Rafe Martin

I absolutely love that this book is a Native American version of Cinderella. It utilizes pictures that would build one's imagination vividly of Indigenous people and their traditions realistically. It is mystical and timeless!

I also love that the author uses the character traits of the Rough-Face Girl to depict lessons of morality. The first one teaches the moral of being beautiful on the inside regardless of one's appearance on the outside. The second take away lesson of the story is that people who are cruel and inconsiderate to others receive their just reward as do those who are kind and humane to others.

It"s a fairy tale about an Algonquin girl (youngest of three girls) who was disfigured by the sparks of fire that she is expected to attend too. She lives with her father and two mean sisters. The sisters are spoiled and beautiful. Even though their father is poor, he still gives them what they want while the youngest, Rough-Face, receives broken worn out leftovers.

There is a mysterious Invisible Being, who is handsome, lives by a lake near her village. He is looking for a wife with the help of his sister. Every girl in the village wants to marry the Invisible Being, but before they can, they have to answer his sister's questions about him. Of course, the girls who are ugly at heart lie when answering questions, so they are sent back shamed.

Rough-Face girl wants to marry the Invisible Being too. She sadly has to make do with whatever leftovers she is given by her father for her dress, jewels, and moccasins. People in the village make fun of her as she was through the village towards the lake where the Invisible Being's wigwam is. But when the Invisible Being and his sister finally meet the Rough-Face Girl, they see at once that she is a beautiful, humble person on the inside, her heart. They are impressed with her resilience, humbleness, and honesty. The Invisible Being turns her into her original beautiful self with no scars, Shiny black hair, beautiful skin. They live happily ever after married.… (més)

Review From Gooreads":

What a breath of fresh air. This book cuts right through our tendencies towards "spiritual materialism" and simply acting the part, and shows - through tales of the Buddha's lifetimes - that doing the actual work of the path towards enlightenment is messy and hard, but also beautiful and freeing and the only real way to get there. It's not about "pretending to be the Buddha," as Martin says, by walking around looking serene, smiling beatifically, spouting platitudes and always being calm. It's about showing up in every. single. moment. Here, NOW.

"It's not enough to sit and meditate and experience calm, silence, and peace - as good as those things are...But we must stand up, walk out of the zendo, and actualize the Way in our life, not just talk about it, not just make the meditation hall into a place to hide out from a crazed and crazy world. We are the way."

And the jataka tales of the thousands of lives of "the Buddha-before-he-was-the-Buddha," a few of which are given in this book and accompanied by insightful, straightforward commentary from Martin, are the map. The Buddha wasn't always perfect, wasn't always enlightened, was once (or a lot of times) just like us. But he seized opportunity after opportunity to learn, try, fail, try again, fail again, on and on until one day he sat under that bodhi tree and all that work paid off. And then he got up again, and got back to work.

"For one on the bodhisattva path, daily life is the context...Daily life and its responsibilities make the Way possible. Its challenges are the Way. They're not obstacles to the Way, nor are they in the way...It's about actualizing practice in the midst of the 'ten thousand things.'"

LOCATION: Scripture /Sutra… (més)