The Archetypal psychologist James Hillman was born on the 12th of April, in 1926. Which means he’d be a hundred today. He looms in my inner life. In an unfinished memoir I touched up him and his acolytes and all that. I began taking classes at Sonoma State University, studying psychology while Jan finished up some general education requirements at several local community colleges. I was working close to full time and I considered the BA nothing more than a... Read more
Easter. That most holy of Christian holy days. The Gospel of Mark is generally considered the oldest of the canonical gospels, the time-hallowed stories of Jesus and his ministry. The sixteenth chapter of Mark tells the story of Easter in its most unelaborated version. And when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, went to the tomb, bringing sweet spices to anoint his body. It was Sunday at dawn. They were worried about... Read more
Hui Tzu said to Chuang, “I have a big tree, the kind they call a “stinktree.” The trunk is so distorted, so full of knots, no one can get a straight plank out of it. The branches are so crooked you cannot cut them up in any way that makes sense.” “There it stands beside the road. No carpenter will even look at it. Such is your teaching – big and useless.” Chuang Tzu replied, “Have you ever watched the... Read more
Eugen Herrigel was born on the 20th of March, in 1884. In 1953, his book Zen in der Kunst des Bogenschießens was published as Zen in the Art of Archery. It was one of the first English language books in general distribution that touched on Zen. And it was wildly successful. “Zen and the art of” would become the title of numerous serious and facetious studies of one thing or another including motorcycle maintenance, poker, knitting, and writing. Another... Read more
The Rinzai Zen master Soen Nakagawa was born on the 19th of March, in 1907. It’s been a while since I’ve noted the day and this remarkable figure at the foundation of Zen come West. Felt appropriate to offer it again. In my study of Zen come West, Zen Master Who? I wrote about him. Through his regular visits, his Dharma heirs, and others he taught, Soen Nakagawa would become one of the most important figures shaping a Western understanding of... Read more
I was saddened to learn that David Chadwick died at his home in Bali yesterday. He’s devoted much of his life to archiving the early history of the San Francisco Zen Center, itself the epicenter in the founding of convert Zen in North America. The term “Zen Center” was coined as the group separated from Sokoji Soto Zen Mission of San Francisco. Along the way he wrote one of the most charming Zen memoirs of the genre I’ve read, Thank... Read more
(Roshi Edward Oberholtzer gave this dharma talk at our Empty Moon Zen Saturday Zoom sit on Feburary 21st, 2026. With his gracious permission I reprint it here…) *** Stephan Daedalus, that stand-in for his creator, James Joyce, once said in Joyce’s Ulysses , that “A man of genius makes no mistakes. His errors are volitional and are the portals of discovery.” Xuedou has a word for him and for that genius to be, Magu in: Case 31 of the Blue... Read more
(The following is a Dharma talk delivered by Dharma Holder Thomas Wardle of the Empty Moon Zen community. Reprinted here with his generous consent.) If you don’t know the kind of person I am and I don’t know the kind of person you are a pattern that others made may prevail in the world and following the wrong god home we may miss our star. For there is many a small betrayal in the mind, a shrug that lets the... Read more
Thomas Merton was born at Prades, France, on the 31st of January, in 1915. His father Owen was a New Zelander, his mother Ruth, an American. They’d met while each was studying art in Paris. Thomas was baptized into the Church of England. representing his father’s Anglican faith. With the onset of the First World War the family relocated to the States. His brother, John Paul was born shortly after. Their mother died when Merton was six. A couple of... Read more
Eihei Dogen was born on the 26th of January in 1200. He is recalled as the founder of the Japanese Soto school (Caodong in Chinese) and as one of the great spiritual writers of all time. It is believed he was the illegitimate child of an imperial councillor. His mother is believed to have died when he was seven and he was raised within his father’s family. At thirteen Dogen entered the Tendai order at Mt Hiei. His first teacher... Read more
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