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."
Animal Sutras: Animal Spirit Stories, Stephen Levine, Monkfish Book Publishing, Hardcover, 176 pp, $21.95

Poet, dharma teacher, and companion to the dying and the bereaved, Stephen Levine embodied his own exhortation to "keep your heart open in hell." Born in 1937 to a secular Jewish family, Stephen spent his adult life exploring, practicing, and sharing the traditions of the East, weaving a tapestry of seemingly disparate but ultimately harmonious elements of bhakti yoga (the Hindu path of devotion) and Vipassana (Buddhist mindfulness practice). He died in 2016 in the home he shared with his beloved wife and co-teacher, Ondrea, in the mountains of northern New Mexico.

A longtime friend of iconic spiritual teacher Ram Dass, and of the pioneer of the conscious dying movement Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, Stephen shifted the cultural conversation around death. By embracing both dying and grieving as opportunities for awakening, Stephen and Ondrea helped countless beings approach their own deaths as the ultimate spiritual experience and their bereaved loved ones to be blessed with transformation. Among Stephen's many books, Who Dies?, Unattended Sorrow, and One Year to Live endure as classics and continue to serve as vital guides to those seeking support for navigating the mystery of the human condition.

In their work with both the dying and the living, Stephen and Ondrea reclaimed the concept of "mercy" as an essential element in self-forgiveness, enabling people on a conscious path to leave this world unburdened by guilt, and to dispel the legacy of shame in the hearts of those left behind. These teachings, though simple, were revolutionary. Stephen's book Becoming Kwan Yin draws on the Chinese Buddhist bodhisattva of compassion as an exemplar for this liberating practice.

For several decades, Stephen and Ondrea lived in relative isolation in the high desert of rural New Mexico (where Ondrea continues to live), raising children and animals, in close connection with the land. Their solitary life in the wilderness made their outpouring of loving attention to the dying and the bereaved possible. One of Stephen's lesser-known passions was his deep connection with animals, both domestic and wild. A consummate storyteller, Stephen conveyed his relationships with dogs and horses, his encounters with snakes and skunks, and his visitations by mockingbirds and hummingbirds with the artfulness of a bard and the insight of a Buddha.

Dr. Joanne Cacciatore, author of Animal Sutras' foreword, is the founder of the MISS Foundation and is currently a professor at Arizona State University. Her area of expertise is traumatic death, specifically child death, and she is an acclaimed public speaker on this topic. Dr. Cacciatore also specializes in counseling people affected by traumatic death and is a Diplomate in the American Psychotherapy Association. Her therapeutic interventions are presence-and-mindfulness-based, including narrative, dialectical, and logo therapies, in addition to trauma-focused therapies. Dr. Cacciatore is the author of the books Bearing the Unbearable: Love, Loss and the Heartbreaking Path of Grief, and her memoir of losing her daughter, Dear Cheyenne: A Journey into Grief, which is considered the leading book for bereaved parents, which is now in its sixth edition.

Mirabai Starr writes creative non-fiction and contemporary translations of sacred literature. She taught Philosophy and World Religions at the University of New Mexico-Taos for 20 years and now teaches and speaks internationally on contemplative practice and inter-spiritual dialog. A certified bereavement counselor, Mirabai helps mourners harness the transformational power of loss. She has received critical acclaim for her revolutionary new translations of the mystics, John of the Cross, Teresa of Avila and Julian of Norwich. She is the award-winning author of God of Love: A Guide to the Heart of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, Caravan of No Despair: A Memoir of Loss and Transformation, and Mother of God Similar to Fire, a collaboration with iconographer, William Hart McNichols. Her latest book, Wild Mercy: Living the Fierce & Tender Wisdom of the Women Mystics, was published in Spring 2019. She lives with her extended family in the mountains of northern New Mexico.

CONTENTS: Animal Sutras
Foreword: Bringing Mercy to a Broken World by Joanne Cacciatore, Ph.D.		xi
Introduction by Stephen Levine		xvii
PART 1: YOUTH		1
1.	Evolution	3
2.	Prequel	5
3.	Snakes	8
4.	The Loons	16
5.	Weeping Bull Teachings	17
PART 2: THE CABIN		21
6.	The Salamander of Foregiveness	23
7.	Spiders	25
8.	The Mouse of Faith	30
PART 3: SANCTUARY		33
9.	Entering Sanctuary	35
10.	The Hummingbird War: A Benediction	38
11.	Karmapa's Horse	41
PART 4: LEARNING TO SEE		49
12.	The Eye of Beauty	51
13.	The Wheel of Existence	53
14.	The Prairie Dogs and the Ascended Lamas	54
15.	Fire Sermon of the Ants	57
16.	The Greed of Crabs	59
17.	Poison Oack Teachings
PART 5: BELOW RED RIDGE		65
18.	The Ladies and the In-Laws	67
19.	White Clouds/Blue Sky	70
20.	Blue Sky/White Snow	73
21.	Mad Raven Teachings	77
22.	Half-a-Cat Teachings	77
23.	Skunk Satygraha	81
24.	Bats	83
PART 6: THE CELESTIAL HORDE		85
25.	Bear Walk	87
26.	The Bandits and the Blowfish	90
27.	Dragons	94
28.	Hanuman and Ganesha	96
29.	Dreamtime Visitors	99
30.	Riding the Minotaur across the Stellar Maze	104
PART 7: END GAME		109
31.	Returning to the Cabin, Witness	111
32.	A Man Reads Poetry to a Cat in an Empty Warehouse: An Inventory of Life	112
33.	The Cat Rolls Over and Rests Its Head on the Reader's Other Shoe	113
34.	La Ciengega	114
35.	An Animal Metta Retreat	119
36.	The Coyote Women	122
37.	The Mockingbird Story	122
38.	The Ten Thousand Names for the One, Birds Sing Their Ways	130
39.	Vulture Peak	133
40.	In an Unfinished Outhouse in a Spring Wood, Coyotes and Buddhas Visiting	136
41.	Stone, Too, Is Alive	139
42.	Swans, Gradual and Sudden	142
43.	Buddhas Mark the Riverbanks	144
44.	Geese Crowd the Sky Like Devas	145
45.	A Drop of Pond Water	145
46.	Dragonfly	148
47.	Quicksand	149
48.	Cat's Paradise	150
49.	Daddy Long Legs	150
50.	A Rottweiler Story	151
About Stephen Levine by Mirabai Starr		153