The Book
What in the World is Going On? Wisdom Teachings for our Time offers a rich description of how fear has permeated our lives. Fear creates endless suffering in every life, and blocks our awareness of our interdependence with each other. Manjushri, the great Tibetan deity of wisdom, explains how to open ourselves to the compassion at the very heart of the cosmos, healing ourselves and our communities. He encourages us to awaken our heart center and welcome the new consciousness.
Recent Teachings, Talks and Interviews
Through Penny Gill, Manjushri has continued to offer Teachings in support of our own developing wisdom and understanding of what is going on in our world. These will be posted here along with occasional pieces by Penny Gill and others.
A Teaching from Manjushri As received by Penny Gill, March 16, 2020 Oh, Manjushri Sir: it has been a long time since I asked for a session with you. Today I come, because our world is in chaos, largely self-generated chaos. Uncertainty and fear are as virulent as this unknown virus, with such consequences for…
From my Car on Broad Street
The child’s mother pulled him
and he trotted to keep up. She looked straight ahead
and probably did not see
the woman in her shroud of filth
tucked beneath some newspapers and a fraying blanket
on the church steps. Did not see her boy
Waving to the lady or the broken
lady lifting her hand to him either.
— Ross Gay
About Manjushri
Considered the great Bodhisattva of Wisdom, Manjushri is a central figure in Tibetan Buddhism. He holds a sword over his head, ready to cut through ignorance and delusion.
He arrived, unbidden, to Penny Gill years ago, and offered to give her an alternative view of the contemporary world and its major problems.
About Penny Gill
Penny Gill, retired Dean of the College and Mary Lyon Professor of Humanities at Mount Holyoke College, taught political science for 45 years. She has long been interested in several spiritual traditions, as well as the work of C.G. Jung. She now lives on Madeline Island, one of the twenty-two Apostle Islands in western Lake Superior, where she continues to receive Teachings from Manjushri and Kwan Yin.