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
I find myself thinking of Margot Adler. She was born in Little Rock, on the 16th of April, 1946. Not much later the family relocated to New York City, and that would remain her base for the rest of her life. The family were “the” Adlers. Her grandfather the noted early associate of Sigmund Freud, Alfred Adler, who later developed his own school, Individual psychology. Her father was also a noted psychiatrist. Adler earned her undergraduate degree at... Read more
Six Markers of a Modernist Buddhism James Myoun Ford Buddhisms, Ancient & Modern There I was, on Facebook, when I was pointed to an article that purported to compare “traditional” Buddhism with “secular” Buddhism. The author appeared to belong to a Traditionalist school of one sort or another, and, interestingly, to me, at least, is also a pretty far right person politically, identifying, it appears with the alt-right. This generated several trains of thought for me. One... Read more
The very generous folk at New World Library have just gifted me with a copy of Zen: A Short Introduction With Illustrations by the Author. I guess its one of the perks that come when someone gets confused for a moment and thinks I might be an “Influencer” in the Zen Buddhist world. I was pleased to get it. My feelings about Alan Watts shift like the tides and currently my positive feelings are in full flood.... Read more
Tafari Makonnen was born on this day, the 23rd of July, in 1892. In 1930 would assume the throne of Ethiopia as the Emperor Haile Selassie I. Through the vagaries of mysterious karma, and possibly at least in part to the royal family’s claim to be descendent from the biblical Queen of Sheba and King Solomon, he would find a lasting place in religions as a central figure in the Rastafarian movement. Mildly ironic, of course,... Read more
One of the interesting themes to my young life as a boomer was the background reality of the space race. Like most all children in the country I followed the space program avidly from the announcement of Sputnik when I was nine years old, to that moment sitting with friends and watching a snowy black and white television broadcasting Neil Armstrong’s first step onto the moon’s surface on the 20th of July, 1969. Fifty years ago. I continue... Read more
As it happens, it was today, the 18th of July, 1992 that the first picture was posted to the World Wide Web. The image was of Les Horribles Cernettes, Angela Higney, Michele de Gennaro, Colette Marx-Neilsen, and Lynn Veronneau. And here is the picture. The group was, according to Wikipedia, “an all-female parody pop group, self-labelled “the one and only High Energy Rock Band”, which was founded by employees of CERN and performed at CERN and other HEP-related... Read more
The story that forms this sermon is inspired by a tale recounted in Simons Roof’s Journeys on the Razor-Edged Path. From that place I try to outline the arc of a spiritual life. Read more
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