The other day Jan & I made a soup. Mostly collard greens and chopped up andouille sausage. And magic cornmeal dumplings. The creator, or more properly co-creator of the recipe, Aaron Hutcherson freely acknowledges a serious debt to Toni Tipton-Martin, and specifically to a recipe in Jubilee: Recipes from Two Centuries of African American Cooking: […]

    In the Japanese calendar today, the 8th of April is Hanamatsuri. It’s becomes a flower festival honoring the birth of Gautama Siddhartha. The Buddha’s birthday is celebrated at other times in other Buddhist countries. So, a wealth to choose from. Of course that’s because we don’t have a clue about when Gautama Siddhartha […]

    Buddhist Resources for Memorial Services For an overview, you might read the Wikipedia article on Buddhist Funerals.   Resources “When Blossoms Fall: A Zen Guide for Death & Dying” a resource from the San Francisco Zen Center “Funeral Information: Guide to Planning a Buddhist Funeral” a resource from the Fresno Bestuin Buddhist Temple […]

  Every once in a while it’s important to come up with a brief list of books about important subjects. None is more important to me than Zen. Here I hope is a list of a handful of books that can give the reader a very good grounding in Zen Buddhism as it is practiced […]

  Practicing With Householder Koans Dharma Talk given on March 19, 2021 at the Empty Moon Zen Inaugural Zoom Sesshin by the Rev. Janine Seitetsu Larsen Senior Dharma Teacher with the Empty Moon Zen Sangha, and Resident Priest with Bright Cloud Zen practice groups of Seattle & Woodinville, WA   It is good to be […]

  YOUR BEST SEASON A Zen Meditation on Spring Edward Sanshin Oberholtzer Delivered on March 20th, 2012 at Empty Moon Zen‘s Inaugural Zoom Sesshin   Good evening, my name is Edward Keido Sanshin Oberholtzer. I’m the resident priest here at the Joseph Priestley Zen Sangha in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. We’re an affiliate of Empty Moon Zen. […]

  THE ZEN PRACTICE OF KOAN INTROSPECTION A Dharma Talk at Empty Moon Zen‘s Inaugural Zoom Sesshin 20 March 2021 Maureen Myokan Weinhardt Senior Dharma Teacher Empty Moon Zen   The Case Elder Ting asked Lin Chi, “What is the great meaning of the Buddhist Teaching?” Chi came down off his meditation seat, grabbed and […]

      Every once in a while I feel it important to pause and to assess where my heart is, what I believe, what guides me, what sustains me, and what pushes me forward. Hoping, possibly, this current edition of my confession might be of some small help to others on the intimate way. My […]

  I’ve captured these mostly for our small community, but it occurred to me that others might find these videos helpful, as well. I include links to the communities producing the videos. Also, if this subject is of interest, an invaluable resource for Soto Zen liturgy in English is the Soto Zen Scriptures for Daily Service […]

        I have been practicing well past fifty years. My skin is wrinkling. My hair is a different color than it was in my youth and maturity. I’m shorter than I was. And I need to go to the bathroom when I need to go to the bathroom. Admittedly, I still am […]

    I’ve been thinking of late about Zen and the intimate way in the West. It goes in bunches of directions depending on one’s perspective and the perspective of one’s teachers. In Japanese Zen one spends time in the monastery, usually between one and three years, and usually then trundle off to the family […]

    Wuzu said Shakyamuni and Maitreya are servants of another. Tell me, who is that other? Gateless Gate, Case 45 This koan is a simple as pie. And as complicated. Wuzu, who has a fondness for this sort of brief, and yet endlessly haunting question, tells the assembly that the Buddha and the Buddha […]

  MYSTERIES OF THE INTIMATE WAY The Zen Priest’s Buddhist Meditation for Valentine’s Day James Ishmael Ford Empty Moon Zen Tomorrow, you may have noticed, is Valentine’s Day. It is well known that this festival is largely the creation of a conspiracy amongst the greeting card association, the national confectioners association, and the national alliance […]

