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Anne Sullivan & the Making of a Miracle Worker

By: James Ford
      The other day my spouse Jan and I watched the PBS “American Masters” segment, “Becoming Helen Keller.” It was a real tread. And even more so for me as I saw Jan’s name scroll by in the credits among a bunch of people marked out for “thanks.” A really good summary of […]
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Certainty and Not Knowing

By: James Ford
      It was today, the 27th of October in 312 that the general and would be emperor Constantine, later called the Great, claimed to have a vision of a cross in the sky and heard the words “With this sign, conquer.” I’ve commented on this moment in the past. In 2011 I titled […]
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Ida B Wells: American Hero

By: James Ford
      It was on this day, the 26th of October in 1892 that Ida B. Wells’s Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases was published. It is extremely hard to overstate the importance of this book and of Ms Wells, herself. From when I first learned of her, I’ve tried to note this […]
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TRUE HEART RISING: Jesus & Ikkyu, Scrooge & Tiny Tim

By: James Ford
      TRUE HEART RISING Jesus & Ikkyu, Scrooge & Tiny Tim Edward Sanshin Oberholtzer Joseph Priestley Zen Sangha and Empty Moon Zen I was preparing a dharma talk the other day that touched upon the Zen priest and poet Ikkyu Sojun, that antinomian character who, were he Chinese, might well have been referred […]
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Prophecies of the End: Dreams of Justice and Mercy and a Goodness Without End

By: James Ford
      And I saw heaven opened, and behold a pale horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. Dreams. John’s Apocalypse, the Book of Revelations, that hallucinatory revisioning of Nero’s Rome is a lot of things. Among them a fevered […]
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Recalling Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Sometime Unitarian, Once and Later Anglican, and All Around Romantic

By: James Ford
      Samuel Taylor Coleridge was born on this day, October 21st, in 1772. He was a member of the Lake Poets, and considered a co-founder with William Wordsworth of the English Romantic Movement. Coleridge is often credited for introducing German Idealism to the English speaking world. Obviously an overstatement. But he is very important. […]
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Recalling the Amazing Randi

By: James Ford
  One year ago today, the 20th of October, 2020, the Amazing Randi died. A loss for us all. I wrote about him some years ago. And I use that reflection as the basis for this remembrance. Randall James Hamilton Zwinge was born in Toronto, Ontario, on the 7th of August, 1928. In later years […]
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John Brown Leads his Assault on Harper’s Ferry

By: James Ford
    On Sunday evening on the 16th of October, 1859, John Brown, American visionary and terrorist, led a small band of men in an assault on Harper’s Ferry. “John Brown was John the Baptist for the Christ we are to see” sang those who saw his Quixotic raid on Harper’s Ferry as the beginning […]
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A Feast for Teresa, Mystic & Founder

By: James Ford
      Teresa Sanchez de Cepeda y Ahumada died in a moment when time ceased to be. It was in 1582 exactly as the Julian calendar was replaced by the Gregorian. And with it ten days vanished, the 5th through the 15th. In this negative time, so did Teresa. We know her as Teresa […]
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Dr Ambedkar Converts to Buddhism

By: James Ford
      Sixty-five years ago, today, the 14th of October, 1965, Dr B. R. Ambedkar shook India when he converted to Buddhism. I try to note the major events of his life. Partially because he deserves to be celebrated. But, also to let people who might not otherwise be aware of him, to know […]
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Recalling the Buddhist Founder Nichiren & His Many Followers

By: James Ford
        On the 13th of October, in 1282 the Japanese Buddhist priest, controversialist, and founder, Nichiren died. In 1253 by our common reckoning Nichiren had his realization that the Lotus Sutra was the epitome of all Buddhist teachings. This was a commonly held view. But, he took it one step further, saying […]
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Noting Aleister Crowley’s Birthday

By: James Ford
      Aleister Crowley was born on this day, October 12th, in 1875. He is one of those figures I visit in this blog from time to time. The last time looks to be five years ago. What follows is an updated version of that last entry. I believe the first time I became […]
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SECOND THURSDAYS WITH JAMES: Conversations with Zen teacher and Unitarian Universalist Minister James Ishmael ford

