Today is the 31st of October. In the Western calendar today is Halloween. While in my corner of the world Halloween is basically about small children, and sometimes not so small putting on disguises and hoping to extort candy from their neighbors and for some adults costume and alcohol driven parties, at the same time there is something thing more important to our human psyche being offered. This is my small reflection on that other offering. Halloween... Read more
I only met her once. But, I’ve admired her for ages. And now I’ve learned that this past Friday evening Jana Junsei Drakka Sensei died. She’d just turned sixty-five. She had been suffering from lung cancer, and had been in hospice since late July. Junsei Sensei was a street priest, one of the first American Zen priests to take our ministry to the homeless. Junsei spent her Zen life ministering to the lost and left behind. Her ministry,... Read more
One of my favorite koans was anthologized in the Biyan Lu, in Japanese the Hekiganroku, in English, the Blue Cliff Record. Case 46 in the collection of one hundred koans, “Jingqing’s Voice of the Raindrops” in my paraphrase: Jingqing asked a student of the way, “What is that sound outside?” “Dripping rain,” the student replied. “Jingqing responded, “Ordinary people are always topsy-turvy. They chase after things and tumble into delusions. With that they pursue things beyond their... Read more
The church with which I am affiliated is undergoing a ministerial transition. And, I was one of several people asked what questions should potential interim ministers be asked. Me, I have little use for the usual questions. Some may be important, like “what three or five things you want to accomplish during your tenure.” It is good to be on the same page. But, others, like “what is your greatest weakness,” only invite obfuscation and sales. In... Read more
A friend just posted this video. I laughed. But, I realized perhaps this is only really funny for those of us who have done this ritual. It certainly can be fussy. And, yes, controlling. But, then within the confines of the Zen retreat, something else is also going on. Kind of a both and, and, and… Oryoki means “just enough.” For most practicing here in the West it is a central aspect of Zen... Read more
South Coast Interfaith Council & the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Religion 101 Series presents: Zen Buddhism People, Practices, & Beliefs With James Zeno Myoun Ford Soto Zen priest & teacher Thursday, October 26, 7:00pm LDS Institute of Religion at California State University at Long Beach 6360 E State University Dr Long Beach, CA 90815 All are Welcome! Free to the Community! Donations Greatly Appreciated Read more
As I understand it, within some branches of the Eastern family of churches, today is celebrated as a festival in honor of Nestorius, sometime archbishop and Patriarch of Constantinople. He would later be considered a heresiarch, advocating, perhaps, maybe, some say, a hard division within Jesus’s heart between the human person and the divine. And as such the putative founder of “Nestorianism,” which together with the Orthodox and the “Oriental Orthodox.”is a third stream of continuing ancient... Read more
I see that Ruth Fuller Sasaki died in Kyoto on this day in 1967. She was one of the true Zen pioneers, making our way available to Westerners. Ruth Fuller was born in Chicago on the 31st of October, 1892. Her first marriage made her wealthy, and freed her to pursue wherever her heart took her. As such she took an early interest in matters Eastern. She studied for a time with the early Western convert... Read more
In Eastern Orthodox circles today is the feast of James the Just. Me, I usually mark it out as a particularly special day. His feast actually is a movable feast, it is observed for some on the 3rd of May, while others like the 1st of May, except for the American ones, as well as Lutherans and some Orthodox, as I’ve noted, who prefer today, the 23rd of October. It is my contention that James, sometimes called the Just, at... Read more
More than half a century ago I decided I needed to learn how to meditate. I’d been introduced to Vedanta by reading Christopher Isherwood’s My Guru and His Disciples. I quickly read more, and then decided to visit a Vedanta Center in Berkeley. At that moment in my life the pews and the Protestant flavor of the service made me think I should move on. Not long later, I stumbled on Zen Flesh, Zen Bones by Nyogen Senzaki and Paul... Read more
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