As pretty much everyone knows, the world was created in the late afternoon, okay, maybe early evening, on this day, the 23rd of October, in the 4004th year before the birth of Jesus. James Ussher, the Anglican archbishop of Armagh, and Primate of all Ireland, figured it out in the 17th century. Actually he was following in the footsteps of many before him attempting to use the scriptures as a guide to their calculations. He did it... Read more
As it happens it was on this day in 451 that the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox on one side and what we now call the Oriental Orthodox churches divided. I’m giving the birthday greeting to the Oriental Orthodox, but it certainly could be argued the Western churches were born at this time, while those of the farther East retained the older faith. Or, they all had long sense wandered into the weeds. More my thinking, I admit…... Read more
THE FOUR WAYS OF KNOWING by Hakuin Ekaku Translated by Albert Low Hakuin on Kensho: The Four Ways of Knowing, Shambhala, 2006, Pages 29-39 THE FOUR WAYS OF KNOWING OF AN AWAKENED PERSON Someone asked Hakuin, “Are the three bodies and four ways of knowing inherent, or are they brought into being by our coming to awakening? Furthermore, are they realized suddenly, all at once, or, with practice, do they come gradually?” Hakuin answered by saying... Read more
Siyyid Ali Muhammad Shirazi was born on this day, the 20th of October, 1819, in Shiraz in Iran. His family fit into that broad category of “middle class,” his father a successful merchant. Through both his parents he was a descendant of the prophet. In 1842 he married. Their only child died in childhood. In 1844 he began a public ministry, calling himself “the Bab,” the “Gate.” He claimed to be a forerunner to the Twelfth... Read more
“Popular descriptions of the koan as ‘riddles” or ‘paradoxes’ make it seem as if the Zen practitioner is interested in little more than the solving of intellectual puzzles. Those interested in enhancing the spontaneity of athletic or artistic performance tend to focus on Zen as a training technique for attaining a state of consciousness in which ‘the dancer is one with the dance.’ “Scholars who study Zen as a language game give the impression that the practitioner is... Read more
As it happens Charles Babbage died on this day in 1871. As I sit facing my computer I find myself thinking about him, and of course, the countess, and, well… Charles Babbage was born. Of that we’re sure. Probably in London. And probably on the 26th of December, 1791. Babbage was burn into a banking family. He attended Cambridge, starting at Trinity but eventually transferring to Peterhouse. While there he joined a number of societies, including, according to... Read more
Yangshan Huiji had a dream. In it he traveled to Maitreya’s hall, where he was led to the third seat. No sooner had he sat than a senior monk struck the bell and announced, “Today the one sitting in the third seat will preach.” Yangshan immediately stood up, and also gave the bell a strike. He then said, “The truth of the great way is beyond the four propositions and transcends the hundred negations. Listen. Listen.” Case... Read more
Layman Pang’s Beautiful Snowflakes The koan followed by comments and then a Dharma talk by James Ishmael Ford The Case Layman Pang was leaving Yaoshan. Yaoshan ordered ten of his Zen students to see Pang off at the temple gate. Pang pointed to the falling snow in the air and said, “Beautiful snow-flakes! — they don’t fall on any other place.” At that time there was a student named Zen, who said, “Where then do they fall?” Pang gave... Read more
In the early Ninth century the renowned Chinese master of both Zen and Huayen, Guifeng Zongmi, spoke of five styles of Zen. In the Twentieth century the Japanese Zen master Haku’un Yasutani adapted this list to express his own observations about the various ways people engage Zen. That adaptation of Guifeng’s list is captured for us in Philip Kapleau’s Three Pillars of Zen. Yasutani took Guifeng’s lifelong attempt at reconciling the indigenous wisdoms of... Read more
Jan & I’ve just completed a three-day sesshin with the Empty Sky Sangha in West Cornwall, Connecticut. The leaves are turning, but it’s been a warm and wet season and there’s not a lot of color, many leaves simply falling to the ground. Even so this rural Connecticut area is astonishingly beautiful. We sat and ate and laughed and cried, all the things one does at sesshin. Sesshin does mean to touch the heart/mind, after all.... Read more
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