By: James Ford
    SECOND THURSDAYS WITH JAMES at the First Unitarian Church of Los Angeles   October through June, 2021, we will be exploring the religions and other related topics that have particularly caught our consulting minister Rev. James Ishmael Ford’s imagination over the years. These conversations are not meant to be comprehensive, but lightly touching […]
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Nestorian Christianity: A Survey of materials and scholarship concerning Nestorianism / East-Syriac Christianity in China

By: James Ford
      景教 Nestorian Christianity A Survey of materials and scholarship concerning Nestorianism / East-Syriac Christianity in China From the Digital Dictionary of Buddhism (shared here with permission of the author) Jeffrey Kotyk (I have a long fascination with the Nestorian mission to China. And the hybridization of that tradition with indigenous Chinese culture […]
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Thinking of Thor Heyerdahl & Kon Tiki

By: James Ford
    Thor Heyerdahl was born today, the 6th of October, in 1914. it isn’t going to be easy to convey to a current generation just how much his grand adventure could set young hearts beating in the 1950s. In 1947 he and his crew aboard the raft Kon Tiki made it to the reefs […]
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A Zen Meditation on the Four Abodes

By: James Ford
  A ZEN MEDITATION ON THE FOUR ABODES James Ishmael Ford When it is stripped to its essentials, I find the good of the Christian religion boils down to one thing. Love. It attempts to bridge the gap between humanity and the pain of humanity and some mysterious force that calls everything together. And that […]
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A Feast for Francis: The Zen Priest Reflects on a Medieval Christian Saint

By: James Ford
        Most high, all powerful, all good Lord! All praise is yours, all glory, all honor, and all blessing. To you, alone, Most High, do they belong. No mortal lips are worthy to pronounce your name. Be praised, my Lord, through all your creatures, especially through my lord Brother Sun, who brings […]
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The Householder Vimalakirti Opens the Nondual Gate

By: James Ford
        The Dharma Gate of Nonduality Chapter Nine of THE VIMALAKIRTI SUTRA Translated by John R McRae From the Chinese (Taisho Volume 14, Number 475) The Vimalakirti Sutra was composed in Sanskrit possibly sometime in the first century of our common era, certainly by the third century. It records the expositions of […]
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Mohandas Gandhi: A Small Reflection on the Great Soul

By: James Ford
          The Indian spiritual and political leader Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born on this day, the 2nd of October, in 1869 in Porbander, a town in present day Gujarat. Later he would universally come to be called Mahatma, or Great Soul. Interestingly, the title originally bestowed by the poet Rabindranath Tagore. […]
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The Song of Rumi: The Mystical Heart for Our Time

By: James Ford
      Jalaladin Muhammad Balkhi, the wondrous Jalaladin Rumi was born on this day, the 30th of September, in 1207. I write about him every once in a while. Here, for instance, I devoted a whole dharma talk to him, for instance. In 2007 he got a lot of press as “America’s most beloved […]
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Thinking of Michael Servetus

By: James Ford
  Miguel Serveto, Michael Servetus, was born in the Kingdom of Aragon today, the 29th of September, in 1509. Or, perhaps 1511. His father was from the minor nobility and worked as a notary. He earned both Batchelor’s and master’s degrees at the University of Zaragoza. Later he studied law at the University of Toulouse. […]
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Miguel de Cervantes Takes the Stage

By: James Ford
    Miquel de Cervantes Saavedra was born today, the 29th of September,  in 1547. Or, at least people concerned with these matters, are pretty sure that’s the date. Actually we’re not even certain that was his name. Maybe it was Cerbantes. Maybe he was a New Christian. Or, possibly not. His father was a […]
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The Sage Confucius is Born

By: James Ford
        I’ve been thinking a lot about religious calendars and the need for a universalist version. People have been working on these for a quite a while. Some are good. Most are not. Reconciling lunar and solar calendars only begins to note the problems. And. One date that definitely would belong is […]
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LEAVING HOME, COMING HOME: A Meditation on the Bodhisattva Way

By: James Ford
      LEAVING HOME, COMING HOME A Meditation on the Bodhisattva Way James Ishmael Ford Shishuang Chuyuan was once asked by Senior Monastic Quanming, “When does a single hair pierce innumerable holes?” Shishuang said, “Ten thousand years later.” Quanming said, “What will happen ten thousand years later?”Shishuang said, “It is you who will pass […]
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A Feast for Our Lady of Walsingham

By: James Ford
  In the churches of the Anglican communion, including the Episcopal church calendar today, the 24th of September is the feast of Our Lady of Walsingham. It commemorates an apparition of Mary, Jesus’ mother, to an English noblewoman at the dawn of the eleventh century. Today they even have a YouTube channel. Me, I’ve always […]
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The Zen priest considers Tradition and a Naturalistic Perennialism

By: James Ford
    I’ve been thinking a lot about Traditionalism in religion. Traditionalism is a word with many definitions. It usually speaks to some form of conservativism. It sometimes is associated with right wing political perspectives, and probably always is marked with a privileging of revelation over reason. There is also a spiritual Traditionalist school which […]
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Much Ado About Nothing: Troubles When First Tasting Zen’s Teachings for Oneself

By: James Ford
      The Three Pillars of Zen is one of those books that mark the establishment of Zen in the West. It was first published in 1965 and has never gone out of print. Three Pillars has now been translated into a dozen languages. And it remains an important part of the canon of […]
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A Passing Meditation on Edward Pusey, the Rise of the High Church Party in Anglicanism, Followed by a Sharp Digression Thinking About a Christianity That Could Be

By: James Ford
      While Edward Bouverie Pusey died on the 16th of September in 1882, and that day is observed as a feast throughout much of the Anglican communion, the feast itself in observed here in America on this day, the 18th of September. I noted this about six years ago. And what follows was […]
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Asking for Help: Zen & Prayers & Kanzeon

By: James Ford
          I’m deeply moved by the Serenity Prayer which most of us know through the work of Alcoholics Anonymous. Its deep origins are probably the collective insight of the human condition. The sentiment appears first in English, best we can tell, as a seventeenth century Mother Goose Nursery rhyme. For every […]
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The Buddha Holds Up a Flower: A Meditation on the Birth of Religions

By: James Ford
      Once upon a time the world honored one was at Vulture Peak. Before a vast crowd of lay practitioners, nuns, and monks, angelic creatures, and even gods, he held up a single flower and twirled it. Of the assembled crowd only the disciple Mahakashyapa, responded, breaking into a wide grin. The Buddha, lord of wisdom, […]
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ZEN’S TEN OXHERDING PICTURES: Three Early English Language Commentaries

By: James Ford
The Ten Ox Herding Pictures (Chinese: shíniú 十牛 , Japanese: jūgyū 十牛図 , korean: sipwoo 십우) are a map of the spiritual journey within the Zen schools. The earliest use of a bull or cow or ox as the self in practice seems to date to the Nikayas, the earliest strata of Buddhist teachings, and […]
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Chop Suey & Table Fellowship: A Meditation

By: James Ford
      Love bade me welcome, yet my soul drew back, Guilty of dust and sin.But quick-ey’d Love, observing me grow slack From my first entrance in, Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioningIf I lack’d anything.“A guest,” I answer’d, “worthy to be here”;Love said, “You shall be he.”“I, the unkind, the ungrateful? ah my […]
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Twenty Years After Nine Eleven

By: James Ford
      Twenty years.  Hard to imagine. A life time, or certainly near to it. Men and women not yet born have fought and some have died in the conflicts that followed that terrible morning. I remember. The Sunday that followed 9/11 I was expected to preach. Casting about to find something that might […]
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Mr Roddenberry’s Vision Goes Where No Television Show Had Gone Before

By: James Ford
    It was on this day, the 8th of September, 1966, that the very first episode of Star Trek, “the Man Trap,” premiered. I came a tad late to the Star Trek thing. I missed pretty much the whole first season. This was the sixties, and my young adulthood, after all. So I wasn’t […]
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The Secret Teachings of Zen Buddhism

