www.davidguy.org
December 22, 2022
I practice Tibetan Buddhism, not Zen, but as Manuel points out, there are some key roots around magic and shamanism. Delightful, informative, wonderfully sectioned, and beautiful writing.
October 29, 2022
A greater decolonized understanding of the dhamma has arrived, and we are freer for it. Bows to Zenju Osho Earthlyn. A great read coupled with Jose Ruiz's book of a similar name.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews