Home  >  Theology and Traditions  >  General Religion
Casting Indra's Net

Casting Indra's Net

Fostering Spiritual Kinship and Community

A heartfelt call and primer for community-oriented models of wellbeing in our age of polarization and turmoil.

Product Code: 9079
ISBN: 9781645470922
Format: Paperback / softback
Publisher: Shambhala
Pages: 240
Published Date: 02/07/2023
Availability:In stock
N/A
Price: $19.95
Qty:
Add to Cart Add to Wishlist

Creating compassionate communities takes more than good will - it requires a dedication to respecting cultural differences while remembering the fundamental spiritual kinship that exists between all people. Activist, counselor, and Buddhist teacher Ayo Yetunde creatively unpacks this condition through the metaphor of Indra’s Net - a universal net in which all beings reflect each other like jewels.

She offers a practice path that acknowledges our deep challenges - challenges that increasingly give rise to the temptation of group violence, which she calls mobbery - while showing exactly how we can still listen, learn, and heal together. Drawing inspiration from the Black liberation tradition and from stories from various religions, Yetunde recasts Indra’s Net as the network in which we all have the choice either to succumb to our impulses toward division and brutality or renew our civility and love for each other. The more than 20 practices in Casting Indra’s Net include:

Five commitments for healthy, nonviolent living
Guided contemplation to water the seeds of your spiritual potential
“Mirroring” and “twinning” other people
Tonglen (receiving and releasing) and lovingkindness meditations
Affirmations


Bookmark and Share

Contents

Foreword by Resmaa Menakem
Preface
Acknowledgments

Introduction
Finding Our Place in the Network of Mutuality
1. The Suffering of Mobbery
2. Beyond the Golden Rule
Treating Others asThey Need to Be Treated
3. The Four Noble Truths as a Path of Mutuality and Relationality
4. “Say What?”
Koans as Relational Wholeworking in Stories of Jesus, the Canaanite Woman, and Angulimala
5. The Book of Job
Self-actualization through Community
6. Action without Attachment
The Bhagavad Gita and the Lessons of Paradox
7. Knowing Your Place in the Cosmos
8. Letters from a Chicago Condo
To Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and to My Buddhist Kin
Conclusion
Civility as Spiritual Practice and Public Pastoral Care

Afterword by Eboo Patel
Notes
About the Author

“Casting Indra’s Netis an enthralling plea for kinship and care. Offering life experiences and her refined theologian mind, Yetunde supports us in a thorough investigation of nonviolence in service of self-actualization and social harmony. Pithy and wise, Casting Indra’s Net warms the chill of our troubling times, softening us into wholeness.” - Ruth King, author of Mindful of Race: Transforming Racism from the Inside Out and Founder of the Mindful of Race Institute

“For anyone looking for a way forward in the face of incessant polarization and violence in our global community, Casting Indra’s Net is a call to compassionate action cultivated in deep introspection and contemplation. Through thought-provoking personal narratives, social analysis, and an exploration of sacred texts and the lives of religious exemplars, Dr. Ayo Yetunde weaves a colorful tapestry inviting us to do the necessary inner work to live as spiritual kin, caring for one another amidst global crises and suffering.” - Rev. Dr. Alisha Tatem, Program Director of Congregational Leaders at the Institute for Islamic, Christian and Jewish Studies

“Ayo’s bravely compassionate book casts us into a net of mutuality - and brings us up whole. Casting Indra’s Net invites us to be remade, as by a home-cooked meal you didn’t know you needed, prepared by kin you mistook for strangers. This book is a gem that mirrors the jeweled possibilities in all of us.” - Chenxing Han, author of Be the Refuge: Raising the Voices of Asian American Buddhists

“With clarity and compassion, using powerful storytelling and wise inquiry, Pamela Ayo Yetunde expertly guides us to understand the indelible truth of our interconnection as kinship. Carefully and bravely leading us to comprehend the urgency of our social, political, and environmental crises, Casting Indra’s Net is a poignant cry to release any divisiveness and heed the call of religious teachings and leaders throughout time that ultimately only love heals. Weaving together Buddhist practices with Christian and Jewish parables, Hindu thought, and universal gospel, this book is a compelling and practical guide for our challenging times.” - Sebene Selassie, author of You Belong: A Call for Connection
Be the first to submit a review on this product!
Review and Rate this Item

Creating compassionate communities takes more than good will - it requires a dedication to respecting cultural differences while remembering the fundamental spiritual kinship that exists between all people. Activist, counselor, and Buddhist teacher Ayo Yetunde creatively unpacks this condition through the metaphor of Indra’s Net - a universal net in which all beings reflect each other like jewels.

