Time to Stand Up

An Engaged Buddhist Manifesto for Our Earth - The Buddha's Life and Message Through Feminine Eyes

By: Thanissara

Narrated by: Essie Bartosik

Time to Stand Up retells the story of the historical Buddha, one of the greatest sacred activists of all time, as a practical human being whose teachings of freedom from suffering are more relevant than ever in this time of global peril. Evolving onward from the patriarchal template of spiritual warriors and their quests, former nun Thanissara explores awakening from within a feminine view where the archetypes of lover and nurturer are placed as central and essential for a sustainable world.

Vital is an investigation into the pinnacle of Buddhist practice, the realization of the "liberated heart". Thanissara questions the narrative of "transcendence" and invites us into the lived reality of our deepest heart as it guides our journey of healing, reclamation, and redemption. As the audiobook unfolds, the author examines traditional Buddhism - often fraught with gender discrimination - and asks the important question, "Can Buddhist schools, overly attached to hierarchal power structures, and often divorced from the radical and free inquiry exemplified by the Buddha, truly offer the ground for maturing awakening without undertaking a fundamental review of their own shadows?"

Chapter by chapter, the audiobook relates Siddhartha Gautama's awakening to the sea-change occurring on Earth in present time as we as a civilization become aware of the ethical bankruptcy of the nuclear and fossil-fuel industry and the psychopathic corporate and military abuse of power currently terrorizing our planet. Thanissara relates the Buddha's story to real-life individuals who are living through these transitional times, such as Iraq war veterans, First Nation People, and the Dalai Lama. Time to Stand Up gives examples of the Buddha's activism, such as challenging a racist caste system and violence against animals, stopping war, transforming a serial killer, and laying down a nonhierarchical structure of community governance, actions that would seem radical even today.

Thanissara explores ways forward, deepening our understanding of meditation and mindfulness, probing its use to pacify ourselves as the cogs in the corporate world by helping people be more functional in a dysfunctional systems - and shows how these core Buddhist practices can inspire a wake-up call for action for our sick and suffering planet Earth.

About the Sacred Activism series

When the joy of compassionate service is combined with the pragmatic drive to transform all existing economic, social, and political institutions, a radical divine force is born: sacred activism. The Sacred Activism series, published by North Atlantic Books, presents leading voices that embody the tenets of sacred activism - compassion, service, and sacred consciousness - while addressing the crucial issues of our time and inspiring radical action.

©2015 Thanissara (P)2020 North Atlantic Books

Critic reviews

"Buddhist teacher Thanissara offers an essential voice in support of the revolution needed to ensure a sustainable world. At the heart of truly effective change movements like Satyagraha, Civil Rights, Anti-Apartheid, or Poland's Solidarity, the moral force of religious leaders and people of faith is essential. Time to Stand Up offers such a perspective while journeying through a depth diagnosis of our insane trajectory to a redemptive path of living the reality of our interdependence. Read this book if you wish to find clarity, courage, compassion, and collaboration." (Kumi Naidoo, executive director of Greenpeace International)

"Bold and authentic, passionately benevolent...Thanissara offers profound insights into the alarming global conditions of our time and a mature understanding of the impact of our collective creation - and how we secure a livable future. This brave book offers wise, radical, and practical approaches that realign universal inequities and inspire integrity, intimacy, healing, and respect." (Ruth King, insight meditation teacher and author of Healing Rage and Mindful of Race)

"As a vibrant, fascinating, charmingly introspective look at Buddhism, this is a book that brings a sense of hope to those who engage with, and venerate, the divine feminine - not just women but also men who are strong enough of character to stand up and admit to the mistakes of the past." (Spirituality Today)