When the Heart of Compassion walked through the gate of Wisdom, she looked into the body of the world and each of us, seeing that each of us and the world itself is boundless. And with this all suffering vanished. Dear ones, all things are boundless; and the boundless is nothing other than all things. Everything in itself is boundlessness;... Read more
Last night we arrived at mom’s in Tujunga in Los Angeles, which for all practical purposes means we are home. This morning after our Empty Moon Zen sitting we’ll return the rental car. It was a lovely ride down from Seattle following a five day Zen sesshin (intensive Zen meditation retreat). We started the drive on Sunday afternoon, and so all in all, five... Read more
Thomas Henry Huxley died this day, the 29th of June, in 1895. I kind of think of it as a feast for a new universalist kind of saint. Huxley was a biologist and anthropologist, today best remembered as “Darwin’s Bulldog.” Where Darwin was reticent, Huxley was aggressive, and more than happy to engage in debate regarding evolution. His famous debate with... Read more
John Wesley, the Anglican priest and founder of the Methodist movement, was born today, the 28th of June, in 1703. His father Samuel was a priest, as well. He was also a poet, and probably unconnected to that fact, poorly managed the family’s finances, and was twice imprisoned for debt. John’s mother, Susanna, was the anchor of the family.... Read more
“‘One day Ajahn Chah held up a beautiful Chinese tea cup, “To me this cup is already broken. Because I know its fate, I can enjoy it fully here and now. And when it’s gone, it’s gone.’” When we understand the truth of uncertainty and relax, we become free.” Jack Kornfield in The Wise Heart Chah Chotchuang was born into a family of subsistence farmers near Ubon Ratchathani in northeastern Thailand today, the 17th of June, in 1918.... Read more
Michael Coren, a writer and late vocation priest in the Anglican Church of Canada whom I quite admire, recently offered an anecdote on social media. “I took a funeral recently where a woman told me at the reception that she was actually at the wrong ceremony. She didn’t know the deceased. I’d seen her crying, however, and gently asked why. ‘I was already here’, she said, ‘so thought I’d just join in.’” It immediately reminded me of... Read more
A Book of Verses underneath the Bough, A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread – and Thou Beside me singing in the Wilderness – Oh, Wilderness were Paradise enow! It was today, the 14th of June in 1883 that Edward FitzGerald died. Today he is best known for his rendition of Omar Khayyam’s Rubaiyat. In my youth I... Read more
When the rain beats down on the pear blossoms, a butterfly flies up. A Zen koan by way of Dahui Zonggao Butterflies: Reflections, Tales and Verse by Hermann Hesse Selected by Volker Michels Illustrations by Jakob Hübner Translated from the German by Elisabeth Lauffer Kales Press, a WW Norton affiliate Hardcover / 5×7 inches / 136 pages... Read more
Harriet Martineau, British novelist, lecturer, abolitionist and theological thinker was born on this day, the 12th of June, in 1802. She’s always been a favorite of mine. The family were active English Unitarians of Huguenot descent, her father a deacon at the famed Octagon Chapel in Norwich. The family was comfortably middle class. As was common among Unitarians in that moment she was educated well beyond the cultural norms of the day. Of her eight siblings, her closest... Read more
You are cordially invited to join us for a Zen retreat Wednesday Jun 21 – Sunday Jun 25, 2023 A multi-day Zen meditation retreat (Sesshin) hosted by the University Unitarian Church, in Seattle, Washington. We will meet in person and on Zoom. The meditation retreat will be facilitated by the Bright Cloud Zen practice group of the Empty Moon Zen Sanghas. This commuter retreat is open to all. Although some experience with silent, self-guided meditation is helpful. You do not... Read more
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