She offers a practice path that acknowledges our deep challenges - challenges that increasingly give rise to the temptation of group violence, which she calls mobbery - while showing exactly how we can still listen, learn, and heal together. Drawing inspiration from the Black liberation tradition and from stories from various religions, Yetunde recasts Indra’s Net as the network in which we all have the choice either to succumb to our impulses toward division and brutality or renew our civility and love for each other. The more than 20 practices in Casting Indra’s Net include:

Five commitments for healthy, nonviolent living
Guided contemplation to water the seeds of your spiritual potential
“Mirroring” and “twinning” other people
Tonglen (receiving and releasing) and lovingkindness meditations
Affirmations


Bookmark and Share

Contents

Foreword by Resmaa Menakem
Preface
Acknowledgments

Introduction
Finding Our Place in the Network of Mutuality
1. The Suffering of Mobbery
2. Beyond the Golden Rule
Treating Others asThey Need to Be Treated
3. The Four Noble Truths as a Path of Mutuality and Relationality
4. “Say What?”
Koans as Relational Wholeworking in Stories of Jesus, the Canaanite Woman, and Angulimala
5. The Book of Job
Self-actualization through Community
6. Action without Attachment
The Bhagavad Gita and the Lessons of Paradox
7. Knowing Your Place in the Cosmos
8. Letters from a Chicago Condo
To Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and to My Buddhist Kin
Conclusion
Civility as Spiritual Practice and Public Pastoral Care

Afterword by Eboo Patel
Notes
About the Author

“Casting Indra’s Netis an enthralling plea for kinship and care. Offering life experiences and her refined theologian mind, Yetunde supports us in a thorough investigation of nonviolence in service of self-actualization and social harmony. Pithy and wise, Casting Indra’s Net warms the chill of our troubling times, softening us into wholeness.” - Ruth King, author of Mindful of Race: Transforming Racism from the Inside Out and Founder of the Mindful of Race Institute

“For anyone looking for a way forward in the face of incessant polarization and violence in our global community, Casting Indra’s Net is a call to compassionate action cultivated in deep introspection and contemplation. Through thought-provoking personal narratives, social analysis, and an exploration of sacred texts and the lives of religious exemplars, Dr. Ayo Yetunde weaves a colorful tapestry inviting us to do the necessary inner work to live as spiritual kin, caring for one another amidst global crises and suffering.” - Rev. Dr. Alisha Tatem, Program Director of Congregational Leaders at the Institute for Islamic, Christian and Jewish Studies

“Ayo’s bravely compassionate book casts us into a net of mutuality - and brings us up whole. Casting Indra’s Net invites us to be remade, as by a home-cooked meal you didn’t know you needed, prepared by kin you mistook for strangers. This book is a gem that mirrors the jeweled possibilities in all of us.” - Chenxing Han, author of Be the Refuge: Raising the Voices of Asian American Buddhists

“With clarity and compassion, using powerful storytelling and wise inquiry, Pamela Ayo Yetunde expertly guides us to understand the indelible truth of our interconnection as kinship. Carefully and bravely leading us to comprehend the urgency of our social, political, and environmental crises, Casting Indra’s Net is a poignant cry to release any divisiveness and heed the call of religious teachings and leaders throughout time that ultimately only love heals. Weaving together Buddhist practices with Christian and Jewish parables, Hindu thought, and universal gospel, this book is a compelling and practical guide for our challenging times.” - Sebene Selassie, author of You Belong: A Call for Connection
Be the first to submit a review on this product!
Review and Rate this Item

You might also be interested in: