A small meditation on not knowing as a spiritual discipline

Last updated on: August 25, 2024 at 1:19 pm By James Ford

It was on the 25th of August in 1609 that Galileo Galilei revealed his telescope to the leaders of Venice. Much would follow. Among these things a terrible conclusion. In 1633 that Vincenzo Maculani da Firenzuola representing the Holy Office of the Inquisition, declared: “We pronounce, judge, and declare, that you, the said Galileo… have rendered yourself vehemently suspected by this Holy Office of heresy, that is, of having believed and held the doctrine (which is false and contrary to... Read more

A Buddhist Lord’s Prayer

Last updated on: August 21, 2024 at 6:48 am By James Ford

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A dear friend, an old Zen hand and an apprentice teacher on the koan way shared her Buddhist Lord’s prayer with me. I immediately asked if I could share it at my blog. And she graciously consented. I find it a complement to the wonderful prayer attributed to Jesus. I would add that just as many scholars suggest his prayer is an outline and an invitation, Mo’s prayer is a presentation and an invitation… *** Our Buddha Nature, Which art... Read more

A Small Celebration of the Western Zen Master Philip Kapleau

Last updated on: August 14, 2024 at 9:42 am By James Ford

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On August 20th in 1912, Philip Kapleau was born in New Haven, Connecticut. So, we’re now marking 112 years since that event. Kapleau Roshi was one of the pioneers of Zen come west. His importance in this project is impossible to overestimate. At the same time there were complications that have followed him. As recently as a month or so ago someone posted a broadside linking him with a notorious fake teacher as people who made the whole thing up.... Read more

A Zen Reflection on the Assumptions of Mary

Last updated on: August 14, 2024 at 10:11 pm By James Ford

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The Assumption of Mary is a Christian festival universally celebrated in the liturgical churches. It is marked in the Eastern Christian churches on the 15th of August as the Dormition of the Theotokos. In the Roman calendar today is called the feast of the Assumption of Mary. In the Anglican calendar this day is traditionally marked as the “falling asleep of the blessed virgin Mary,” although there are more than a few Anglicans who hold to some view of physical... Read more

There’s a (W)Hole in the Soul

Last updated on: August 13, 2024 at 9:24 am By James Ford

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(My friend and colleague, the Reverend Silvio Nardoni recently shared an article he’d written with me. I was quite taken with it, and not just because he quotes me. It’s good. And I asked if I could reprint it at my Monkey Mind blog. He graciously agreed…) Soul: It’s one of those little four-letter words that covers a lot of territory. Giants in the field of religion and psychology (Thomas Aquinas, Carl Jung, James Hillman, and others) have written with... Read more

The Eternal Now: Zen and the mysterious arts of meeting time

Last updated on: August 10, 2024 at 7:47 am By James Ford

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Nothing truly real is forgotten eternally, because everything real comes from eternity and goes to eternity. Paul Tillich, the Eternal Now August the 11th is a very interesting date. In the famous Mayan long count calendar, the beginning of it all is, in our Gregorian translation, the 11th of August in 3114 before our common era. Mostly when I think of calendars I find myself considering beginnings. January 1st in our culture, now a meta cultural thing noticed pretty much... Read more

Zen & the Fine Art of Boredom

Last updated on: August 4, 2024 at 8:55 am By James Ford

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(Senior dharma teacher with Empty Moon Zen, Dr Chris Hoff offered a meditation on the fine art of boredom at our Saturday Zazenkai on the 3rd of August, 2024. I asked if I could share this at my Monkey Mind blog, and he graciously consented. A worth while read for anyone who cares in any way about the spiritual life…) All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone. – Blaise Pascal... Read more

Wherein the Author Tries to Sell His Zen Book

Last updated on: August 2, 2024 at 9:50 am By James Ford

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My book the Intimate Way of Zen: Effort, Surrender, and Awakening on the Spiritual Journey was officially released by Shambhala Publications on the 23rd of July! It’s my sixth book. And the first not published by a non-profit house. Which has had small but discernible consequences. Mainly in that there is actually staff trying to get publicity for the book and arranging for me to speak here and there. There have also been nice reviews at Publisher’s Weekly and Spirituality... Read more

Dreaming A Garland of Flowers for a Truth Teller

Last updated on: July 30, 2024 at 9:29 am By James Ford

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I find myself thinking of Daniel Defoe. I’m one of those who like to celebrate co-religionists. For me that means a couple of things. Buddhists and Zen Buddhists, of course. But also Unitarians and especially Universalists. So, yes, Defoe was a Presbyterian. But this was in a time when the Unitarians had not yet institutionally differentiated from that body in England. In North America it was a bit different. There Unitarianism the institutional movement derived principally out of Congregationalism. While... Read more

A small meditation on holding a mirror to our hearts

Last updated on: July 24, 2024 at 10:33 am By James Ford

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On July 24th in 1901 that William Sydney Porter was released from prison. He tried his hand at a number of jobs. He was at one time or another a pharmacist, a bank teller, and even a journalist. But it was Porter’s work as a bank teller that led to his indictment for embezzlement and the sequence of events leading to this day. He fled to Honduras, returning to America only when he learned his wife whom he had planned... Read more

What was the length of the great flood?