  Today, the 12th of February is Charles Darwin’s birthday. Were he alive he would be two hundred and twelve years old today. Me, I always consider this day one to celebrate. I mark it out most years here on this blog. And it turns out I’m not alone in this wish to celebrate all […]

      Just shy of two weeks ago my spouse suffered a stroke. It was, as such things go, mild. We have every reason to expect a full recovery. But it has left us both shaken. For me, in my meditations, I experienced moments where the various parts of what I think of as […]

    So. What is Zen meditation? We know it is the practice of a Buddhist spiritual tradition that, while it claims Indian roots, seems to have sprung up within the rich soil of ancient China. It has spread and has adapted variations in Vietnam, Korea, and Japan. And from these different places, it has […]

OCEANS FLOWING IN YOUR BODYA Communion Hymn James Ishmael Ford Perhaps you’ve noticed. It’s all falling apart. *** The Republic has been shredded. The Empire is quickly overtaken. (You might want to brush up on your Mandarin.) *** Of course, we know this. No center holds forever. The sages sing: everything changes. Icecaps recede. Seas […]

    WHAT ROUGH BEAST The Zen Priest Reflects on the New Year, And Makes Some Resolutions James Ishmael Ford The year 2020, of lamentable memory, is now gone. Happy New Year, 2021! And. New Years are traditionally times to take stock and maybe make some resolutions. In that spirit, I have been considering this […]

    Recalling some of those spiritual leaders who died this past year. Many were figures in that great American spiritual struggle we call the Civil Rights Movement. Their ranks thinning every year. Their work, however, sacrifices and blood, continuing to birth a better world. Others a Buddhist monk, a rabbi and translator, one of […]

        I set my current book project aside for a week. And then today, going back to the introductory section I was letting marinade, I saw how, once again, I was repeating an old habit. Perhaps all theology is autobiography, but one should be careful about over indulgence. And so I cut […]

  A Rohatsu Meditation James Ishmael Ford Zen priest Tom Hawkins once wrote about his pilgrimage to Buddhist India. It’s been a while now. But one passage particularly caught me. And even though it’s been some years, it comes to mind every now and again. Especially today, Rohatsu, the date we mark out to recall […]

  Dionysius’ Three Steps on the Intimate Way James Ishmael Ford I’m currently working on a book outlining the spiritual path, sort of a guidebook of practical mysticism. What follows is a chapter that didn’t really fit the arc of the book, but felt worth sharing. Among the maps of the spirit that have touched […]

    It’s November 27th! And with that, once again, the blessings of the saints Barlaam & Josaphat are upon us! This is flat out my favorite of all Christian holidays. And I like to remind people of the details of this original Christian Buddhist mashup. So, please forgive the repetition parts of this small sharing. […]

    Fifty-seven years ago today, in Dallas, President John Fitzgerald Kennedy was assassinated. It was a lifetime ago. Actually two lifetimes. The parents of adults today were not yet born. Fifty-seven years is a long time. It is so long ago that it is less and less a matter of memory, and more and […]

    A BLESSING WAY James Ishmael Ford IN A BEGINNING In the beginning was light. And dark. In the beginning the cosmos began to unfold within a great explosion. Time and space, galaxies of stars and planets, and a hundred million million other things began to spin into existence. Living. And Dying. At some […]

  Well, the election is at hand. Today the last votes will be cast to determine wether we continue along the path Mr Trump has been cutting. Or, whether we will return to that hesitant and bumpy march toward ever greater justice and care for all of us, which has been the hallmark of our […]

    Kathryn Dawn Lang was born on this day, the 2nd of November, in 1961. Probably she’s better known to us as k.d. lang. An award winning vocalist, said to have the range of mezzo-soprano, she is also a Buddhist, and did one of my favorite covers of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah. I appreciate the […]

    Out near where my mother in law lives there’s a church “All Saint’s Lutheran.” They also sport a directional sign for parking. It reads “This way for All Saints.” And appended under that, “And sinners, too…” It never fails to make me smile. And. Today is the feast of all saints. It the […]

    This morning I was listening to Tom Wardle, one of our Empty Moon Zen dharma teachers give the talk at our Saturday morning program. I was struck by several things. One was the clarity of his message, the review of what our practices are, what they are not, and how they help us […]

HOW ARE WE FREE? Mo Weinhardt Empty Moon Zen   I’ve been thinking a lot about time, and how I experience time — particularly throughout this crazy year of 2020, but really throughout my entire life. And even though every person who has ever lived encounters it uniquely, our wildly fluctuating experience of time is […]

      A Meditation on What My Grandmother Taught Me First Unitarian Church of Los Angeles 18 November, 2020 James Ishmael Ford My father was a will-o’-the-wisp with more than a passing affection for the drink. In his life he never held steady employment. As a consequence, we were poor, sometimes desperately poor. And […]

    The lovely and good folk of the Episcopal church celebrate the life of William Tyndale on this day, the 6th of October. Normally such feast days are observed on the anniversary of the death of the person to be honored. In this case it is an approximation, as we’re only sure he died […]

Translating God Glenn Taylor Webb Understanding the great mystery of existence from birth to death is important to some people, including me. Many paths to understanding existence lead more deeply into the unknowable than others.  In terms of religion, faith in God inspires believers on all paths to accept whatever happens as God’s Will.  What […]

A PILGRIM’S PROGRESS  Zen, Maps of the Spiritual Life, Miscellaneous Traps, and, of course, the Fat Guy James Ishmael Ford   People take up Zen for any number of reasons. But those who stay find they’re on a spiritual quest. Words like enlightenment and awakening become the holy grail of that quest. Images shift. And […]

  How time flies. It was on this day, the 16th of August in 1930 that Ub Iwerks released the first color and sound cartoon. Ninety years. On the one hand a blink of the eye. And on the other, well, its looking hard at a hundred and that’s quite a while ago… Fiddlesticks featured […]

    AN INTRODUCTION TO THE ZEN KOAN James Ishmael Ford The Case Zhaozhou visited a hermit. He asked, “Is anybody in? Anybody in?” The hermit lifted up his fist. Zhaozhou said, “the water is too shallow for a ship to anchor.” Later he went to a hermit, and asked, “Is anybody in? Anybody in?” […]

      The Bodhisattva Path:A Meditation on Soto Zen’s Three Pure Precepts   James Myoun Ford The three pure precepts of Japanese Soto Zen are also known as the three root precepts, because they sink into the deep soil of the tradition. They offer a succinct summation of the Bodhisattva way. I believe the […]

      Donald Robert Perry Marquis was born on this day, the 29th of July, in 1878. In his long career he was at one time or another a newspaper columnist, a playwright, novelist, and a poet. Today he is mostly remembered as the creator of Archy and Mehitabel. According to Wikipedia, Archy was a […]

  THE FIFTH OF JULY A Buddhist Analysis of What’s Wrong, and What Might be Right. James Ishmael Ford “The life of a nation. Is secure only while the nation is honest, truthful, and virtuous.” Frederick Douglass To be totally honest, I’ve had a lot of trouble focusing on today’s reflection. There are all sorts […]

  A MEDITATION ON FATHERS & FATHERING IN HARD TIMES Featuring a little Carl Jung, some James Hillman, and a dash of Zen James Ishmael Ford “When one has not had a good father, one must create one.” “When one has not had a good father, one must create one.” Friedrich Nietzsche Last year in […]

          Zen’s Precepts in Five Minutes James Ishmael Ford When most people think of Zen, if they do, they probably think of some kind of expansive consciousness. Based on what I see on social media, expansive into vagueness. That “moment of Zen” is usually a non sequitur of one sort or […]

