THE RENOWNED TEACHER AND AUTHOR'S SPIRITUAL MEMOIR, AS TOLD THROUGH HIS LIFELONG ENCOUNTERS WITH ANIMALS AND NATURE “I love this book. It feels like a secret treasure bequeathed by Stephen Levine to be opened after his death―an overflowing vessel of insight, humor and literary genius. Animal Sutras may be the best book Stephen Levine ever wrote.” ―Mirabai Starr, Wild Mercy “Stephen was a profound healer of the heart, writer and meditation teacher. In Animal Sutras , his other gifts shine, as a wise poet-naturalist and Dharma storyteller-philosopher, offered here in a lyrical, quirky, playful, and inviting collection.” ―Jack Kornfield, A Path With Heart For Stephen Levine, “animal-people” were his greatest teachers. So, at age seventy, he began collecting animal spirit stories and transcendent moments in nature from throughout his life―from the green snake who taught him to meditate as a boy to the generous hen whom predators would not harm, and many more. “Animals have a natural mindfulness,” Levine writes. “They know what they are doing. Humans, who are full of confusion and seldom wholly in touch with their mind/body, need encouragement and technique to live in the present.” Stephen Levine (1937–2016) was an American poet, author, and spiritual teacher best known for his work, with his wife Ondrea, on death and dying. He is one of a generation of pioneering teachers who made Theravada Buddhism more widely available to students in the West. Like the writings of his colleague and close friend Ram Dass (formerly Richard Alpert), Levine’s work is also flavored by the devotional practices and teachings of the Hindu guru Neem Karoli Baba. Levine spent many years in the Southwest, including one tending a wildlife sanctuary in southern Arizona, and among the mountains of New Mexico, where Ondrea still lives. His many books include Who Dies? , A Year to Live , Unattended Sorrow , and Healing into Life and Death . "I love this book. It feels like a secret treasure bequeathed by Stephen Levine to be opened after his death—an overflowing vessel of insight, humor and literary genius. For those of us who find the deepest dharma shining from the eyes of our animal companions, this collection is a cause for celebration. Animal Sutras may be the best book Stephen Levine ever wrote." ― Mirabai Starr , Caravan of No Despair and Wild Mercy “Stephen was a profound healer of the heart, writer and meditation teacher. In Animal Sutras , his other gifts shine, as a wise poet-naturalist and Dharma storyteller-philosopher, offered here in a lyrical, quirky, playful, and inviting collection.”― Jack Kornfield , A Path with Heart “A beautiful treasure house of a book: wise, tender, and surprising. Our precious friend has given us a great gift.”― Roshi Joan Halifax "This is a great book, written with Stephen Levine's characteristic sumptuous brilliance. It is nothing less than a profoundly naked initiation into the tender and grateful relationship we all need to reclaim with the natural world. Read it again and again and allow Stephen Levine to take you by the hand into the true magic of our amazing world."― Andrew Harvey , author of The Hope: A Guide to Sacred Activism “With an eye for beauty, a poetic genius, and a heart of wisdom, Stephen shares these precious teachings learned from spirit animals. The moonlit skunk, the mouse of faith, and the bear of compassion transmit boundless love and the transcendent truth of the nature of life. Stephen invites us into gratefulness, an awareness of unity and the wild freedom expressed though a life fully lived. Reading it will open you to a joyful life.”― Frank Ostaseski , author of The Five Invitations: Discovering What Death Can Teach Us About Living Fully "This small treasure of a book is about the better animals of our nature. Stephen Levine has called upon the Muse of Story to distill into words his many encounters with animals, and how the meeting of these shared consciounesses has illuminated and guided the instincts and attitudes of his heart. In the spirit of Ovid and Aesop, the Jātakas and La Fontaine, but informed by living truths transmitted by nature rather than imagined myths and fables, he shares with us how these meetings have repeatedly led him to the Sacred. "Whether it is forgiveness from a salamander, stillness from a green snake, the acknowledgement of territories by a spider or mindfulness by ravens, over and over these stories lead us, too, to realize the primacy of kindness as the way for all of us to help each other to arrive at wellbeing. Ajahn Chah used to say, 'Everything is teaching us, if we let it.' This slender volume carries that exact same message. The lesson might be sweet, like the results of practicing patience in caring for a sick cat, or it might be bitter, like the witnessing of a weeping bull before an impassioned crowd―either way, how much better our world will be if we allow the animals of our own nature to learn from the life that