Sanctuary: A Meditation on Home, Homelessness, and Belonging examines the interface between inner and outer sanctuary, and the ways they affect one another.
“Sanctuary” is the home we can return to when our lives are under
threat, where we can face what’s difficult to love, and have a place
where we can truly say, “I am home”—and spiritual teachers often
emphasize sanctuary’s inner dimensions, that “our true home” is within.
“Homelessness,” in turn, can be viewed as a forced experience or one in
which there is a spiritual void in being or feeling home.
Drawing from her life as a Zen Buddhist priest whose ancestors
labored as slaves in Louisiana, Zenju Earthlyn Manuel explores the
tension between oppression—based on race, religion, ability, class,
orientation, gender, and other “ghosts of slavery”—and finding home
within our own hearts. Through intimate personal stories and deep
reflection, Manuel helps us see the moment when the unacknowledged
surfaces as “the time we have been practicing for,” the epiphany when we
can investigate the true source what has been troubling us. This
insightful book about home and homelessness, sanctuary and refuge offers
inspiration, encouragement, and a clear-eyed view of cultivating a
spiritual path in challenging times.
104 pages. Paperback.