        WHERE TWO OR THREE ARE GATHERED A Zen Priest Reflects on the Nature of Sacred Spaces James Ishmael Ford Come, come, whoever you are. Wanderer, worshiper, lover of leaving. It doesn’t matter. Ours is not a caravan of despair. Come, even if you have broken your vows a thousand times. Come, […]

I was recently contacted by a podcaster who wanted to gather a few faith leaders’ thoughts on current events and how faith fits into the matter, or doesn’t. I thought it does. And said sure. The text that follows is mostly what I said for the podcast. However, I then recorded a somewhat more expanded […]

Religious Studies emerged within European & American academic circles in the Nineteenth century. The attempt has been to unravel some of those threads of human cultures that have distinctive features that can be described as religious or spiritual. The kick off was a bit of a mess, a ton of unexamined assumptions were packed into […]

    I’ve just finished Irvin Yalom’s novel, the Spinoza Problem. It’s one of those “novels of ideas,” and a lovely example. Irvin Yalom is no doubt best known as as an academic and principal theorist in the development of Existential therapy. Here he shows how he can bring that passion into literature. The story […]

      THE CONNOISSEUR OF SADNESS Exploring The Hurt & the Healing of Our Lives Through a Zen Koan James Ishmael Ford The Story Our founding ancestor was facing the wall. A student on the intimate way, Huike, while standing in the snow, cut off his arm, and presented it to the master. He […]

      MY RELIGION IS KINDNESS A Zen Meditation James Ishmael Ford   The Dalai Lama once famously declared, “My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness.” I find it joins for me with an anecdote about the writer Aldous Huxley. As he approached his death he said, “It’s rather embarrassing to have […]

  Zen in Five Minutes: Is Zen a religion? James Ishmael Ford A number of years ago I served on the membership committee of the American Zen Teachers Association. It had been formed largely out of a list of names compiled by some of that second generation of Zen teachers such as Bernie Glassman and […]

  HOW ZEN IS LIKE AA AND WEIGHT WATCHERS James Ishmael Ford Yesterday I made a quick run to our closest grocery store. While there for the first time in a bit there was flour. It was ten pounds. I thought about that, and the fact we live in a thousand square foot condo and […]

    ZEN IN FIVE MINUTES Okay Zen in Six Minutes & Thirty-three seconds James Ishmael Ford The poet and traveler on the intimate way Jane Hirschfield summarizes Zen with three principles. Everything is connected. Everything changes. Pay attention. The word Zen actually means meditation. That’s where we get the pay attention part. Meditation is […]

    WHAT WILL YOU DO? Commenting on a Traditional Zen Koan James Myoun Ford The Case There was an old woman who supported a hermit. For twenty years she always had a girl take the hermit his food and wait on him. One day she told the girl to give the monk a close […]

    My grandmother, Bolene Bernard, was my first spiritual guide. She was an elder in her independent Baptist churches and a prayer warrior. Grandma was a wise and courageous woman. She was always poor. The only bad decision I know she made was in her choice of a husband. She worked mostly as a […]

  Today I shared a reflection on Jesus’ parable the Good Samaritan at the UU Church in Anaheim, which I currently serve as consulting minister. I accidentally live streamed it from our Empty Moon Facebook page, rather than the Unitarian Universalist Church in Anaheim‘s page. Considering my own path and the inter spiritual message of […]

      A CRICKET, SINGING Zen Commentary on Gateless Gate, Case 10 James Ishmael Ford A student of the intimate way came to the master Caoshan Benji. He said “My name is Qingshui. I am solitary and destitute. Please give me alms.” The master responded, “Venerable Shui!” Quinshui immediately responded, “Yes!” Master Caoshan replied, […]

    On Facebook today Zen teacher Renshin Bunce cited a version of a classic Zen text from another teacher on the great way Koshin Paley Ellison. Let me respectfully remind you: Life and Death are of supreme importance. Time swiftly passes by and opportunity is lost. On this night, the days of our life […]

