Around the beginning of the common era, Indian Buddhists began to collect fables, or jataka tales, illuminating various human virtues and foibles—from kindness, cooperation, loyalty and self-discipline on the one hand to greed, pride, foolishness, and treachery on the other. Instead of populating these stories with people, they cast the animals of their immediate environment in the leading roles—which may have given the tales a universal appeal that helped them travel around the world, surfacing in the Middle East as Aesop's fables and in various other guises throughout East and Southeast Asia, Africa, Russia, and Europe. Author and painter Mark McGinnis has collected over forty of these hallowed popular tales and retold them in vividly poetic yet accessible language, their original Buddhist messages firmly intact. Each story is accompanied with a beautifully rendered full-color painting, making this an equally attractive book for children and adults, whether Buddhist or not, who love fine stories about their fellow wise (and foolish) creatures.

Buddhist Animal Wisdom Stories

Children's Books

McGinnis, Mark W.

Fairy Tales, Folk Tales & Myths

Weatherhill

Elders of the Faiths: Interviews and Portraits

Religion & Spirituality

Ex Machina Pub. Co.

Thirty elders of the Benedictine Order, all born between 1901 and 1925 and at home in thirty monasteries and convents across the country, share their touching and thought-provoking life stories—the everyday rhythm and ritual of prayer and work, solitude and community, sanctity and humor; the most challenging moments of questioning, uncertainty, and tribulation; and moments of infinite inner peace and mystical joy.

The Wisdom of the Benedictine Elders: Thirty of America's Oldest Monks and Nuns Share Their Lives' Greatest Lessons

Christian Books & Bibles

BlueBridge

"An Orange for You" is designed to help a child to develop a sense of awareness. Awareness, presence, mindfulness, and stillness are qualities that improve and heighten our life from the first steps to the final breath. They are abilities best taught by frequent examples of awareness -- by drawing the child’s attention to their sensory perceptions and allowing them to experience freely. This book also attempts to raise the child’s awareness of where their food comes from and the many people involved in the process. This book is inspired by the classic story of the Buddha teaching mindfulness to village children using tangerines. The book may be read to the child using the illustrations to convey the experience of the orange, or it may read be to the child as the child observes and handles an actual orange, or it may be recalled to the child the next time the child eats an orange.

An Orange for You: A Child's Book of Awareness

CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

The 100 paintings in this book are based on haiku poems by Kobayashi Issa (1763-1828), who is considered to be one of the four greatest masters of the Japanese haiku tradition. Issa’s short poems explore nearly all aspects of human experience with delightful brevity. The poems were translated from Japanese by David G. Lanoue.

The Painted Kobayashi Issa

Arts & Photography

History & Criticism

ARTIST'S STATEMENT: This series of essays and paintings is an attempt to explore some of the religions of the world from the perspective of an artist. When I look at religious structures, I view them as attempts to form order out of the parts of our existence and create a sense of purpose and direction in our lives. My motivation in creating this series is primarily self-education and the need I feel to find more meaning and direction in my own life. In the post-industrial world, the true guidance of religion has been largely supplanted by economic designs that may or may not pay lip service to religion. Most of our lives are guided down a path of consumption and careers that form the purpose of our lives. It is my intent in these essays and paintings to study alternative ways of designing our relationships from many cultural sources. The content of the essays focus on the foundation history of the religions and the basic moral and ethical teachings of the faith. It is not my intent to investigate the many variations, factions, and directions that these basic religions have spawned over the centuries. The series includes Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Baha'i, Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, Dreaming Religion of Aboriginal Australia, Inuit Spiritualism, Hopi Religion, and Ifa Divination of the Yoruba of West Africa. The Designs of Faith Project was begun in 1992 and completed in 1998. My research approach to each religion begins with reading the basic religious writings of the faith if they are available. I then read a sampling of both the scholarly and spiritual writings on the religion as well. After taking extensive notes, the framework of the essay evolves in my mind and the writing begins. Early drafts of the essay were reviewed by two individuals who have been my valued friends and critics for many years, Tom Hansen and Legia Spicer. The completed essay and research experience form the beginning of the visual inspiration for the canvas. Additional research is done on the artistic tradition of the faith, stimulating many possible solutions on how to express my ideas in the language of design. I then execute an initial 19 ½” X 16 ½” watercolor study, working on five separate pieces of paper to prepare myself for the five section quintych canvas. A second study of the same size is sometimes produced, working out the various inadequacies and problems of the first. I then move on to the production of the 92” X 79” five sectioned canvas, done with heavy textural acrylics. I have also produced a statement of symbolism and sources for each painting to give interested viewers information on the evolution of the imagery of the quintych. I would like to be clear in that I, in no way, see this study as being definitive. Each of the religions covered in the essays and paintings is tremendously complex with an abundance of variations that have grown from the foundation. People approach these religions from many different perspectives and for many different reasons. Their experiences are certainly no less valid than mine. Designs of Faith has been the most thought-provoking and enjoyable of any of the research-based projects I have undertaken in the past eighteen years. I hope I can share some of this enjoyment and appreciation with others. Mark W. McGinnis 1998

Designs of Faith: Essays and Paintings on World Religions

Poplar Leaf Study: Version Two: 24 Paintings

Individual Artists

Ponderosa Pines: 24 Paintings

Artist and writer Mark W. McGinnis’ thirty-seven page booklet containing summaries of and commentaries on Pope Francis’ Encyclical Letter On the Care of Our Common Home. The author summarizes and reflects on the Pope’s profound document that lucidly describes our ecological crisis and proposes a “cultural revolution” to transform our relationships to nature, society, and to each individual.

The Restoration of Our Common Home: Summary of and Commentary on Pope Francis' Encyclical Letter: On the Care of Our Common Home

Science & Math

Biological Sciences

A treasury of traditional Buddhist wisdom tales, illustrated with gorgeous original artwork. The Buddhist jataka tales are simple lessons in living with honesty, wisdom, and compassion that contain the power to transform the hearts and minds of those who hear them. They are stories of the Buddha’s past lives—in such forms as a boar, a parrot, a monkey, or a peacock—that have enchanted children and adults for millennia. Their animal characters powerfully and sometimes humorously demonstrate the virtues and foibles to which we humans are prone, and they point the way to more enlightened ways of living. Mark McGinnis retells the jatakas in poetic and accessible language, rendering the Buddhist teachings they contain abundantly clear. Each tale is brought to life by Mark’s full-color illustration, making the book a visually stunning entrée to this edifying and highly entertaining literary tradition.

When the Buddha Was an Elephant: 32 Animal Wisdom Tales from the Jataka

Animals

Shambhala

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Books by McGinnis, Mark W.