By Samuel Lewis, edited by Neil Douglas-Klotz
Published by Ruhaniat Press
A moving personal history of how Sufism and Zen came to America. Lewis's meetings with remarkable beings include Swami Papa Ramdas, Nyogen Senzaki, Mother Krishnabai, and others.
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The story of Samuel Lewis’s remarkable life in his own words, drawn from his letters, diaries, unpublished retreat notebooks and other writings. Sufi Vision and Initiation offers an intimate view of the various budding spiritual movements of the 20th century:
- A moving personal history of how Sufism and Zen came to America
- The story of meetings with remarkable beings like Swami Papa Ramdas, Nyogen Senzaki, Sokeian Sasaki, Mother Krishnabai, Ruth St. Denis, Hazrat Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan, and others who sought to bring East and West together through the universality of genuine mystical experience
- The background story of the role of religion in geo-political machinations in the Middle and Far East
- An early attempt to offer ecological agriculture as an alternative to corporate agribusiness in Asia
- The birth story of the worldwide movement of the Dances of Universal Peace in the words of their founder
The great mystics and sages of the 20th century all play a part in this story of an American scholar and scientist’s search for truth.
Praise
The Dances of Universal Peace… came to stay, and so does the indelible memory of their pioneer, veteran in the art of carrying the experience of meditation on the Divine attributes right into the body. - Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan
I have no fonder memory of the 60's than the appearance of this strange-looking man, who said things that made me first laugh, then smile, then later pause in appreciation of a spiritual original, a pioneer. - Dr. Jacob Needleman, author of New Religions and Lost Christianity
By being spiritual, Samuel Lewis expanded the range of being human; and by being human he deepened the meaning of being spiritual. - Pir Moineddin Jablonski
Bio
Samuel L. Lewis also known as Murshid SAM and Sufi Ahmed Murad Chisti (1896 – 1971) was an American mystic and horticultural scientist who founded what became the Sufi Ruhaniat International, a branch of the Chishtia Sufi lineage. After a lifetime of spiritual study with teachers East and West, primarily Hazrat Inayat Khan and Nyogen Senzaki, Lewis was recognized simultaneously as a Zen master and Sufi murshid (senior teacher) by Eastern representatives of the two traditions. He also cofounded the Christian mystical order called the Holy Order of Mans. His early interest in international seed exchange and organic agriculture also established him as one of the pioneers of green spirituality. His most enduring legacy may be the creation of the Dances of Universal Peace, an early inter-spiritual practice that has spread around the world in the years since his passing.