By: James Ford
    I recall reading the introduction to Madam Alexandria David-Neel’s “Secret Oral Teachings in Tibetan Buddhist Sects,” where she was advised by one of her teachers that there was no problem in publishing the secrets. They remain secret unless someone is ready to hear them. Sort of the truth about such things. With that, […]
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Vow and Grasping in the Zen Life: A Very Small Meditation

By: James Ford
    How do we throw ourselves whole heartedly into the way? How do we honor that vow? When our very lives are tangled, how do we make our way? When there are people who depend on us, how do we make our way? Another image comes to mind. I was talking with a clerk […]
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Recalling the Unitarian Bishop Gregorio Aglipay

By: James Ford
    In the Episcopal Church today, the 5th of September is marked as a feast day for Bishop Gregorio Aglipay. I’ve always loved that they have a feast day for a Filipino revolutionary, dissident Roman Catholic priest, Independent Catholic bishop, and Unitarian. As those who know me might suspect, he’s just a favorite spiritual […]
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Why Zen? A Small Meditation on the Smallest of Things

By: James Ford
    I’ve noticed no one has a “good reason” for embarking on the spiritual quest, whether Zen or any other. Our motives for taking up any spiritual practice are always clouded. After all, in most cases, certainly in our human hearts, motivations are almost always multiply caused. And, sometimes, well, that presenting thing feels […]
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BURNING, BURNING, BURNING, BURNING: Zen at the End of a World

By: James Ford
    BURNING, BURNING, BURNING, BURNING Zen at the End of a World A Dharma talk at the August 28, 2021 Empty Moon Zen Zazenkai Edward Sanshin Oberholtzer. Guiding teacher at the Joseph Priestley Zen Sangha Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. The public works department has been busy here in East Buffalo Township. For reasons that are beyond […]
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Was John Wesley Consecrated an Orthodox Bishop?

By: James Ford
    In Facebook land I found myself drawn into a conversation about the foundations of the Methodist church. It’s one of those historical tidbits that I find as tempting as much as a cat catching a wiff of catnip. As it happens there is a controversy over whether the Methodist founder John Wesley sought, […]
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THE WORK OF CHANGE: A Zen Reflection

By: James Ford
  THE WORK OF CHANGEA Zen Reflection August 22, 2021 Delivered at theFirst Unitarian Church of Los Angeles James Ishmael Ford I’ve been thinking a lot about changes. And with that the nature of change itself. In the literature of Chinese Buddhism there’s a lovely little story that hints at some of how we can […]
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The Zen Master Dahui Tells Us Who Achieved Perfect and Complete Enlightenment

By: James Ford
    The scholar Miriam Levering’s article “The Dragon Girl and the Abbess of Mo-Shan: Gender and status in the Ch’an Buddhist tradition” (Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 5, I ( 1982): 19-35) tells us about a recurring theme in the teaching of the Chan master Dahui Zonggao. It is hard to overstate […]
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Zen’s Song of Awakening: the Shodoka

By: James Ford
    SONG OF AWAKENING (In traditional Chinese: 證道歌; in simplified Chinese 证道歌; pinyin: Zhèngdào gē; Wade–Giles: Cheng-dao ke; Japanese: Shōdōka; Korean: 증도가; “prove Way song”) The Song is a collection of 64 verses. The article on the Song in Wikipedia describes it as a “Chan discourse written some time in the first half of the 8th […]
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Conspiracy, Trust, and other Faith Stories: A Zen Talk

By: James Ford
  Conspiracy, Trust, and other Faith Stories A dharma talk byDr Chris Hoffat Empty Moon Zen Here we are in Los Angeles as, unfortunately, the pandemic continues to rage on. New mask mandates, rising hospitalizations, and new variants are all in the mix now. I recently heard this new wave described as a “pandemic of […]
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Wrapped in Silence: A Zen Reflection

By: James Ford
  WRAPPED IN SILENCE Mo Myokan Weinhardt Senior Dharma Teacher Empty Moon Zen Last night I begged the Wise One to tell me The secret of the world. Gently, gently he whispered, “Be quiet, The secret cannot be spoken, It is wrapped in silence.” Here we are together, a day and a half deep into […]
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The Empty and the Open: Pointers on the Zen Way in a Real World

By: James Ford
  THE EMPTY & THE OPEN Jan Seymour-Ford Senior Dharma Teacher, Empty Moon Zen I’ve been in a very quiet, dark, empty-handed place for a while in my practice, and in my life. So here’s what I’ve been thinking this past week: Oh, crap! I’m supposed to give this dharma talk, and I’ve got nothing. […]
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What Is Zen?

