Ten Zen Pointers for Engaging the World

Ten Zen Pointers for Engaging the World 2025-02-11T06:43:41-08:00

Engraving by Harding after Lady Diana Beauclerk, 1796. | Image in the public domain.

A friend recently posted on social media ten pointers for engaging with the world and our difficult political and ecological crises. It was from my book, The Intimate Way Of Zen. I’m glad he thought it helpful.

Perhaps you will, as well…

Ten Zen Pointers

1. Start with generosity of heart.

2. Bind ourselves to standards of conduct that support our aspirations. There are lots of rules, laws, precepts, and guidelines offered by different traditions. Understand what these rules are about and what they are for. Commit ourselves to those that make sense and align with our values.

3. Recall this is not all about ourselves, myself. It’s never just about ourselves.

4. Commit to relentless honesty, especially about our own thoughts and actions.

5. Try for gentleness, aimed both at ourselves and others.

6. Recall we are never actually in charge, and it would behoove us to act like that was true.

7. Know there are some very important criticisms of the Buddhist call to avoid anger, pointing out that anger can be the only appropriate response to some circumstances. There is nonetheless a legitimate warning about clinging anger, what I’d call hatred, which has a napalm effect on the heart. As with all these precepts, we need to hold them as all other created things, lightly, knowing there is a time to hold and a time to let go, but that does include a time of holding.

8. Be mindful that the Buddha way is one of nonviolence.

9. Cultivate a sense of patience, even amid urgency. There are injustices right now. And people are not in a position to wait. And all things come to fruition in their own time. Find the harmonies and act within the realities.

10. Return to not-knowing. Here is the great caution. We do not know how our actions will turn out. There are simply too many moving parts. At the same time, we’re not excused. We must act.

About James Ford
The Reverend James Ishmael Ford is a Unitarian Universalist minister, a Zen teacher, and an author. Over the years he has led Zen groups and Unitarian Universalist churches, several occupying the same physical spaces. He currently guides the Empty Moon Zen network, and serves as consulting minister to the First Unitarian Church of Los Angeles. He is deeply interested in the currents of the spiritual life, particularly in that place where cultures meet. He finds social and particularly political engagement a natural outcome of the spiritual quest. James has written or edited five books, mostly addressing aspects of the Zen life. His most recent is an Introduction to the Zen Koan. His articles have appeared in Buddhadharma, Tricycle, and the UU World. He is married to Jan Seymour-Ford, a retired librarian. They live in the Alamitos Beach neighborhood of Long Beach, California, together with their three-legged cat Cassie. You can read more about the author here.
"Thanks for this! I like seeing a variety of translations. An old teacher of mine ..."

When a Buddha Dies
"thank you for the kind words, Daniel!"

Ten Zen Pointers for Engaging the ..."
"This is one of the most important pieces of writing I have encountered in a ..."

Ten Zen Pointers for Engaging the ..."
"Brigid is a Goddess, and She will be worshipped as such. May She help Ireland ..."

Of a Goddesses and Saint: A ..."

Browse Our Archives

Follow Us!