Valerie Mason-John - Afrikan Wisdom: New Voices Talk Black Liberation, Buddhism, and Beyond

This unique and timely collection is a deep dive into the intersections of Black Liberation and spiritual freedom from a perspective sorely missing from the vast body of Buddhist writings. It is the inspired vision of its editor, Valerie Mason-John (Vimalasara), who begins their intro with a quote from Fred Hampton, the Black Panther revolutionary, and goes on to make poignant connections between the breath too often denied to Black people (I Cant Breathe) to the foundational breath of meditation. This compelling book is a must-read for all those seeking social, cultural, and spiritual liberation.

Pratibha Parmar, filmmaker and professor

What does it mean for Black folks to be free? In this uncommon collection of essays, Valerie Mason-John (Vimalasara) has gathered together a fascinating, multifaceted selection of perspectives that explore the intersection of spirituality, liberation, and Blackness. This is one of those rare books that offers a holistic experience of illumination, as it unpacks the multifold path of Black Diasporic freedom in depththrough writing that ignites our mind while enriching our spirit.

Andrea Thompson, author and educator

Afrikan Wisdom is such an important offering to and for African Diasporic people as we come to understand our traditional relationship to mindfulness and Buddhadharma. This book will help us continue dreaming and living into more liberated futures.

Lama Rod Owens, author of Love and Rage

A celebration and a cry, a rich treasure chest and a brilliant contribution to the awakening of all.

Jack Kornfield, author of A Path With Heart

This is an important undertaking; a wealth of insights and resources that reminds us that contemplative practice must find unique expression within each culture and identity. To be truly liberatory in modern lives, ancient wisdom must also meet head-on the most pressing challenges of our times. This collection is a vital part of that work, and a gift to us all.

Jamie Bristow, author and clerk of the UK All-Party Parliamentary Group on Mindfulness

This fascinating volume examines the topic of Black Liberation from a wide range of perspectives. Since it arose from a recent and historic gathering of Buddhist teachers and scholars of African descent, most of the contributions have a Buddhist slant but there are also essays from Christian, Muslim, and Rastafarian viewpoints. It is rich with eye-opening history and with different authors takes on such challenging issues as nonviolence, the balance between mediation and external activism, the whiteness of American Buddhism, spiritual bypassing, and how to deal mindfully with systemic racism. This is an important book that comes at a time when the influence of racism in the US has rarely been more overtly supported and new voices on Black Liberation more needed.

Richard Schwartz, PhD, developer of the Internal Family Systems psychotherapy and adjunct faculty, Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School

Detailed liturgies for Buddhists of color appear amid the rich theorizing and individual reflections. These bite-size and profound essays are a powerful introduction to the overlooked possibilities of Black Buddhism.

Publishers Weekly

Copyright 2021 by Valerie Mason-John (Vimalasara). All rights reserved. No portion of this book, except for brief review, may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwisewithout the written permission of the publisher. For information contact North Atlantic Books.

Published by

North Atlantic Books

Berkeley, California

Cover art and design by Jess Morphew

Book design by Happenstance Type-O-Rama

Afrikan Wisdom: New Voices Talk Black Liberation, Buddhism, and Beyond is sponsored and published by North Atlantic Books, an educational nonprofit based in Berkeley, California, that collaborates with partners to develop cross-cultural perspectives, nurture holistic views of art, science, the humanities, and healing, and seed personal and global transformation by publishing work on the relationship of body, spirit, and nature.

North Atlantic Books publications are distributed to the US trade and internationally by Penguin Random House Publishers Services. For further information, visit our website at www.northatlanticbooks.com.

The Editor will donate all royalties from the book after expenses have been accrued to a Black African organization working for the liberation of African descent people in the Diaspora.

All materials can be used for your own rituals or teachings as long as you credit the author of the chapter and the book.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Mason-John, Valerie, editor.

Title: Afrikan wisdom : new voices talk Black liberation, Buddhism, and

beyond / edited by Valerie Mason-John (Vimalasara).

Description: Berkeley : North Atlantic Books, 2021. | Includes

bibliographical references and index. | Summary: A collection of

spiritual essays written by Black thought leaders and teachers that

discuss what it means to be Black in the world today Provided by

publisher.

Identifiers: LCCN 2021002718 (print) | LCCN 2021002719 (ebook) | ISBN

9781623175627 (trade paperback) | ISBN 9781623175634 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: African American philosophy. | African AmericansPolitics

and governmentPhilosophy. | Buddhism and humanism. | Buddhism and

social problems.

Classification: LCC B944.A37 A378 2021 (print) | LCC B944.A37 (ebook) |

DDC 200.89/96073dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021002718

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021002719

This book includes recycled material and material from well-managed forests. North Atlantic Books is committed to the protection of our environment. We print on recycled paper whenever possible and partner with printers who strive to use environmentally responsible practices.

by James Weldon Johnson, 1899

Lift evry voice and sing

Til earth and heaven ring

Ring with the harmonies of Liberty

Let our rejoicing rise

High as the listning skies

Let it resound loud as the rolling sea

Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us

Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us

Facing the rising sun of our new day begun

Let us march on til victory is won

Stony the road we trod

Bitter the chastening rod

Felt in the days when hope unborn had died

Yet with a steady beat

Have not our weary feet

Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?

We have come over a way that with tears has been watered

We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered

Out from the gloomy past

Til now we stand at last

Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast

God of our weary years

God of our silent tears

Thou who has brought us thus far on the way

Thou who has by Thy might

Led us into the light

Keep us forever in the path, we pray

Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee

Lest, our hearts drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee

Shadowed beneath Thy hand

May we forever stand

True to our God

True to our native land