December 21, 2024

(A Dharma talk republished here with permission by Roshi Edward Sanshin Oberholtzer, resident priest and guiding teacher at both the Joseph Priestley Zen Zangha and at Empty Moon Zen. First shared at our Empty Moon Zen zoom gathering at the end of November.) The air here in central Pennsylvania is clear and crisp this afternoon. The corn has finally been harvested and replaced with a freshly plowed field ready to be planted with winter wheat. There had been a scattering... Read more

December 18, 2024

Sundays Jan & I try to schedule a date night.  We don’t pull it off quite as frequently as we wish But this Sunday we did. It featured a drive to Glendale and the Laemmle to see Flow and then dinner. I’ll cut to the chase. Rotten Tomato’s professional reviewers give Flow a 97% score, while their amateur reviewers give it 94%. No argument here. Jan & I both loved it. The film is animated.  A Latvian production, written and... Read more

December 17, 2024

Thomas Starr King was born on the 17th of December, in 1824. I like to note Unitarians, Universalists and Unitarian Universalists on the days of their birth. Many years ago Jan, auntie & I were in Washington DC, doing some serious national tourism. Among the many interesting, sometimes moving, sometimes, well not, are the collection of one hundred statues from the states, two each. We wandered around until we found the one we most wanted to see, which was Thomas... Read more

December 14, 2024

There are many who help to carry us to the farther shore. Juan de Yepes y Alverez was born into a Converso family near the town of Avila on the 24th of June, 1542. He died in the Discalced Carmelite monastery in Ubeda on the 14th of December in 1591. We generally know him as John of the Cross, or more properly St John of the Cross. From my Zen perspective a true teacher of the intimate way. And one... Read more

December 13, 2024

No. No.. Not that movie franchise… The day. You know, today. And a bit of what comes with it. According to my go to first check, good old Wikipedia, most scholars say this is a superstition of relatively recent origin. While some like to find origins in the Middle Ages, apparently there’s little to support this assertion. Probably it isn’t a thing any earlier earlier than the nineteenth century. And it doesn’t get big ’till the twentieth century… On the... Read more

December 12, 2024

According to the story a Mexican indigenous peasant, Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin had a series of encounters with a wondrous woman between the 9th and 12th of December, in 1531. He reported this to the bishop Juan de Zumárraga, who was at first suspicious. Naturally enough. But eventually was convinced of the reality of the vision when the woman ordered Juan Diego to carry a poncho filled with roses to the bishop, really an archbishop. When the peasant opened the poncho... Read more

December 3, 2024

The 3rd of December has been declared a feast or saint’s day for Francis Xavier. He was one of the first Jesuits, a co-founder of the order. Eventually, he becamea  Catholic missionary to Japan. Which is where I find him interesting. Now, he was fervently hostile to nonChristian religions, and with that, if indirectly, there’s some blood on his hands. But also, I believe he is the first Westerner to write a moderately accurate report of Zen in a European... Read more

November 28, 2024

Dorothy Day died on the 29th of November, in 1980. If she were officially recognized as a saint, and more than a few people believe she was, this would normally be her feast day. I mean to note this when the day rolls around. I’ve not been as successful in this aspiration as I wish. This year, I’ve caught it. And I offer the cumulative reflections I’ve gathered. In my youth there were two Catholic Christians who particularly influenced me.... Read more

November 28, 2024

I try to offer a few words on our American Thanksgiving from a Zen Buddhist perspective when the holiday rolls around. What follows is that, tweaked, and then tweaked again. Eventually, I hope, I’ll get this mess right. After all, every day is a good day… Our first American Thanksgiving was proclaimed by George Washington on the 26th of November, 1789. It might be worth noting it was not connected to the Pilgrim story. Washington called out for a day... Read more

November 24, 2024

Keiji Nishitani died on the 24th of November, in 1990. I mean to mark this day as it rolls around and take advantage of it to remind those who knew of his work, and to introduce him to those who were unfamiliar with this remarkable person and the “school” with which he is closely associated. I’m sorry I’ve not been quite as faithful to this intention as I could or should be. But, at least this year, I’ve caught the... Read more

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