This is sort of a holiday for me. I do like to mark it out. And, so, once again… The picture to the right of this text is from a Chinese edition of the Vajracchedika Prajnaparamita Sutra, the Diamond Sutra. According to the date on the title page it was published on this day in 868. This makes it the oldest known printed book. Now if you’re concerned, this doesn’t take a lot away from Mr Gutenberg’s critical innovation of... Read more
Zen in Orange County Join us for a day-long Zen meditation intensive led by Roshi James Ishmael Ford & Sensei Gesshin Greenwood We will do zazen (zen meditation), liturgy, more zazen, have a dharma talk, still more zazaen, dokusan (formal practice interviews), and finally some more zazen. This event is sponsored by the Blue Cliff Zen Sangha & the Orange Coast Unitarian Universalist Church. Saturday, June the 24th, 2017, from 9am (promptly) to 5pm (with a one hour brown bag lunch... Read more
In that wonderful anthology of Zen’s koans, the Wumenquan, the Gateless Gate, the fifth case “Xiangyan: Up a Tree” goes like this: The priest Xiangyan said, “It is as if you were up in a tree. You’re hanging from a branch by your teeth. Your hands can’t grasp anything. Your feet are flailing about. Suddenly someone from below asks, “What is the meaning of Bodhidharma’s coming from the West?” If you don’t answer, you fail your responsibility. If you do,... Read more
Blood, that wears treason in his face, Villain complete in parson’s gown, How much he is at court in grace For stealing Ormond and the crown! Since loyalty does no man good, Let’s steal the King, and outdo Blood! John Wilmot, History of Insipids It was on this day in 1671 that Colonel Thomas Blood stole the English crown jewels. Or, well, tried to. Blood was born in County Clare in 1618. His father was a blacksmith and successful business... Read more
Happy birthday, Gary! He once sang to us: Ah to be alive on a mid-September morn fording a stream barefoot, pants rolled up, holding boots, pack on, sunshine, ice in the shallows, northern rockies. Rustle and shimmer of icy creek waters stones turn underfoot, small and hard as toes cold nose dripping singing inside creek music, heart music, smell of sun on gravel. I pledge allegiance I pledge allegiance to the soil of Turtle Island, and to the beings who... Read more
It was today, May the 6th, in 1940, that John Steinbeck was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his novel the Grapes of Wrath. He also won the National Book Award for the book, and when he was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature, it was cited as principal among his writings. That novel has been celebrated, occasionally castigated, and summarized in film and song. I even wrote a sermon about it. I consider the Grapes of Wrath one of the... Read more
Today is Cinco de Mayo. I usually offer a reflection on this day, about why I think it is in fact a holiday we in the United States should be observing. With, I quickly add, some serious caveats. I feel a pretty good measure of discomfort at how the holiday has become the Mexican St Patrick’s Day. And I mean with all the ills that follow that sad degeneration of someone’s largely religious holiday into shamrocks and green beer. Except... Read more
My Zen life is filled with relationships. They include affection, affinity, and sometimes mutual obligation together with a profound accountability. These range from my membership in meta organizations such as the American Zen Teachers Association, which I served for a decade on its membership committee, and the Soto Zen Buddhist Association, which I’m just ending up serving a term as a member of its governing board. And the affection end of the spectrum, I have dear friends and people I count... Read more
I find myself thinking about the horrors being inflicted upon gay people in Chechnya. On the one hand the government there officially denies what is happening. Although in the most terrifying way. Today, the 3rd of May, Chechen President Ramzan Hadyrov is reported in the Independent saying “You cannot detain and persecute people who simply do not exist in the republic.” Do not exist. On the other hand there are numerous reports of mass arrests, of imprisonment, and of torture.... Read more
When we first arrived in Long Beach two years ago, early one evening as Jan and I were driving along the coast on Ocean Boulevard, as we came to the intersection at Redondo, we noticed a large Mary shrine. I’ve mentioned it in this blog before, it is a ubiquitous part of that drive. And as we drove by Ocean and Redondo yesterday, I thought it really is wonderful, and a subject worth revisiting. Yesterday, the shrine like that first... Read more
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