Wisdom & Spiritual Paths

The Influence of Pope Francis in Our Books

Pope Francis in Shambhala Publications' Books Pope Francis (1936-2025) was a beloved figure far beyond the global Catholic community he led. His open-hearted vision of humanity, ethics, and environmental justice marked him a a truly global leader who spoke from his heart, with the benefit of all beings at the forefront. Below is a selection of works from Shambhala Publications where his ideas were influential. By Your Side: How to Find Soulful Allies and Become One to Others by David Richo Pope Francis equated praying for someone with accompanying him, a quality of an assisting force. Ordinations in Catholic ritual begin with a choir singing the “Litany of the Saints.” The choir sings out the name of a saint and the congregation sings back: 'Pray for us.' This call and refrain is an example of calling in, gathering the allies to bless the moment. Allies seem glad to assemble for us when we are open to them and invite them. It is not begging or demanding; it is invoking. The Lost Art of Silence: Reconnecting to the Power and Beauty of Quiet by Sarah Anderson Sarah Anderson, the author of The Lost Art of Silence (and the owner of the bookstore featured in the Hugh Grant and Julia Robers film Notting Hill) included Pope Francis discussing another Shambhala author, Thomas Merton: In 2015, Pope Francis even singled [Thomas Merton] out as worthy of study and as someone who opened new horizons for the church. Merton is often quoted and has become extremely influential in spiritual circles worldwide. and The 2015 Wim Wenders film Pope FrancisL A Man of His Word shows Pope Francis visiting the typhoon-ravaged Philippines. He tells the crowd, many of whom had lost members of their families as well as their homes, 'I don’t know what to tell you—I can only be silent. I accompany you silently in my heart.' That silence is more powerful than any words could have been. A Wild Love for the World: Joanna Macy and the Work of Our Time [Joanna Macy] also offers medicine for our moral ailments through her teachings on active hope. She interferes with anthropocentrism (what Pope Francis, in his encyclical Laudato Si on “the care of our common home,” rightly calls our narcissism as a species). She interferes by waking us up. She interferes by encouraging us to take our moral outrage at what is happening at human hands in the despoiling of Mother Earth and steer it to effective action, thus melting violence into nonviolence, reptilian brain energy into mammalian care. and A decisive factor for the rooting of the Work in Colombia is support from the well-known Jesuit peace worker Francisco de Roux, who participated in our first workshop in 2014. Thanks to his mediation, we receive funding from a British Catholic NGO that resonates strongly with Pope Francis’s Laudato Si and feels that our approach is a beautiful implementation of his ecological encyclical. Life, Part 2: Seven Keys to Awakening with Purpose and Joy as You Age By David Chernikoff Pope Francis, the current head of the Catholic Church, offers us one last example of the way humor can support our awakening and our efforts to awaken others. Posted outside the door to his office is a sign that says, 'Complaining is forbidden. Offenders are subject to a syndrome of victimhood that reduces their sense of humor and capacity to solve problems. For anyone caught whining in front of children, sanctions will be doubled. To become the best of yourself, you must focus on your own potential and not on your limits. So stop complaining and act to change your life for the better.' Into the Mirror: A Buddhist Journey through Mind, Matter, and the Nature of Reality By Andy Karr Having mentioned homeless people and panhandlers, I feel compelled to mention Pope Francis’s deep insights into how to really extend yourself to beings who are suffering: Speaking to the magazine Scarp de’ Tenis, which means tennis shoes, a monthly for and about the homeless and marginalized, the Pope said that giving something to someone in need is 'always right.' . . . But what if someone uses the money for, say, a glass of wine? (A perfectly Milanese question.) His answer: If “a glass of wine is the only happiness he has in life, that’s O.K. Instead, ask yourself, what do you do on the sly? What 'happiness' do you seek in secret?” Another way to look at it, he said, is to recognize how you are the 'luckier' one, Compassion in an Illusory World with a home, a spouse and children, and then ask why your responsibility to help should be pushed onto someone else. Then he posed a greater challenge. He said the way of giving is as important as the gift. You should not simply drop a bill into a cup and walk away. You must stop, look the person in the eyes, and touch his or her hands. The reason is to preserve dignity, to see another person not as a pathology or a social condition, but as a human, with a life whose value is equal to your own. Triggers: How We Can Stop Reacting and Start Healing By David Richo Pope Francis in his encyclical Laudato Si’ wrote: “Our goal is . . . to dare to turn what is happening to the world into our own personal suffering and thus to discover what each of us can do about it. Plea for the Animals: The Moral, Philosophical, and Evolutionary Imperative to Treat All Beings with Compassion By Matthieu Ricard As for Pope Francis, in his encyclical Laudato Si, he explains: 'When our hearts are authentically open to universal communion, this sense of fraternity excludes nothing and no one. . . . We have only one heart, and the same wretchedness which leads us to mistreat an animal will not be long in showing itself in our relationships with other people. Every act of cruelty towards any creature is ‘contrary to human dignity.’ He goes on: 'The Catechism firmly states that human power has limits and that 'it is contrary to human dignity to cause animals to suffer or die needlessly.' The Buddhist and the Ethicist: Conversations on Effective Altruism, Engaged Buddhism, and How to Build a Better World By Peter Singer and Ven. Shih Chao-Hwei Pope Francis declared that 'the death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person' (this announcement is included in canon 2267 of the Church’s catechism). In the previous version of canon 2267, the Church reserved the death penalty for exceptional circumstances, 'only when capital punishment can protect people from being harmed by an aggressor.' Looking deeper, it emphasizes that in reality, 'the absolute necessity to execute the death penalty is so slim that it almost does not exist.' The 2018 version goes further, as seen in Pope Francis’s announcement, and asserts, 'The Church . . . works with determination for [the death penalty’s] abolition worldwide' Green Buddhism: Practice and Compassionate Action in Uncertain Times By Stephanie Kaza In 2015, activists with Buddhist Peace Fellowship marched in Rome as part of the One Earth, One Family interfaith demonstration for Pope Francis. Their banner read, 'The whole Earth is my true body; I vow to work for climate justice.' Books on Christianity

