New Releases by Rafe Martin

How can you save a burning forest with just sprinkles of water? This timeless Buddhist tale may just have the answer! In this ancient tale of one of the Buddha’s past lives, the Buddha is born as a little gray parrot who takes it upon herself to save her beloved forest home from a raging fire. Even though she can only sprinkle drops of water onto the blaze, her perseverance, courage, and compassion change everything, eventually saving the forest in an unexpected way. Zen teacher and acclaimed storyteller Rafe Martin and award-winning illustrator Demi render this centuries-old classic into a beautiful and timeless tale that will inspire all of us to find our own bravery and to act selflessly for the benefit of all.

Zen Buddhism begins with the Buddha''s enlightenment. While the word, "enlightenment" suggests there is something you get and that once have it you are "enlightened," "intimacy" comes closer to the truth. We gain nothing. Rather, through attention to counting the breath, experiencing the breath, or putting our attention into a koan, we become of less interest to ourselves and, in this losing is finding. The world steps in - trees, mountains, bugs, rivers, people - and we rediscover our original, undiminished intimacy with all things. No longer strangers to this Earth, to others, or to ourselves, such intimacy has healing power. This is to live our own Zen life of Buddha. Drawing on ancient myth, on Zen koans, on stories, and on his own over fifty years of formal Zen practice and more than ten years of active Zen teaching, Roshi Rafe Martin reveals the life of the Buddha as our own actual life. Using his skills as an award-winning author and storyteller, he organizes the life of the Buddha into five archetypal chapters - Birth, Leaving Home, Enlightenment, Teaching, and Death and reveals how, at every point, the historic/legendary/mythic life of the Buddha is our own lived life. The end result is transformative, helping us to potentially live each day more consciously, skillfully, and gratefully - whatever comes.

A small beautifully illustrated book for children and adults with a concise, clear retelling of the story of the Buddha''s birth, by an author, storyteller and Zen teacher, and illustrated by a gifted artist who has practiced in the Buddhist tradition.

Discover how ordinary beings—a deer, a robber, a monkey, a parrot, and more—make up the past lives of the Buddha before he was Buddha. The jataka tales are ancient Buddhist stories found in both the Pali Canon and Sanskrit tradition, recounting the many past lives and ongoing spiritual work of Shakyamuni Buddha on his way to his final birth as Siddhartha Gautama. In them we find the Buddha facing difficulties, making tough choices, doing hard work, falling down and getting back up—the kind of continuing effort of spiritual practice that all beings face. Before Buddha was Buddha focuses on a selection of particular jataka tales in which the Buddha in past lives faces temptations and struggles with self-doubt as well as his own shortcomings. In these tales he’s not beyond life’s messes—its challenges and disasters—but is down in the mix, trudging through the mud with the rest of us. Each story, presented in brief, is followed by a commentary pointing to its relevance to our lives and practice-realization today.

***WINNER, 2011 Storytelling World Resource Award – Best Storytelling Collection The jataka tales—stories of the Buddha’s past lives (in both human and animal form)—were first said to have been told by the Buddha himself 2,500 years ago. Five hundred and fifty jataka tales comprise part of the oldest Buddhist text, the Pali Canon. From this wealth of folklore, award-winning author and storyteller Rafe Martin has chosen ten tales that illustrate the ideals of the Buddhist paramitas, or “perfections” of character: giving, morality, forbearance, vitality, focused meditation, wisdom, compassionate skillful means, resolve, strength, and knowledge. Artist and designer Richard Wehrman helps bring the spirit of these stories alive with rich illustrations that open each chapter. Endless Path presents these ancient stories, usually reduced to children’s tales in the West, for adults, reconnecting modern seekers with the more imaginative roots of Buddhism. The jatakas help readers see their own lives, their failures and renewed efforts, in the same light as the challenges the Buddha faced—not as obstacles but as opportunities for developing character and self-understanding. Endless Path demonstrates the relevance of these tales to Buddhist lay practitioners today, as well as to those more broadly interested in Buddhist teaching and the ancient art of storytelling.

This inspiring tale reminds us that no one can be truly at peace unless all beings have a chance for peace, freedom, and happiness. The Banyan Deer is a wonderful, heart-warming gift for anyone who loves a great story. This beautiful hardcover edition will delight both adults and children alike.

Half the time Ardwin wishes his wing was gone. But when he learns that his father plans to have the wing severed, he knows he must flee to save his life and to find his way.

