2017-06-27T14:48:37-07:00

Last updated on: June 27, 2017 at 2:48 pm   By

In the early hours on this day, the 28th of June, 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn on Christopher Street in Greenwich Village, on Manhattan. Such things were a familiar occurrence. The Inn had a reputation of first, being owned by the Mafia, and secondly for catering to the most marginal of the Lesbian and Gay community. The Wikipedia article on this event stated the clientele were mostly “drag queens, transgender people, effeminate young men, butch lesbians, male prostitutes, and... Read more

2017-06-27T10:38:37-07:00

Last updated on: June 27, 2017 at 10:38 am   By

Perhaps you’re wondering what Zen’s kensho might be? Kensho or satori are the experiences (although some will challenge, and for good reasons, the use of that word experience) of insight into our deepest reality. While perhaps most closely associated with the Zen tradition, if there’s a natural insight into reality, then obviously it is owned by no religion. There are just a ton of stories that illustrate the moment. Here’s one. In the early middle of the nineteenth century the brilliant, driven,... Read more

2017-06-26T09:03:00-07:00

Last updated on: June 26, 2017 at 9:03 am   By

Teleology: “A noun meaning the study of evidences of design in nature & particularly the use of design or purpose as an explanation of natural phenomena” (adapted from Merriam Webster) I was reading an article at the always interesting Lion’s Roar, when I stumbled upon a quote attributed to the poet and Zen pilgrim Gary Snyder. “To be devotional is to take great faith in life as it is.” I admire him both as a writer and for a life... Read more

2017-06-25T06:46:58-07:00

Last updated on: June 25, 2017 at 6:46 am   By

LOVE AND MONEY A Zen Reflection That Starts With a Christian Text James Myoun Ford Blue Cliff Zen Sangha I stumbled on a version of what follows that I’d written a couple of years ago. Thought I could tighten and tweak and that it might be useful. Especially right now… Paul in his first letter to Timothy asserts, “For the love of money is the root of all evil…” I recall that line being thundered from the pulpits of my... Read more

2017-06-23T09:33:10-07:00

Last updated on: June 23, 2017 at 9:33 am   By

Fengxue said, “If you raise a speck of dust, the nation flourishes. If you don’t raise a speck of dust, the nation perishes.” (Xuedou held up his staff and asked: “Do any of you, at the bottom, live and die like this?”) Blue Cliff Record, Case 61 Fengxue Yanshao was born at the end of the ninth century, and became one of the great Zen masters of his era. Stories of his teaching or of encounters with him are the... Read more

2017-06-22T08:43:26-07:00

Last updated on: June 22, 2017 at 8:43 am   By

The other day I posted a letter I wrote to a Unitarian Universalist ministerial search committee. In it I pointed out what I consider a terrible problem facing UU churches, particularly smaller ones. For complex reasons much of it involving a generational shift which I mention in that post, there has been a shifting in the broader theological perspectives of people coming into our congregations. Shifting perspectives are part in parcel with Unitarian Universalism with its deep belief in the human... Read more

2017-06-21T08:05:58-07:00

Last updated on: June 21, 2017 at 8:05 am   By

Zen in Orange County Join us for a day-long Zen meditation intensive led by Roshi James Ishmael Ford & Sensei Gesshin Greenwood. This event is sponsored by the Blue Cliff Zen Sangha & the Orange Coast Unitarian Universalist Church. This is our inaugural Blue Cliff (soon to be Bright Cloud) intensive Zen meditation retreat. It consists almost entirely of zazen in twenty-five minute sessions broken with five to seven minute kinhin (slow follow-the-leader walking meditation). There will be a liturgy in... Read more

2018-01-05T17:08:17-08:00

Last updated on: January 5, 2018 at 5:08 pm   By

                (This is a real letter to a real Unitarian Universalist ministerial search committee, slightly edited, and with a few additions not thought of in the heat of the original composition. Offered in the hope it will be of use…) Dear (chair of the search committee), It was such a pleasure visiting with you and the committee. Our conversation was consuming, and I found myself falling in love with you, and through you all,... Read more

2017-06-19T09:44:28-07:00

Last updated on: June 19, 2017 at 9:44 am   By

Early morning thoughts… I find my heart and mind wandering to the thought of axioms. By axiom I’m thinking of an assertion that a person thinks is self-evidently true. And by a person, I’m thinking me. What are those things that are the foundations of my conscious life? For the most part they’re derived from my Zen and Buddhist experiences wandering through the depths of my heart and mind. There is a rationalist and broadly humanistic sense as well, which... Read more

2017-06-18T21:52:24-07:00

Last updated on: June 18, 2017 at 9:52 pm   By

DREAMING OUR FATHERS Norbert Capek and the Unitarian Universalist Flower Communion James Ishmael Ford 18 June 2017 Unitarian Universalist Church Long Beach, California A Story Norbert Capek was born in Bohemia, in what is today the Czech Republic in 1870. He was raised Catholic. But following a religious exploration he became a Baptist minister. Norbert was a social activist and realizing the governmental authorities had begun to investigate him, he and his wife and their children fleeing persecution, immigrated to... Read more

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