      TOWARD A SOULFUL ZEN A Review of Pamela Weiss, “A Bigger Sky: Awakening a Fierce Feminine Buddhism”   James Ishmael Ford   I recently received a review copy of “A Bigger Sky: Awakening a Fierce Feminine Buddhism” by Pamela Weiss. It’s due out at the beginning of June this year. I was […]

    I just learned from my old dharma friend Ken Ireland that Father Willigis Jager died this past Friday. Willigis Jäger was born on the 7th of March, 1925. He entered the Benedictine Order in 1946. He was ordained a Roman Catholic priest in 1952. In 1960 his work took him, among other destinations, […]

      WALKING THROUGH THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW Reflecting on the 23rd Psalm, Buddhism, Nondual Christianity, Broken Hearts, and a way of Intimacy James Ishmael Ford I think it was two years ago. Jan & I went to the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana to see the special exhibition of Frank Hurley’s amazing photographs […]

      AS EASY AS FALLING OFF A LOG Investigating the Zen Koan of a Non-Attained Buddha   James Ishmael Ford (The video is our beginning attempt to offer a Saturday program during the coronavirus. We have not mastered the medium, as you can readily tell by the fact we’re sideways through the sitting part […]

    BODHIDHARMA SIGHED Zen Comments on the Gateless Gate, Case 41 James Ishmael Ford   Let me tell you a story. Once upon a time long ago and far away there was a virtuous woman and her husband. Life was good in nearly all ways. They had a lovely home, a farm that produced […]

    The Bodhisattva Way and a Robe of Many Colors Commenting on a Zen Koan James Ishmael Ford The Case Yunmen said, “See how vast and wide the world is! Why do you put on your seven-piece robe at the sound of the bell?” Gateless Gate, Case 16 I love this koan. In some […]

        On Wednesday last, Jan & I climbed aboard a Virgin Australia plane at LAX and spent the next fourteen hours winging our way to Brisbane, Australia. Perhaps because of health concerns, maybe just the luck of the draw, the flight was light and we were able to find two rows of […]

    THE BIRTH OF GOD And What It Can Mean for Us James Ishmael Ford As you may know I am now teaching a class in the Buddhist chaplaincy program at the University of the West. It has been an amazing experience. It has also pushed me in a lot of areas. Not least, […]

    Xizhong and his Magical Cart James Ishmael Ford The master of the intimate way Yuean Shanguo said to a student of the way, “Xizhong, who invented the wheel, made a hundred carts.” Then the master asked, “If you take off the wheels, the axel, and the rest of it, what would be vividly […]

ZEN & THE WEST Nearly Random Thoughts on Clerical Marriage in Buddhism, Women teaching, and the Rise of Householder Zen James Ishmael Ford Recently I had the opportunity to attend a panel discussion on Buddhist clerical marriage in Japan, Korea, and the West. The panelists included the Reverend Dr Hwansoo Kim, Taego order priest and […]

  VOTING WITH CLIMATE CHANGE IN MIND A Citizen’s Guide Tom Bowman (My old friend Tom Bowman, a Zen person as well as a climate activist posted his research into the views about engaging climate change among the current candidates for the presidency of the United States. He did it as a series of posts to […]

    On this day, the 17th of February, in 1600 Giordano Bruno, former friar, amazing thinker, difficult personality, and arguably the “first” martyr to science was burned alive at the stake. Apparently on his way to the stake they drove a spike through his tongue to stop him from talking. I am fascinated by […]

    MANY LOVES  A Small Reflection on the Spiritual Life James Ishmael Ford   Today I want to talk of love as the many splendored thing that it is. Frankly, love is a subject one should return to regularly in a church, don’t you think? And we’re still quite close to Valentine’s Day. I’d […]

    Travers Christmas Humphreys was born In Ealing, Middlesex, England, on this day, the 15th of February, in 1901. The son of a judge. In his teen years his elder brother died and this opened the doors to that great quest through which many before and since have walked. While at school he was […]

