Shinto : Meditations for Revering the Earth

The first book in English to apply ancient Japanese Shinto traditions to daily spiritual fulfillment.

Complementing Buddhism, Shinto is Japan's 2,000-year-old worship tradition that celebrates the relationship of humans to the natural world. This modern-day collection of Shinto-inspired devotions shows the reader how to commune directly with Great Nature for health, wisdom, and serenity.

These litanies inspired by ancient Shinto rituals are a series of calls-and-response that directly address the awesome power of the natural world to heal and restore the soul. Readers are invited to stand before rivers, stones, and trees, to listen to thunder, and to be touched by the wind and rain in order to cultivate a spirit of reverence for Nature and awaken the cosmic content within the human. Included are steps for conducting misogi (waterfall purification) and resources for learning more about Shinto practice in North America.

Stuart Picken, an ordained minister, has taught religion in Japan since 1972 and is international adviser to the High Priest of Tsubaki Grand Shrine. He is author of Essentials of Shinto.