“At the beginning of this year,” Mary Rose O’Reilley writes in The Barn at the End of the World, “I had no idea why I felt led to light out into the unfamiliar territory of sheep farming and Buddhist practice.” By the end of this remarkable book, she finds the “deep peace of animal creation” and a way to live consciously in the world.
Praise for The Barn at the End of the World: The Apprenticeship of a Quaker, Buddhist Shepherd
“O’Reilley, a Catholic-born Quaker who practices Zen Buddhism, has created a memoir that is as delightfully unconventional as her approach to religion.”—Dallas Morning News
“A memorable spiritual autobiography. … The Barn at the End of the World is in three parts, quilted by 99 brief essays ranging from barn ecology to the religion of natural process. Worthy ideas—many expressed with elegance, many comedic—are on every page.”—Colman McCarthy, Washington Post Book World
“The life and death reality of raising sheep provides a reality to her spirituality that most people do not have.”—Temple Grandin, author of Thinking in Pictures
“This is a delightful book, penned by a teacher determined to bring spirituality down to earth. … In the end, her book is an open-ended inquiry, a wonderfully humble and good-natured and perceptive gift, that will appeal mightily to anyone who yearns for a simpler path.”—NAPRA Review
“Read it and laugh. Read it and weep. Read it and grow. This is a flat-out fabulous book!”—Parker J. Palmer, author of Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation
“O’Reilley builds a narrative in short essays that focus on a midlife turning point. A certain amount of humor creeps in: Buddhist monks accuse her of animal abuse for giving beer to slugs in the vegetable garden. … We are given a range of meditative approaches to social and individual change from a bright fellow traveler.”—Sandy Primm, St. Louis Post Dispatch
“I was entranced, amused and educated by Mary Rose O’Reilley’s beautifully written spiritual memoir.”—Mary Anne Grossmann, St. Paul Pioneer Press
“There was no putting it down. Four readings later I still can’t. … What she has rendered is experience embraced with such fervor, verve and grace that she leaves me, at least, with only one request: keep on going, and write for us what happens next.”—Susan Gardner, Women’s Review of Books
“It is all incredibly serious, wonderfully funny, full of the texture of being alive.”—Paul A. Lacey, author of Growing into Goodness
© 2000, Text by Mary Rose O’Reilley
© 2000, Cover and interior art by Beth Crowder
All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical articles or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher: Milkweed Editions, 1011 Washington Avenue South, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55415. (800) 520-6455. www.milkweed.org / www.worldashome.org
Cloth edition published 2000 by Milkweed Editions
Cover and interior art by Beth Crowder
Cover design by Adrian Morgan, Red Letter Design
Interior design by Donna Burch
The text of this book is set in Granjon
13 14 15 16 17 10 9 8 7
First Paperback Edition
Milkweed Editions, a nonprofit publisher, gratefully acknowledges support from our World As Home funders: Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Fund and Reader’s Legacy underwriter Elly Sturgis. Other support has been provided by the Elmer L. and Eleanor J. Andersen Foundation; Bush Foundation; Faegre and Benson Foundation; General Mills Foundation; Marshall Field’s Project Imagine with support from the Target Foundation and Target Stores; McKnight Foundation; Minnesota State Arts Board through an appropriation by the Minnesota State Legislature and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts; Norwest Foundation on behalf of Norwest Bank Minnesota; Lawrence and Elizabeth Ann O’Shaughnessy Charitable Income Trust in honor of Lawrence M. O’Shaughnessy; Oswald Family Foundation; Ritz Foundation on behalf of Mr. and Mrs. E. J. Phelps Jr.; John and Beverly Rollwagen Fund of the Minneapolis Foundation; St. Paul Companies, Inc.; U.S. Bancorp Foundation; and generous individuals.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
O’Reilley, Mary Rose.
The barn at the end of the world : b the apprenticeship of a Quaker, Buddhist shepherd / c Mary Rose O’Reilley.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-1-57131-926-5
1. Farm life—Religious aspects—Buddhism. 2. Sheep ranchers—France— Religious life. 3. Human ecology—Religious aspects—Buddhism. 4. Buddhism— Doctrines. I. Title.
BQ5480.F37 O74 2000
294.3'092—dc21
[B]
99-016274
This book is printed on acid-free, recycled paper.
This book is lovingly dedicated to Robin Fox, in harmony
The Barn at the End of the World