By: James Ford
What is Zen? A meditation James Ishmael Ford A few days ago on social media, I wrote what I wanted to be a summation of the Zen way as I understand it. Zen is not about calm nor focus. It does not focus on nothing. Although it does not ignore it, either. Part of the […]
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Think of me as a Pseudo-Jungian: An Appreciation of Carl Jung on his 146th Birthday

By: James Ford
  Carl Gustav Jung was born on this day, the 26th of July, in 1875, in Kesswil, Switzerland. His father was a rural pastor of the Swiss Reformed Church, his mother the child of a prominent clerical and academic family. He would later write how his mother’s mental illness marked him. He would say he […]
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A Small Zen Reflection on John Newton’s Enlightenment Experience

By: James Ford
      These days I find myself reflecting on the nature of awakening, enlightenment, or, if you will, conversion. For me the great turning is a human thing, some lovely mystery that we are all of us invited to. And many of us in our different cultures and religions seek. And find. But, what […]
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Zen Master Robert Aitken

By: James Ford
    (On Facebook I saw a notice that today was Aitken Roshi’s birthday. The date was a tad more than a month off. But, it sparked a flood of thoughts and gratitude. A couple of years ago I wrote a brief personal appreciation of the old master and appended the “official” obituary from his […]
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WHO WOULD YOU BE BURIED WITH?

By: James Ford
  WHO WOULD YOU BE BURIED WITH? James Ishmael Ford A voice from the dark called out,‘The poets must give usimagination of peace, to oust the intense, familiarimagination of disaster. Peace, not only the absence of war.’But peace, like a poem,is not there ahead of itself,can’t be imagined before it is made,can’t be known exceptin […]
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The Zen priest recalls a poem written for his sixty-ninth birthday.

By: James Ford
      A poem composed on the occasion of my sixty-ninth birthday. Today on my seventy-third birthday, it continues to hold true… I pity anyone with no regrets Old Zen priest Myoun  
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Home Leaving and Letting Go, Real and Imagined, on the Zen Way

By: James Ford
    There’s an old Facebook meme. It goes when I became a Buddhist my family and friends were all worried. But once I became a Buddha everything became okay. Let’s look at that first part. I recall the story of a young woman who joined the San Francisco Zen Center in the very early […]
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ON OPENING THE WAY: Foundations of a Spiritual Life

By: James Ford
      ON OPENING THE WAY Foundations of a Spiritual Life Chris Hoff Empty Moon Zen   This was going to be a Dharma talk about the ordinary. But, because of something that happened this past Wednesday. It is now a Dharma talk about the 10,000 things, and gratitude. Let’s start with the 10,000 […]
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Mushim’s Buddhist Word for the Day is Mudita, Sympathetic Joy

By: James Ford
  One of the people I consistently follow on Facebook is Mushim Patricia Ikeda. She’s a teacher with East Bay Meditation Center and just an all around interesting and wonderful human. One of the things she does on her Facebook page is list “a Buddhist word of the day.” Today she posted “mudita.” Which, interestingly, […]
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The Invasion of the Peacocks: A Small Meditation on Meditation

By: James Ford
    Monday mornings we are usually at mom’s house on the slopes of Big Tujunga wash in Tujunga/Sunland. Jan & I have been exploring where best to take walks. The past two times we’ve driven down to the flats, have crossed Foothill Blvd, parked and strolled around on the west side of the boulevard, […]
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When considering whether all religions are in some way one, the smart money says no. And, yet