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Happy Poetry Month 2023!

Happy National Poetry Month! From haiku to the poems of the Beats, from ancient translations to modern free verse, everyone can find a style to love in our poetry collection. Enter your email below for a chance to win a bundle of three poetry books: The Mysterion, Yin Mountain, and The Art of Haiku and receive a code for 30% off our entire poetry collection through April 30th. FEATURED POETRY BOOKS

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Remembering Patricia Donegan

Patricia Donegan, the great poet, translator, and promoter of haiku, died on Tuesday, January 24th at 6:20pm CST. Her friend Elaine Martin shared the following: "During a recent visit with her brother she stated, 'I go willingly into the sound of the crickets.' Amazing that she uttered such words while moving between confusion, anxiety, and limited lucidity. She never stopped writing her poetry. Anyone who has the Vajradhatu 1980 Vajrayana Seminary Transcripts can enjoy the exchange of poetry between Patricia and Vidyadhara Chogyam Trungpa, Rinpoche that follows many of those talks. " You can also hear her in conversation about poetry with Trungpa Rinpoche on the Chogyam Trungpa Digital Library here. Patricia was a faculty member of East-West poetics at Naropa University under Allen Ginsberg and Chögyam Trungpa; a student of Japanese haiku master Seishi Yamaguchi; and a Fulbright scholar to Japan. She is a meditation teacher, the poetry editor for Kyoto Journal, and a member of the Haiku Society of America. Her haiku works include Haiku Mind: 108 Poems to Cultivate Awareness and Open Your Heart, Chiyo-ni: Woman Haiku Master (co-translated with Yoshie Ishibashi), and Haiku: Asian Arts for Creative Kids. Her poetry collections include Without Warning, Bone Poems, and Hot Haiku. A new book of hers, an extraordinary collection of haiku and her elucidations, will be released in 2024 by Shambhala Publications. The following haiku and Patricia's accompanying discussion are from Haiku Mind: 108 Poems to Cultivate Awareness and Open Your Heart farewell— I pass as all things the dew on grass —Banzan* This simple haiku echoes the memorable Native American quote of the Lakota tribe, "Today is a good day to die, hoka-hey (all is completed)." It is indeed a courageous way to live and to die. It is quite a different approach than Welsh poet Dylan Thomas’s equally memorable quote, "Do not go gentle into that good night / . . . Rage, rage against the dying of the light." For most of us, one of these views or a melding of these two views are embraced at different times of our lives. Few of us can face old age, sickness, and death easily. However, a reflection to guide this process is to take a few minutes a day to think of each breath as if it were the last—each conversation, each taste of bread, as if it were the last one. And then see what arises, how we feel. Sometimes we might feel fear, sometimes sadness, or sometimes enjoyment or gratitude—or perhaps even a succession or mixing of these feelings. These moment to moment changes that once seemed unsettling, can become a way of seeing the fragility of it all, which just might then give rise to greater appreciation. For this exercise is not intended to be morbid, but a joyful one that invariably encourages us to live our lives more fully—to live a full life and a full death; to be able to say each and every day, "Today is a good day to die," for it just might be the last day. Hoka-hey! *Banzan (1661–1730). A haiku poet of Basho’s time. This haiku was written on the brink of his death, in the tradition of jisei, or “death haiku.” in dreams and in awakening— the color of the iris —Shushiki* The dreamlike quality of life. The blue iris glinting in the sun in my grandmother’s garden when I was eight; me in the photograph pointing to the flower as if yesterday—a moment beyond time and space, like a dream. As we get older the past and present seem more intertwined and dreamlike. Some cultures, as in traditional Japan, believed one could meet a lover in a dream; in traditional Balinese culture night dreams were another plane of reality shared with the family in the morning; in aborigine Australian culture “dreamtime” exists alongside everyday reality. Most cultures hold dreams as something mysterious: a portent of things to come, an interpretation of things past. Throughout history, dreams remain an enigma, though we have the psychology of Jungian archetypes and Freudian innuendos of modern culture; and though modern science finds a physical and emotional necessity for dreams, it doesn’t fully understand them. Buddhism suggests that “life be regarded as a dream”—that this state of so-called “awake reality” is no different from the “dream reality.” To this point, Chuang Tzu, the ancient Chinese Taoist philosopher, questioned whether he was a man dreaming he was a butterfly or a butterfly dreaming he was a man. This is not to deny our awake state, but to see the fleeting, ephemeral quality of it and thus be less attached to our personal desires and more open and appreciative of our life. This jisei (death haiku), written right before she died, reflects an enlightened view: that the vividness of the iris’s blueness remains, just as it is, beyond awake, beyond dreaming, beyond our understanding, that there is but one color, one reality. *Shushiki (1668–1725); her family name was Ome. One of the foremost Japanese women haiku poets of her time. From an early age the student of Kikaku Takarai, Basho’s favorite disciple; her husband, Kangyoku, was also a teacher of haiku. Shushiki was best known for this haiku at the age of thirteen: “watch out / drunk with sake— / that cherry tree by the well.”