    I notice that it was on this day, the 11th of February, in 1971, that half the great Zen missionary to the West, Shunryu Suzuki‘s ashes were interred at Tassajara, the mountain training center he had founded. Six days later the other half would be interred in Japan. He is one of the […]

No doubt there are as many ways into the interior life as there are humans. And there is even a bottom line to it all: Ultimately life is the teacher. This said here are three things that you can consciously take on that can grow into the Deep Way: 1) You need some shut up […]

      I wrote this last year. I thought it worth sharing again this year, with a few small edits… According to Matthew Ciolek’s Zen Buddhist Calendar today is the birthday of Su Dongpo. The listing noted he was an esteemed if controversial bureaucrat, lay Buddhist practitioner, and poet. I thought that interesting enough […]

Zen Master Juzhi & the Matter of the Finger that Wasn’t There James Myoun Ford Whenever the master Jinhua Juzhi was asked about the intimate matter, he simply raised one finger. One day a visitor asked his young attendant what his master taught. The young man raised a finger. When the master heard about this, […]

  From 2017. Seemed worth sharing again… Eating the Fruit of the Knowledge of Good & Evil: A Zen Commentary James Ishmael Ford The Text Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, ‘Did God say, “You shall not eat from […]

    Daido Kokushi, also Myoho Shucho, was the founding abbot of the great Rinzai Zen monastery Daitokuji. It was on this day, the 21st of January, in 1324, he was involved in a debate organized by the former emperor Hanazono between him and representatives of the Tendai and Shingon traditions. At the end of […]

    I just watched a good introduction to Zen meditation by Daishin Morgan, retired abbot of Throssel Hole Buddhist Abbey. While we are both dharma successors of the late Houn Jiyu Kennett, I’ve never met him. I was impressed with his introduction. It inspired me to provide some thoughts of my own, along with […]

  THE PRICE OF POTATOES IN IDAHO A Small Meditation on a traditional Zen Koan  James Myoun Ford Empty Moon Zen  A student of the intimate way asked master Qingyuan, “What is the essence of Buddhism?” Qingyuan replied, “What is the price of rice in Luling?” Book of Serenity, Case 5 I’m very fond of […]

    Today, the 14th of January, was celebrated throughout Europe during the Middle Ages as the Feast of the Ass. I find it one of those small sadnesses that this observance has passed from common use. And, well, I, for one, advocate for its reclamation. According to my google searches the feast is generally […]

      I’ve been blogging long enough that there are several occasions in the calendar that I wish to mark out, but which I’ve written most of what I have to say. So, with small tweaks I’m beginning to repost. Swami Vivkeananda is someone I consider quite important. Narendranath Datta was born in Calcutta […]

  What is now quickly receding in memory, back in the summer of 2000, Jan, auntie & I moved out to New England where I would serve as senior minister of the First Unitarian Society in Newton, Massachusetts. We would end up spending fourteen years in New England, first there, and later in Providence, Rhode […]

The sages of the intimate way tell a story. Once upon a time, a very long time ago, and, of course, very, very far away there was a man. In his youth he’d been called into the practices of the intimate way. And even considered becoming a monastic. But, well, life. He entered the family […]

  Ernest Hunt was born in Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire, England, on the 16th of August, in 1878. It’s said he encountered Buddhism in Asia as a merchant marine. It is said that he was preparing for ordination as an Anglican priest when he decided his heart led him to formally convert to Buddhism. One version I […]

  Yesterday felt a perfect way to conclude the old year. A small band of us from the Empty Moon Zen sangha and the Zen meditation group of the Long Beach Buddhist Church gathered at the church at four in the afternoon for two hours of Zen meditation. We then moved over to the Hondo, […]

    Here we are. It’s the eve of the eve of a new year. And, for me the time I like to annually note it was on this day, the 30th of December in 1916, that Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin was murdered. There’s a small connection for me. And that’s part of why I notice […]

