Lunch with Bokara
ZEN AND THE ART OF AFRICAN INITIATION
with Malidoma Some and Joan Halifax

Available on DVD and video cassette

Select a Program from the Series:
Meditation, Emotions & Body Language
Food for the Soul
Healing, Family & Community
The Monk & The Rabbi
Transformation and Mindfulness
Zen and the Art of African Initiation
Compassion in Action
The Heart of Islam
Myths, Money and Meaning
The Taoist and the Activist
Peace through Dialogue
Our Place in the Cosmos
God is Everywhere...and Nowhere

Joan Halifax, Buddhist teacher, author and abbot of Upaya Zen Monastery in Santa Fe, talks about initiation with African shaman, healer and diviner, Malidoma Some. Malidoma suggests that people in the West suffer from "sickness of the soul." He joins Roshi Joan in a fascinating conversation about the ways we can heal this sickness, as well as the unexpressed grief in our culture. In this program, we discover the secrets of an African initiation and the power of Buddhist vows with two people who walk between the worlds of East and West, of Magic and Meditation.

"The purpose of life is not something that you find, it's more like something that finds you. You and your purpose meet half way. And you know the culture I come from assumes that you cannot be born in this world without a purpose. And so every baby that is born, we start to look at what is it that she or he is coming here for?"
Malidoma Some

"In Buddhism its not so much about finding the kind of magic that fascinates us all, its actually about finding the utter magic or miracle in this glass of water. That's really when our life really opens up. The magic is in the ordinary things, in the miracle of this moment."
Joan Halifax