Rev. Liên Shutt is a Sōtō Zen Buddhist priest, educator, and licensed social worker who was born into the Pure Land traditions in Vietnam, then did their meditation training in North American Zen and Insight (Vipassana) Buddhism.

A co-founder of Buddhists of Color and Access to Zen, Rev. Shutt facilitates the Engaged Four Noble Truths program, a restorative framework for meeting any given critical need, especially when applied to oppressive forces and systems. In 2020, that program was called upon to help meet critical needs emerging as a result of the pandemic, and after the murder of George Floyd, to help facilitate ways Buddhist practice can address racial justice.

“This book is for all who have been hurt and harmed by the system of white supremacy and other systemic wrongs,” writes Shutt, “and for those seeking restoration and healing.”

The Engaged Eightfold Path for practicing antiracism is structured as a three-pronged approach:

1. Wisdom Teachings, for (Path 1) skillful view and (Path 2) skillful thinking;
2. Ethical Conduct Teachings, for (Path 3) skillful speech, (Path 4) skillful action, and (Path 5) skillful livelihood; and
3. Meditative Teachings, for (Path 6) skillful effort, (Path 7) skillful mindfulness, and (Path 8) skillful concentration.

Wisdom Teachings is about learning to see the world as it is, and to understand the Four Noble Truths. Shutt applies the Four Noble Truths and discusses karma, racial conditioning, and social locations in systems of oppression.

When was the last time you sincerely and truthfully took a hard look inward and asked, are you fully aware of how you have inflicted harm, and can you recount the ways you have contributed to the causes of harm? I find that to be such an important step for self-awareness and accountability, irrespective of your religious path.

What is skillful view and skillful thinking? “The ‘Middle Way,’ as Buddhism is often called,” writes Shutt, “is not some pace per se. It’s the freedom of knowing that our lives are the negotiation between relative and absolute; not to be stuck in one or the other point if view.”

Ethical Conduct Teachings help to shift the focus of communication to transform internalized racism or privileges in white supremacy culture. How do we help the world realize its wholeness? How do we actualize Buddhist non-harming commitments? And how can each and every one of us, even as individuals, offer ways to work with life energies to practice antiracism through the Eightfold Path?

Meditative Teachings help us to change our conditioned beliefs and incline us toward social justice and restoration. Shutt offers clear guidance on way to transform unwholesome karmic seeds and to cultivate new wholesome ones. In the face of social inequality, what can we do to steer our communities from surviving to thriving?

Home is Here is specially tailored for anyone who identifies with the QTBIPOC communities, not just because of the author’s clear empathy as a member of the QTBIPOC community themselves, but because the guidance is supportive, encouraging, and inspiring to anyone who has experienced the harms of social and civil oppression.

Through the lens of antiracism, the Engaged Four Noble Truths as Shutt presents them are as follows:

1. Harm and harming are present;
2. Understand fully the causes and conditions for harm and harming;
3. Individual and collective agency for ending harm is possible; and
4. The Eightfold Path empowers wholeness (skillful (1) view, (2) thinking, (3) speech, (4) action, (5) livelihood, (6) effort, (7) mindfulness, (8) concentration.

An integrated metta and karuna meditation practice that Shutt teaches goes as follows: Find a comfortable position for your body, and it can even be lying down. Choose one of the below phrases to repeat silently to yourself. On the inhale, feel the words being absorbed into you; on the exhale, let yourself feel the impact of the words.

• May I be filled with kindness.
• May I be filled with goodwill.
• Let me know well-being here and now.
• May I forgive myself for my past mistakes.
• Let me be patient with myself and with others.
• May I be free from suffering and the causes of suffering.

To end the meditation, try to feel the results of the practice, especially in your body, as settledness or as presence.

In Soto Zen, there is a tradition called Way-Seeking Mind talks. This is when each person shares how they came to Buddhist practice.

Reflection and Comments: If you identify as Buddhist or Buddhism has in any way, even in a small part, influenced your spiritual path, how did you come to learn about your Buddhist practice?

I was born into it, so it’s been part of my life for as long as I can recall. My mother (and to an extent my father as well) believed that Buddhist practice would best guide my sisters and me to be kind people, to best govern our skill sets and abilities, to help us navigate this world. That meant spending every summer at monasteries, being immersed in sutras, mantras, and weekly meditation practice, and it meant a lot of reading of Buddhist texts.

“Like many Asian Americans and other people of color, at some point I had to learn to value myself, reclaiming the validity of my own experience in any moment and in any condition. Buddhist practice over many years has supported me to return to knowing and trusting my wholeness.”

I cannot fully convey how deeply I appreciate Rev. Shutt calling out the erasure of Asians and Asian Americans in North American Buddhism. What a meaningful title for this book– Home is Here. I felt like I was coming home. Shutt so poignantly presents the Asian American Buddhist experience. I felt seen, and validated.

“There’s been a long history of white Buddhists framing Buddhism in the United States as ‘Two Buddhisms,'” she notes in the section on Asian Othering. “Their take, broadly, is to differentiate ‘ethnic Buddhists’ who are Asians practicing ‘superstitious’ Buddhism from white convert Buddhists who are more ‘modern’ and ‘scientific.'” It is that elitist attitude I find from white Buddhists that has always driven me to take pause and not share as much as I would otherwise want to about esoteric Buddhism.

Shutt closes this beautiful book with the following: May this be for the benefit of all beings.

Home is Here is a heartfelt, instructive, both practical and inspiring read. I appreciated that slight adjustment of the Eightfold Path, changing the description of the paths from “right” to “skillful,” and devoting the book to exploring what it means to be skillful and unskillful. How do you heal harm? That is what Home is Here addresses, lighting the path to personal and community wholeness.

An incredible contribution to the discourse on social justice, activism, and antiracism through the lens of Buddhist practice.

FTC Disclosure: In accordance with Title 16 of the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations Part 255, “Guides Concerning Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising,” I received this book from the publisher for prospective review, who also happens to be the publisher of my books! =) Everything I’ve said here is sincere and accurately reflects my opinion of the book.