The following was the central illustration in my sermon on the Sunday immediately following 9/11, something it felt important to notice even before we knew that day would be called 9/11. Even after. Even after all these years… Just before the first tower fell, trapped on the 105th floor where he worked for the investment bank Cantor-Fitzgerald, 32 year old Stuart Meltzer had time to make one phone call. He chose to call his wife. She wasn’t at... Read more
As part of the settlement of surrender in 1848, Mexico ceded a vast amount of territory to the United States. This included California. The following year California applied to be admitted as a state. And the year after that, actually on this day in 1850 California was admitted not only as a state but, critically as a free state. The 31st state within the Union. In the moment it was all about gold and slavery and a... Read more
I’ve been asked if I could say in a nutshell what it is about Zen in the West that makes it worth preserving? A fair question, and for a number of reasons. Among them we find ourselves in a moment of major shifting where the founding generation of practitioners are not only aging but beginning to die. Zen has now been a serious if minority tradition in the West for better than fifty years. Not a... Read more
I wrote this last year. I think it worth sharing again. It was on this day, the 6th of September, in 1990, that Issan Dorsey, Zen priest and abbot of the Hartford Street Zen Center died from complications related to the AIDS virus. Tommy Dorsey, Jr, was born on the 7th of March, 1933, in Santa Barbara. The youngest of ten, he was raised in the Roman Catholic tradition. He dropped out of college and joined the Navy,... Read more
The good folk at the Sotoshu (the official Japanese denomination of Soto Zen Buddhists) have been developing a very good web presence. For instance this delightful collection of manga containing comic book versions of the life of Shakyamuni, the founder of Buddhism, Bodhidharma, the mythic founder of Zen in China, Dogen, who brought Soto to Japan and became one of the great theoretical writers of Zen’s core teachings, and Keizan, often called the “second” founder of Soto Zen in... Read more
Paul Jones was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania in 1880. While at Yale he worked summers in the accounting office of a mine company and even did a stint as a strike breaker. He seemed destined to a life among the rich and powerful. But ministry called. Not that that need change his alliances or civic orientation. But sometimes life disrupts our plans. While in seminary he discovered the writings of the great Anglican priest John Frederick Maurice. And young Jones was... Read more
One day Deshan came into the hall carrying his bowls. Xuefeng stopped him, saying “Why are you carrying your bowls, venerable? The bell hasn’t sounded, the drum hasn’t been struck. Saying nothing, the old teacher, returned to his room. Later Xuefeng mentioned this to Yantou. Yantou responded, “As great as he is, the old master does not yet know the last word.” Hearing of this Deshan sent for Yantou and asked, “Do you not approve of my... Read more
I wrote an earlier version of this some years ago. It felt appropriate to revisit, rewrite, and share here today when we need people of wisdom and compassion who can point the great way for us. In 2013 the Unitarian Universalist General Assembly was held in Louisville. I must admit General Assemblies were never high on my list of pleasures. But this was a major exception. For me that UU convention became a Thomas Merton pilgrimage. I... Read more
I was asked if I can recommend any podcasts about Zen. As it happens, there are many podcasts out there, and some are extremely helpful. Others, frankly, not so much. I listed a half dozen. Then I was reminded of a couple I should have included. And, then, well, now here you go, eighteen links to podcasts by Zen teachers. In no particular order… One of the earlier and easily remaining one of the best are the... Read more
I wrote a version of this reflection last year. I thought it worth tweaking and sharing again today… Toward the end of the year 1609 Galileo Galilei, who had been tinkering with lenses and telescopes for a while was able to improve one to a 20x magnification. He promptly turned this vastly superior telescope toward the skies. Immediately he discovered three new celestial objects near Jupiter. In another day he found one more. At first he believed they were... Read more
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