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Poetry Month 2022

Happy Poetry Month! From lyric to free verse, modern words to ancient translations, spiritual to artistic guidance—discover a new poem to love. Sign up below to receive a new poem delivered straight to your inbox each week of April. Featured Books

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Greek, Sufi, and Islamic Translations by Thomas Cleary: A Reader’s Guide

Thomas Cleary (1949—2021) was one of the twentieth century’s greatest translators of Asian classics. He was extremely prolific, translating and authoring countless works. Shambhala Publications has published over sixty. His books have sold millions of copies and his translations have in turn been translated into over twenty languages worldwide. His first published project, in collaboration with his brother J.C. Cleary, was the classic Blue Cliff Record, that great collection of koans. While Cleary was best known for his translations of essential East Asian works, the titles below show how he wandered westward to explore Greek, Sufi, and Islamic wisdom. We hope you enjoy it and benefit from the lifetime of dedication to these texts and the figures behind them that have benefitted so many. Thomas Cleary Reader Guides Buddhism | Taoism | Art of War, Strategy, & Martial Arts | I Ching | Greek Wisdom, Sufism & Islam Paperback | eBook Living a Good Life: Advice on Virtue, Love, and Action from the Ancient Greek Masters This collection of eminently practical advice from the likes of Socrates, Plato, Diogenes, Pythagoras, and Aristotle covers subjects as diverse as money, child-raising, politics, philosophy, law, and relationships—all aspects of life and how to live it. Thomas Cleary has translated these sayings and aphorisms from the Arabic sources that preserved Greek thought throughout the Middle Ages. Many of the texts no longer exist in the original Greek. Included in the book is an appendix that presents resonant sayings and fragments from Buddhist, Taoist, and Muslim sources, demonstrating the universal quality of the teachings of the Greek sages and hinting at the interaction between Western and Eastern cultures. Paperback | eBook Living and Dying with Grace: Counsels of Hadrat 'Ali Living and Dying with Grace is a book of aphoristic Sufi teachings on how to make one's way in the world—especially on how to bring spiritual insight to the affairs of daily life. Sufism, the mystical tradition of Islam, contains a vast body of knowledge concerning the inner development of the complete human being. Among the greatest of Sufi masters, Hadrat 'Alî (598-661 CE), cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad, is regarded as a paragon of compassion and virtue and a master of both exoteric and esoteric knowledge. He was not only a great warrior, statesman, and scholar, but also a devoted husband and father. Success in this life, 'Alî teaches, is bestowed on those who maintain generosity, intelligence, perseverance, integrity, and calm reflection. As for success in the hereafter, 'Alî says, "God, the Glorified, admits to Paradise anyone, at will, for truthfulness of intention and goodness of innermost thoughts." This book contains four hundred of Hadrat 'Alî's teachings, showing how people can use the everyday realities of their lives to cultivate wisdom and well-being, both temporal and eternal, offering a path to living and dying with grace. Paperback | eBook The Wisdom of the Prophet: Sayings of Muhammad The Wisdom of the Prophet contains a rich selection of hadith, or traditional teaching stories based on the words and deeds of Muhammad, that have brought inspiration and guidance to spiritual seekers for centuries. The passages in this collection, chosen for their universal appeal, reveal both Muhammad's profound worldly wisdom and his lofty spiritual vision. The Wisdom of the Prophet contains more than two hundred authentic stories and sayings of Muhammad translated by Thomas Cleary, the translator of The Essential Koran. This volume presents two hundred and twenty-four authentic accounts of the Prophet Muhammad, revealing both his profound worldly wisdom and his lofty spiritual vision. Most of the selections are taken from Bukhariy’s authoritative Sahih and Nawawı’s popular Riyad al-Salihın. All Books by Thomas Cleary

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