Charlotte Joko Beck was born on this day, March 27th, in New Jersey, in 1917. Sadly, I can say little more about her early life. She attended Oberlin Conservatory of Music, and spent some years as a pianist and piano teacher. She married. They had four children. After separating from her husband Charlotte worked at various things, including as a teacher, a secretary, and an administrative assistant at a university. She became an early student of... Read more
The Calling of Our Bones: Zen in a Handful of Quotes & Poems James Myoun Ford “Zen pretty much comes down to three things — everything changes; everything is connected; pay attention.” Jane Hirshfield “Renunciation is not getting rid of the things of this world, but accepting that they pass away.” Robert Aitken The first two of Jane Hirshfield’s observations are a summation of reality, and conclude with a way to find our way. All of it is, well, seriously... Read more
Anaheim Zen Sangha Jointly sponsored by the Empty Moon Zen Network & the Unitarian Universalist Church in Anaheim Meeting at The UU Church, 511 S. Harbor Blvd, Anaheim, CA Beginning in April our Empty Moon sitting groups currently meeting at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Long Beach and the Orange Coast Unitarian Universalist Church in Costa Mesa will consolidate as the Anaheim Zen Sangha, and will meet at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Anaheim. This will allow us to substantially expand how... Read more
The Western church celebrates today as the feast of St Dismas, the name that has been attached in the story of the two thieves who died with Jesus for the “good” one. In the story as we receive it actually the thief has no name. We no longer live in a biblically literate culture, so for you who do not know, the short version of the story is that when he was crucified there were thieves on either... Read more
Come, Thief Telling & Retelling of a Story of a Zen Life James Myoun Ford A Preface In my adolescence I stumbled upon Journeys on the Razor-edged Path. It was written by Simons Roof. I never learned much about him beyond how in the first half of the twentieth century he traveled to India and studied with several prominent gurus. After that he may have had some connections to Western theosophical communities. Or, maybe not. Details are misty. He... Read more
Clara Estelle Breed was born on this day, the 19th of March, in 1906, in Fort Dodge, Iowa. At her father’s death when she was fourteen the family located to San Diego. After she earned her master’s in Library Science she began a more than forty-year career within the San Diego library system. She started in 1928 as a children’s librarian and eventually spent twenty-five years as the City Librarian. Known as “Miss Breed,” she had a storied... Read more
Another under appreciated saint due to having to share the date with a super saint, is St Gertrude of Nivelles, whose feast is today, the 17th of March. Gertrude was a seventh century nun and abbess, and has become the patron of gardeners and most importantly of cats. Be sure to scratch a cat’s ears in her honor… Read more
I was wandering around the interwebs when I found myself returning once again to the Sotoshu website, the site for the Japanese Buddhist church from which my own practice and ordinations derive. In the section titled “What is Sotoshu” I found an interesting summation of spiritual texts upon which the school relies. They state: “We recite various Buddhist sutras, including the Meaning of Practice and Verification (Shushogi), the Heart of Great Perfect Wisdom Sutra (Hannya Shingyo), The... Read more
Por Pablo Correa para IGC. Esta es una traducción del volante “The Faith of a Unitarian Universalist Buddhist” de James Ishmael Ford, quien sirve actualmente como ministro de la Iglesia Unitaria Universalista de Anahein en California, y profesor acompañante de Empty Moon Zen Network. James recuenta su historia cristiana, budista y unitaria universalista, y cómo existen coincidencias históricas y en su camino de vida sobre estas tradiciones espirituales. Este maestro zen y unitario universalista nos introduce al mundo del budismo,... Read more
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