THE OLD WOMAN BURNS DOWN THE HUT A Dharma Talk James Myoun Ford 7 March 2014 Boundless Way Temple Worcester, Massachusetts The Case An Old Woman Burns Down a Hermitage Entangling Vines: A Classic Collection of Zen Koans Case one hundred, fifty-four Translated by Thomas Yuho Kirchner There was an old woman who supported a hermit. For twenty years she always had a girl, sixteen or seventeen years old, take the hermit his food and wait on him. One day... Read more

An old and dear friend, Rod Meade Sperry is the lead editor of a new book from Shambhala Publications, A Beginner’s Guide to Meditation: Practical Advice and Inspiration from Contemporary Buddhist Teachers. It’s a good book. And not just because it includes a chapter by me introducing Zen meditation. I recommend it as a general introduction to the whole range of Buddhist meditation disciplines. Good for people exploring, and also for old hands in one discipline interested in what their... Read more

That last little blast before the fast. well, for some of us… Read more

Arthel Lane “Doc” Watson (March 3, 1923 – May 29, 2012) One of the greats… Read more

IT’S ABOUT SO MUCH MORE THAN MONEY. AND IT’S ABOUT MONEY The Story of First Unitarian’s Annual Budget Drive A Sermon by James Ishmael Ford 2 March 2014 First Unitarian Church Providence, Rhode Island Text At the back of our Meeting House, centered on the wall of the balcony, hangs an old clock. I think it’s hung there since our Meeting House was dedicated in 1816. On Sunday mornings, during the silences of our service, I like to listen for... Read more

The first of March is a big day. It was the Roman New Year. It is the feast of St David, and so for the Welsh, a national holiday. In Iceland it is Beer Day. And, here in the United States it is National Pig Day, where we’re called to “accord the pig its rightful, though generally unrecognized, place as one of man’s most intellectual and domesticated animals.” On a more somber note, it is also the day in 1692... Read more

On this day in 380 Theodosius I, Gratian, and Valentinian II issued the Edict of Thessalonica. It read: EMPERORS GRATIAN, VALENTINIAN AND THEODOSIUS AUGUSTI. EDICT TO THE PEOPLE OF CONSTANTINOPLE. It is our desire that all the various nations which are subject to our Clemency and Moderation, should continue to profess that religion which was delivered to the Romans by the divine Apostle Peter, as it has been preserved by faithful tradition, and which is now professed by the Pontiff... Read more

Antoine “Fats” Domino, Jr was born on this day in 1928, in New Orleans. A city will forever be identified with… Read more

Yangshan’s Sermon from the Third Seat A Dharma talk James Myoun Ford 24 February 2014 Henry Thoreau Zen Sangha Boundless Way Zen Newton, Massachusetts Yangshan Huiji had a dream. In it he traveled to Maitreya’s hall, where he was led to the third seat. No sooner had he sat than a senior monk struck the bell and announced, “Today the one sitting in the third seat will preach.” Yangshan immediately stood up, and also gave the bell a strike. He... Read more

is that it plays no favorites… A recent Daily Beast article by Michael Schulson offers some words that will no doubt be unwelcome in my circles, where anti-evolutionists are, and appropriately, mocked, but homeopathy is big business. Whole Foods: America’s Temple of Pseudoscience begins with a provocative assertion, “Americans get riled up about creationists and climate change deniers, but lap up the quasi-religious snake oil at Whole Foods. It’s all pseudoscience…” For the rest of that story, click here. The... Read more