THE PATH OF MERCY A Meditation on the Beatitudes 15 March 2015 James Ishmael Ford First Unitarian Church Providence, Rhode Island Text When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they... Read more

Last night, traditionally at midnight, with the rite of Denbo, I completed the process of giving Jay Rinsen Weik Dharma transmission. It was a private ceremony held at the Boundless Way Temple in Worcester witnessed by roshis Melissa Myozen Blacker and David Rynick. Sensei Weik is now a fully authorized priest and teacher within the Soto stream of Zen Buddhism. May he and his sangha at the Great Heartland Zen Buddhist Temple in Toledo flourish as a beacon of the... Read more

It’s Pi Day! (And Albert Einstein’s Birthday!) A day for all serious geeks, and wannabes, to party hard! Read more

Western humanism comes to us from Europe, and really begins in the Renaissance, although it rises by looking to classical antiquity, particularly Greece. This Renaissance humanism combined a celebration of the individual with a close observation of the world around us. And it turns out that is amazingly powerful. This humanism, in fact, shattered the world that had been before. Instead of our world being the center of the cosmos, we found the Earth is a small rocky planet, spinning... Read more

No, not the movie. The day. Like today. According to my go to first check (and, no, not my last stop when I want to be sure…), Wikipedia, most scholars say this is a superstition of relatively recent origin, like the nineteenth century. While some like to find origins in the Middle Ages apparently there’s little to support this assertion. It doesn’t get big ’till the twentieth century… On the other hand various cultures have their bad luck days, too.... Read more

Henry Bergh died on this day in 1888. If Unitarian Universalists were just a tad more Christian in our current incarnation, I’d suggest this day be a feast in his honor. Given our givens, probably we should be celebrating his birthday, August 21st. Whatever, his life should be marked out as special and special in a spiritual sense. He was the son of a shipbuilder and a successful one. He attended Columbia University although he left without taking a degree.... Read more

I see that it was on this day in 1702 that the first issue of the Daily Courant, according to Wikipedia, “England’s first national daily newspaper” was published. While I am less concerned about the decline of the print newspaper, in our current parlance, as a platform for the distribution of news and opinion than some of my friends, I am with all who see the intelligent, fair-minded collection, curation, and publication of news as critical to a free society.... Read more

Sensei Josh Bartok, in addition to being a Zen teacher in the Boundless Way Zen school, is also a senior editor at Wisdom Publications. He may be the best read Zen teacher in the West. Certainly one could make that argument. A couple of years ago he compiled a reading list. I suspect if he had time, he might update it. I’m thinking of a couple of books that have come out since the list, such as the lovely anthology... Read more

I was saddened to learn that the Reverend Fred Craddock died two days ago, while I was deep in retreat. I never had the pleasure of meeting the old master preacher, but his book Preaching was my textbook in seminary, and it exercised a profound influence on me as a speaker, at least in a meta sense. Many of the details in his instruction proved irrelevant to someone neither lectionary nor even scripturally oriented. But the larger view, oh my.... Read more

An old and dear friend sent me a link to a reading of Wallace Stevens’ the Snow Man, suggesting here’s some winter Zen. I replied that I’d seen it used in the liturgy at at least one, and if I recall correctly two Western Zen communities. One must have a mind of winter To regard the frost and the boughs Of the pine-trees crusted with snow; And have been cold a long time To behold the junipers shagged with ice,... Read more