It was on this day in 1498, that the cardinal bishop of Pamplona resigned from the episcopacy and became the first person in history to renounce the rank of cardinal. He was twenty-three, or maybe it was twenty-four, records are a bit scanty. Cesare Borgia was the son of Cardinal Roderick Llancol i de Borja, later Pope Alexander VI and his favorite mistress Vannozza del Cattanei. He had been named a bishop at fifteen, and a cardinal at eighteen. After... Read more

THIRTY-THREE BOOKS ON ZEN & BUDDHISM An Introduction to the Ways for Western Readers A friend asked if I could recommend a bookshelf full of books on Zen. I could… FOUNDATIONS The Buddha, Karen Armstrong (An accessible biography. For a review. ) Historical Buddha, H.W. Schumann (A, perhaps the academic biography. For a review) What the Buddha Taught, Rahula Wapola (Good overview of Theravada Buddhist doctrines. For a review) In the Buddha’s Words, Bhikkhu Bodhi, editor (substantial anthology culled from... Read more

After Florence Foster Jenkins ended, Jan and I left and both paused at the restrooms. When she exited, Jan said, “The word from the women’s room is that the film is great. And that Simon Helberg stole the show.” Peter Howell at the Toronto Star has a more mundane appreciation, “Enjoyable summer entertainment for grown-ups…” Me, I think it should be placed somewhere between enjoyable summer entertainment and great. It certainly is something more than our typical Hollywood fare. And,... Read more

Ernest Everett Just was born on this day in 1883. Dr Just was a brilliant scientist, who overcame much within a culture that seemed to go out of its way to block his work. As I said, he overcame much, but you want to see how racism hurts us all, you can just imagine what all our lives might have been had he been given the opportunities his brilliance called for. His is a story we should all know. Some... Read more

There is, monks, an unborn, unbecome, unmade, uncompounded. If there were not this unborn… then there would be no deliverance here visible form what is born, become, made, compounded. But sincere there is an unborn, unbecome, unade, uncompounded, therefore a deliverance is visible for what is born, become, made compounded. (Repeated in both the Udana and the Itivuttaka texts from the Khuddaka Nikaya, translated by Maurice Walshe, slightly modified.) I found this passage in Stephen Batchelor’s controversial and wonderful After... Read more

Lucy Stone was born in West Brookfield, Massachusetts on this day in 1818. She would grow up to become one of the leading lights of the American suffrage movement and a leader for human rights in our culture. As a child she chaffed under her arbitrary treatment for being a girl. And as she looked at how her mother was treated, she realized the future was not going to be good. Brilliant, she studied diligently on her own, but saw... Read more

It was on this day in 1851 that Isaac Singer was granted a patent for his sewing machine. His was in fact not the first sewing machine to receive a patent. That was Charles Wiesenthal who received his patent in 1755. Others followed. In fact even Singer was in a neck and neck race, and some say John Fisher was the “true” inventor of what we would call the modern sewing machine. But Singer’s had the patent. And his not... Read more

As of today, it is our sixteenth week on Weight Watchers. We joined when my doctor said the magic words “borderline diabetic.” Jan thought she could trim a bit, too. So, we’re doing it together. On balance we’ve been going great guns. At the four month mark we’ve both crossed ten percent of our body weight. More specifically I’m at a tad better than twenty six pounds gone away. We’re both experiencing those pleasant moments of clothing getting loose, sometimes... Read more

Robert Green Ingersoll was born on this day in 1833. Writer Kimberly Winston said of Colonel Robert Ingersoll, that he “was a Victorian-era rock star who packed theaters with people who traveled hundreds of miles to hear his leactures against religion.” Sometimes called “the Great Agnostic,” He himself died just short of the turn into the twentieth, but he was without a doubt the principal figure in the “Golden Age of Freethought” that ran through the last quarter of the... Read more

The Layman was once lying on his couch reading a sutra. A monk saw him and said: “Layman! You must maintain dignity when reading a sutra.” The Layman raised up one leg. The monk had nothing to say. This is an episode from the Ruth Fuller Sasaki, et al translation of the ninth century Zen classic the Record of Layman P’ang (this translation appears, sadly, to be out of print. However, another, which I’ve not read is available). Pangyun (as... Read more