Being Black: Zen and the Art of Living with Fearlessness and Grace (Compass)

I've been trying to cultivate a better spiritual practice and this book is very helpful; not in that it so much teaches you how to cultivate a Zen practice, but more-so WHY we in the Black Community, who haven't already developed a spiritual practice of our own, should seek out what will help us spiritually in our daily lives. Part teaching mixed in with personal experiences, Ms. Williams speaks to both the Black community - and those outside of it - the reasons we all need to seek peace, awakening and awareness of what we are bringing into our lives, especially with how the climate in the US can sometimes appear highly racialized and prejudicial .

I found "Being Black:Zen and the Art of Living with Fearlessness and Grace" to be exactly what the doctor ordered.The Book is written in a language that is clear,to the point, and easy to understand. Free from the "psycho-babble" that some books on Buddhism tend to be bogged down with, 'Being Black..." is written in such a way that I felt the author empathized with other Black people who find themselves alone on the Buddhist path and in life.Sharing in the problems we as Black people sometimes face in our family and social settings.Touching on the negative self talk that we sometimes indulge in.Showing how we can be our own worst enemies at times.Don't get me wrong-anyone and just about everyone can benefit from reading this book, regardless of race or spiritual path.It teaches,inspires,comforts,and is even entertaining in some parts.I highly recommend this book to all who are on a spiritual quest to improve their lives.

Learning about what being a Buddhist means from someone who is not a white academic is very liberating. Too much has been written from a very narrow, academic, view point. The academic perspective is important but the actual lived experience of humans, all humans and all beings, is one of the aspects of Buddha's teachings. Angel Kyodo Williams brings the perspective of a Black Woman whom is also a teacher of the Dharma to the general reader. She also reaches out to minorities who are too often, whether white buddhists are aware of it or not, shunned from participating in the life of many American Sanghas. The religious background of many Blacks in the United States is that of being Southern Baptist. Kyodo williams addresses how this background informs her experiences in the US, with various Sanghas and with Buddhism, specifically Soto Zen Buddhism, in particular.

This is lovely simple and light in a profound life giving way ! I wish she talked more about her experience as a Black queer women.

Still reading it and enjoying everything about it.

All about letting some of our Black shit go. We're at the boot heel of society, but it doesn't mean we can't give ourselves a little bit of a break.Great book especially for black women, who often are required to (and expect themselves to) carry the entire world on her shoulders. It gives you some techniques for finding peace even in the little spaces of calm in your day. It helped me a lot, to be more flexible and to find help when I need it. Great read.

A simple and practical read involving personal experience and practical Buddhist teaching on a subject that is close to many of our hearts and should be close to all.

This woman is brilliant, insightful, relatable. I wish I could hear more from African American writers, especially regarding spirituality. She has inspired me to find some space in my life to practice looking inward, sitting quietly, being reflective and non judgmental. I wish the title would appeal to all races, because Angel Kyodo Williams has a message for everyone.

Although this book it titled 'Being Black' it has less to do with race and racism and more to do with Zen Buddhism. Angel uses race as a context to articulate concepts that are applicable to anyone regardless of their skin colour. However, it is especially interesting to read about if you are Black because it is rare to find books that speak about Buddhism and Blackness in one novel. I would recommend this book for anyone who is interested in hearing a nuanced perspective about either of these topics.

One of the greatest books ever written.

Angel Kyodo Williams interweaves episodes from her life with an introduction to Buddhist teachings and commentary on some ways that Buddhist insights can be applied in the context of black experience. What Williams writes about Buddhism was not new to me, but the memoir sections were engaging. I'm not qualified to comment on what she says about Buddhism as a way of addressing one's experience of racism; if someone made equivalent suggestions about how I as a disabled bisexual woman should deal with my experience of patriarchy, biphobia or ableism, I think I'd feel that the experience was being trivialised, but of course different oppressions are experienced differently by different people.