It’s official. Smokey the Bear turned Seventy-five today. Happy birthday! And, in honor of the occasion here’s Gary Snyder’s classic poem “Smokey the Bear Sutra.” SMOKEY THE BEAR SUTRA Gary Snyder Once in the Jurassic about 150 million years ago, the Great Sun Buddha in this corner of the Infinite Void gave a discourse to all the assembled elements and energies: to the standing beings, the walking beings, the flying beings, and the sitting beings–even the... Read more
“A century and a half after its publication, Walden has become such a totem of the back-to-nature, preservationist, anti-business, civil-disobedience mindset, and Thoreau so vivid a protester, so perfect a crank and hermit saint, that the book risks being as revered and unread as the Bible.” John Updike in “A Sage for All Seasons” It was on this day, the 9th of August, 1854, that Henry David Thoreau’s Walden:, or, Life in the Woods was published. The book... Read more
It was today, the 8th of August, 1974, that Richard Nixon went before the country and announced his resignation effective the following day. Read more
In 1908 John Ramsey, a United States congressman purchased a Maxwell runabout for his 21 year-old wife, Alice. She took to the automobile like ducks proverbially take to water. In the same year she signed up for an endurance driving contest. While I’m not sure how she placed in that drive, she impressed a lot of people. Including representatives of the Maxwell company. In the following year sponsored by the auto company Alice Ramsey undertook to drive across the... Read more
Wanderer, worshipper, lover of leaving It doesn’t matter Ours is no caravan of despair Come. Even if you have broken your vow a hundred times Come. Come. Yet again, come. attributed to Jalaluddin Rumi DIVING DEEP: A Zen Sesshin 19-22 September, 2019 at Pine Mountain Zen Monastery Thursday evening until noon on Sunday You are invited to join us for a three-day intensive Zen meditation retreat led by the Reverend James Myoun Ford One of the senior teachers of North... Read more
I just saw a meme on Facebook that reads “Tradition: peer pressure from the dead.” I smiled. And then it made think a moment. And from that another frame: “Tradition: best practices from our ancestors.” Of course tradition, as valuable as it can be, must be balanced. I’m taken with a reframing of Richard Hooker’s analysis of the genius of Anglican Christianity. He suggests for his tradition a three-legged stool consisting of Scripture, Tradition, and Reason. I feel there is... Read more
OUR ANCESTOR’S DREAMS Engaging a koan from the Bible A Dharma talk delivered at the Anaheim Zen Sangha Empty Moon Zen Network 3 August, 2019 James Myoun Ford One of my dearer friends was once asked if he believed in God. He said no. The questioner then asked, “So, you’re an atheist?” He replied no. Frustrated the person asked, “what do you believe?” And he replied, “As little as I can.” In my life I’ve tried to strip... Read more
It was on this day, the 2nd of August, in 1343 that the French nobleman Oliver de Clisson was convicted of treason and beheaded. His head was hung on the gates of Paris. Many saw the trial something trumped up, and the conviction and execution an act of injustice for which the king was directly responsible. No one felt this more so than his wife, Jeanne de Clisson. She took her children to Paris and showed them... Read more
Some Hasty Notes on the Western Encounter with Buddhism & Specifically Zen in the West (A gathering of newer and older reflections collected for a larger project, but something I thought possibly of use to others as it stands.) James Myoun Ford Buddhism is a missionary religion. It has a “good news” it wishes to share. Buddhism offers a profound analysis of human hurt, and from that, a path to healing our broken hearts. From its birthing... Read more
Last year, I believe it was, I gave a talk on the Ten Oxherding Pictures. It sparked a reflection. What follows is based in that reflection but marinaded a bit and with some deletions and additions. The talk was livecast on Facebook. And there were a few viewers who joined in during the question and answer session at the end. One person asked where I would place the kensho experience among the pictures? Certainly a fair question. In... Read more
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