By: James Ford
    (I’ve been thinking a lot about whether there is in fact a universal current within religions. I think the best of scholarship says no. And, yet. As Kobayashi Issa sang at the death of his daughter: This world of dew A world of dew indeed And yet, and yet In my life I’ve met with […]
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Not One, Not Two: Zen Between the Christians and the Buddhists

By: James Ford
Some time in the mists of the past, before Covid was a thing, I was invited to be a presenter on a panel sponsored by the Society for Christian Buddhist Studies. It was about being spiritually “in between.” For the most part the panelists were Christian academics specializing in Buddhist studies. All professed to stand […]
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The Zen Priest Travels With Jan & Has Various Adventures

By: James Ford
    (Being the account of our flight to Pennsylvania and leisurely drive back home to California. Originally posted as entries on Facebook, now gathered together, slightly edited, and with a few photographs, and hotlinks attached for some of the more notable encounters…) June 15, 2021 We’re off on our grand adventure. We are currently winging […]
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Sometimes I Call it the Great Empty: A Mind Bubble on Zen in the West

By: James Ford
  Jan & I are on a drive across the country. We’d not allowed enough time and find ourselves more on the road than gawking at things. But, this has its charms, as well… As we were winding our way from the Oklahoma border into the Texas panhandle, having just eaten an astonishingly good Punjabi […]
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Water and Light Soaking into the Earth: Seeking a Common Ground for all Religions

By: James Ford
Water and Light Soaking into the Earth  Seeking a Common Ground for all Religions James Ishmael Ford Guiding teacher, Empty Moon Zen Delivered at the First Unitarian Church of Los Angeles The Text After ages of practice, the nun Chiyono went out on a full-moon night to draw some water from the well. The bottom […]
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Rumi’s Guest House: Three Versions of a Spiritual Text

By: James Ford
  Jalaluddin Rumi is one of the great figures of world spirituality. He was born in what is now Iran in 1207 and died in what is now Turkey in 1273. He was a mystic, a scholar, a poet, and the founder of the Mevlevi Sufi Order, perhaps best known in the West as the […]
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The Disobedience Sutra, the Duty Sutra, and in the End, a Sutra of Interdependence

By: James Ford
    The Disobedience Sutra, the Duty Sutra, and in the End, a Sutra of Interdependence James Ishmael Ford   I’m quite fond of the science fiction cartoon series, Futurama. If you’re unfamiliar with it, it follows the adventures of a late twentieth century Pizza delivery man accidentally frozen and then revived in the thirty-first […]
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Zen Priest Received as Minister Affiliated with a Unitarian Universalist congregation

By: James Ford
    Unitarian Universalism has long had a comfortable association with Buddhism. As a radically non-creedal community, approximately ten to fifteen percent of UUs identify as Buddhist.  At this point two Zen priests have served as parish ministers in UU congregations, although in both cases they had trained in conventional western seminaries. In this case […]
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SINGLE BOOK ZEN: Zen Teachers Recommend a Single Book on Zen

By: James Ford
      Recently I posted a request for recommendations of a single book on Zen. I put it on a couple of lists to which I belong that are limited to Zen teachers. I added for this query some direct emails to a couple of old hands who don’t have formal titles but are […]
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My Three Mothers: A Small Meditation

By: James Ford
    Mother’s Day. I find myself thinking about my mother now long dead. My auntie, my “junior mother,” more recently dead. And, looming behind their mother, my grandmother. All now among the great cloud of witnesses. A few years ago I wrote a sermon for Mother’s Day. And in it I outlined my experience […]
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Hurray for Burritos!