Having survived a shipwreck, a princess tries to tell a prince a story whose ending he does not know and thus qualify for his hand in marriage.

The author of THE ROUGH FACE GIRL creates a stunning coming-of-age novel built from a glorious Seneca Indian story cycle. Cast out of the Seneca tribe because they are unable to help make war, Crow and his grandmother struggle to survive alone. Then Crow hears the magnificent voice of the Storytelling Stone -- an ancient rock that tells tales of the Long Ago Time, when the Sky Woman trod the Above World and a child could alter the ways of a people. As he listens to the Stone''s stories, Crow comes to realize his own power to effect change and his destiny as a Seneca and a man. THE WORLD BEFORE THIS ONE laces Seneca legends with Crow''s narrative to create a story about stories, how they help us live and grow.

Rafe Martin and David Shannon reunite in this folktale interpretation of a dramatic flood myth set amidst the unmatched beauty of the Hawaiian Islands. In a country whose ruler is cruel and whose people are hardened, two children remain warm-hearted and exuberant. One day after freeing a shark trapped in the shallows, the children are so excited that they touch the King''s forbidden drum. They are thrown into prison, and no one will listen to their parents'' pleas for mercy. So, at great risk, they go to the Shark God himself, and he takes retribution, causing a great flood that leaves only the good family behind, and clears the way for a better, kinder future.

"Sew, Marushka! Weave, Marushka. Chop the wood! Milk the cows! Cut the hay and stack it -- Marushka!" The poor girl. No matter what she does or how hard she tries, Marushka can never please her cruel aunt and cousin. Determined to be rid of her, they give Marushka three impossible tasks. She must bring them fresh violets, strawberries, and apples -- in the dead of winter -- or be cast out of their home for good! Lost and freezing, Marushka is without hope. Then she meets the twelve months of the year seated around a fire on the mountaintop. With their kind help, the impossible becomes possible. Without it? Well . . . as Marushka''s greedy relatives are about to discover, that''s another story. Rafe Martin and Vladyana Langer Krykorka give this timeless Slavic tale a delightful new twist.

A retelling of the Russian tale about a wealthy merchant''s younger son who proves his worth in an unusual way.

A woman who has gone to live under the sea with her beloved finds that she and the children she is raising are in danger of becoming people of the sea.

From Algonquin Indian folklore comes a powerful, haunting rendition of Cinderella. In a village by the shores of Lake Ontario lived an invisible being. All the young women wanted to marry him because he was rich, powerful, and supposedly very handsome. But to marry the invisible being the women had to prove to his sister that they had seen him. And none had been able to get past the sister''s stern, all-knowing gaze. Then came the Rough-Face girl, scarred from working by the fire. Could she succeed where her beautiful, cruel sisters had failed?

A banished princess must show her father what she meant when she told him he was as "dear to her as salt is to meat."

Marten loved to roam the vast land with his bow and arrow. But then his two older brothers went off seeking adventure and never returned. Now his parents fear for Marten''s safety. But Marten must find his own way in the world, and so he sets off, meeting a mysterious eagle who promises to return his brothers if he will agree to an unusual request. And as Marten''s spectacular journey begins, the eagle is transformed before his eyes into a man who will teach him how to bring joy to people through song, dance, storytelling and community in this magical retelling of a traditional Alaskan story that captures the spirit and strength of the Innuit culture.

A human king learns wisdom and compassion from a monkey king willing to make a great sacrifice for the good of his subjects.

Eleven traditional Japanese tales. 10 yrs+

When their son disappeared, his parents thought they would never see him again. But years later, the boy was spotted swimming with the seals. Shannon''s haunting pictures dramatize the bittersweet beauty of this traditional story from the Chinook people of the Northwest. Full-color illustrations.

Will falls into a quarry and survives the bitterly cold night with assistance from a creature of the past.

Famous short Zen stories for all ages. B/W illus.

A lost boy who has grown up in the sea with seals returns to his tribe but is strangely changed.

Children''s author Rafe Martin describes his life and writing process and how they are interwoven.

Though his parents explain there have been no mammoths for over 10,000 years, Will goes out in the snow one day, certain he will meet some.

As all the animals panic and flee at little rabbit''s announcement that the earth is breaking up, a brave lion steps in and brings sense to the situation.

In many of these seemingly simple tales, wise animals teach humans important lessons about the central Buddhist principles of wisdom, heroic action, nonviolence and compassion.