by Reishin Denise Leong
Zen River Sangha
Appleton, WI
“And I truly believe, only when head and heart work in harmony can we attain our true human potential.” – Jane Goodall
On October 1, 2025, Dr. Jane Goodall died at the age of 91. As I read the tributes, I recalled reading In the Shadow of Man in my youth and being fascinated by this woman who faced the many challenges of her time to follow her passion, sharing her research and advocacy for animals and the environment throughout her long life.
She defied her instructors at Cambridge by having empathy with the subjects of her research, believing that empathy evokes intuition and a connection beyond scientific measures. She spoke of her “deep spiritual interconnectedness of all living things in this tapestry of life.”
She moved slowly and gently through the world with awe and wonder, a teacher with grace. She never lost hope, a recurrent theme in her writings, up to her last book The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times.
May we learn from her being on this planet and helping us realize that we are not separate from nature; we are nature. We are animals, not the master of them.
May we live in wonder and gratitude for this amazing mystery of life and celebrate our interconnection with all beings.
May we continue to meditate and find clarity in our heart space. To be aware of what internal and external obstacles are in our way. To go with grace and do whatever we can in this moment and every moment to relieve suffering with compassionate action.
May we listen to our hearts to inform our heads so that we, too, can meet the challenges of our lives and the world as it is with our fearless Clear Deep Heart Mind.
“…my very favorite individual tree has to be Beech, in my garden. And when Beech began to grow, over 100 years ago, actually, it was from a pretty tiny seed. And if I had picked it up at that time, it would’ve seemed so small and weak, a little growing shoot and a few little roots.
And yet, there is what I call magic. It’s a life force in that little seed, so powerful that to reach the water that the tree will need, those little roots can work through rocks and eventually, push them aside. And that little shoot, to reach the sunlight … can work its way through cracks in a brick wall, and eventually, knock it down.
So it’s a message of hope … people around the world can break through and can make this a better world.”
– from “On Being: What It Means to Be Human,” Kristen Tippet interviews Jane Goodall.
There is beauty and magic in this.