By: James Ford
    Oh my. I can hear him! Right now! The guy who drives through our neighborhood using a bullhorn to announce his one dollar tamales. He’s a recent addition to the neighborhood. And we haven’t yet taken him up on his offer. I love tamales, but there’s a reason they’re often called lard sticks. […]
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The Flowing Bridge: Exploring a Zen koan and the Mysteries of Everyday Life

By: James Ford
        THE FLOWING BRIDGE A dharma talk James Ishmael Ford Empty Moon Zen May 1st, 2021   “As I cross the bridge, the bridge flows” From the Miscellaneous koan collection of the Harada Yasutani Zen tradition I’ve been thinking a lot about what it means to be a person of the intimate […]
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Poetry & the Beginner’s Mind

By: James Ford
    Poetry & the Beginner’s Mind Poetry, the beginner’s mind, the kingdom of heaven, & the power of community. Matthew Sherling A sermon delivered at the First Unitarian Church of Los Angeles April 18, 2021 There was a time in my life when I had to start unlearning all the ideas & beliefs I […]
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AMONG THE SNAKES & DRAGONS: Mind Bubbles on North American Zen Lives in the Twenty-First Century

By: James Ford
AMONG THE SNAKES & DRAGONSMind Bubbles on North American Zen Lives in the Twenty-First Century (A bit of a mess. A draft. To be worked on…) James Ishmael Ford “Ordinary people and saints live together. Dragons and snakes all mixed up.” From the Blue Cliff Record, Case 35 Among the various maybes and possibilities of […]
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The Zen Priest Considers the Secrets of the Religious and the Spiritual

By: James Ford
      I’ve been thinking about religion and spirituality. And what those words might mean for us. In my view Merriam-Webster is the great American dictionary. It’s first definition for religion, 1(a) interestingly, describes the state of a person under vows, like a nun.  1(b), probably is what most of us think of as […]
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Smoke, Spice, and Soul: A Recipe for Collard Green & Andouille Soup, With Cornmeal Dumplings

By: James Ford
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: […]
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Recalling the Birth of the Buddha: Celebrating Hanamatsuri

By: James Ford
    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 […]
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Buddhist Resources for Memorial Services

By: James Ford
    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 […]
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The Short Course in Zen: Five Books Plus One

By: James Ford
  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 […]
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PRACTICING WITH HOUSEHOLDER KOANS

By: James Ford
  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 […]
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YOUR BEST SEASON: A Zen Meditation on Spring

By: James Ford
  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. […]
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THE ZEN PRACTICE OF KOAN INTROSPECTION

By: James Ford
  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 […]
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FINDING MY RELIGION: The Zen Priest Reflects on Buddhism, Christianity, and the Currents of a Living Spirituality

By: James Ford
      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 […]
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Soto Zen Liturgical Forms: A Small Miscellany of YouTube Videos

By: James Ford
  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 […]
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Zen and the Long Haul

By: James Ford
        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 […]
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Third Way Zen: A Small Mind Bubble

By: James Ford
    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 […]
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Soul as the Third Body of the Buddha

By: James Ford
    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 […]
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MYSTERIES OF THE INTIMATE WAY: A Buddhist Meditation on Valentine’s Day

By: James Ford
  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 […]
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Happy Birthday, Charles Darwin!

By: James Ford
  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 […]
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The Great Peace: Or, Anticipating Nirvana

By: James Ford
      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 […]
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What is Zen Meditation?

By: James Ford
    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 […]
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OCEANS FLOWING IN YOUR BODY A Communion Hymn

By: James Ford
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 […]
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WHAT ROUGH BEAST The Zen Priest Reflects on the New Year, And Makes Some Resolutions

By: James Ford
    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 […]
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Some of Those Saints: Recalling Some Spiritual Leaders Who Died in 2020

By: James Ford
    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 […]
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Narcissus Drowned: The Zen Priest Takes a Peek Into an Ancient Mirror

By: James Ford
        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 […]
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A Rohatsu Meditation

By: James Ford
  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 […]
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The Zen Priest Considers Dionysius the Areopagite

By: James Ford
  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 […]
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A Christian Feast for the Buddha: Recalling Barlaam & Josaphat

By: James Ford
    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. […]
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Kennedy, Memories, Dreams

By: James Ford
    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 […]
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The Zen Priest Sings a Song of the Blessing Way

By: James Ford
    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 […]
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A Small Meditation on a Day

By: James Ford
  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 […]
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Happy Birthday, k.d. lang. And Thanks for that Song…

By: James Ford
    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 […]
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The Masks of God: A Meditation on the Feast for All Saints

By: James Ford
    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 […]
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