  Letters to a Dead Friend About Zen: A Review James Ishmael Ford A while back I was asked if I wanted a review copy of Brad Warner’s new book. I was intrigued with the title and responded that while I was slammed for time, if they were willing to wait, I would read it. […]

Ram Das has died. I find myself thinking of this as a major marker for my own life. And, with that, and much larger, a marker on the passing of a phase of American and Western spirituality. In many ways I think of Ram Das as the avatar of the Age of Aquarius. Richard Alpert […]

  Today, the 21st of December, the ever lovely Anglican communion celebrates a feast in honor of Jesus’ companion, the Apostle Thomas. I love Thomas for three reasons. The first is that he is the doubter. The words are put in Thomas’ mouth in the (nearly completely a-historical visionary) gospel according to John. There he […]

      John Steinbeck, American novelist, winner of the Nobel Prize for literature died on this day,  the 20th of December in 1968. Since his death his fortunes have fallen and risen, perhaps demonstrating his complexity. Steinbeck is of course the author Grapes of Wrath which published eighty years ago, this year, on the 14th […]

    Daiun Sogaku Harada died on this day, the 12th of December in 1961. He was born in Obama, Fukui Prefecture on the 13th of October, 1871. Sogaku was tonsured as a Soto monastic at the age of 7. At twenty he entered the Rinzai monastery, Shogenji, where he had several openings. He also […]

      The Zen priest Shunryu Suzuki died on this day, 48 years ago, the 4th of December, in 1971. I write about him from time to time. Here I repeat some of that, with some editing and a small addition or two… To begin at the beginning there are actually two Suzukis who […]

    Today, the 3rd of December is the feast of Francis Xavier, the Jesuit missionary to Japan. While fervently hostile to nonChristian religions, and with some blood, if indirectly, on his hands in that regard, I believe he is also the first Westerner to write a moderately accurate report of Zen in a European […]

      Last week I had the enormous honor of being invited to participate in a panel discussion of Buddhism and Christianity as a journey between at the annual gathering of the Society for Christina Buddhist Studies. There were four of us on the panel proper. I would say two of us were Christians […]

    It was today, the 26th of November, 1953, that a Japanese business executive Koun Yamada had his great awakening experience. This would be a critical event in the evolution of koan Zen in the West. Koun Yamada was born in Nihonmatsu, Japan, in 1907. He attended school and later university with Soen Nakagawa, […]

On this day, the 24th of November, in 1859 Charles Darwin published his magnum opus On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life. A hundred and sixty years! My, how time flies… Of course with this book we all began an inexorable […]

  OFFERING INCENSE: REFLECTING ON MY JOURNEY BETWEEN  James Ishmael Ford (This past Saturday I got up early, made coffee, and drove down to San Diego. I’d been invited by Leo Lefebure to join a panel sponsored by the Society for Buddhist Christian Studies which was being held at the American Academy of Religion’s conference. […]

    Fifty-six years ago today in Dallas President John Fitzgerald Kennedy was assassinated. It was a lifetime ago. Actually two lifetimes. The parents of adults today were not yet born. Fifty-six years ago is a long time. For most of us today this is simply history. And. For me its memory. Memory seared into […]

    “The autumn breeze of a single night of love is better than a hundred thousand years of sitting meditation.” Ikkyu (translated by John Stevens) Ikkyu Sojun died on this day, the 21st of November, in 1481, five hundred and thirty-eight years ago. There is no doubt these more than five hundred years have not […]

  Dear Laurie, It was wonderful meeting you at our Tuesday evening gathering for zazen. We look forward to you and your friends visiting with us on Saturday. I offered to provide some simple introductory resources. Here’s a quick offering of links to articles I’ve written on Buddhism and Zen. I hope you find them […]

      “Don’t Trust Anyone Over Thirty” was my generations’ motto. I just looked it up it was coined by Berkeley Free Speech activist Jack Weinberg. Ironically, I notice he himself was born in 1940, so not actually a Boomer, even if the motto was fully owned and copyrighted by my Boomer cohort. Or, […]