So, what is spirituality, anyway? Philip Sheldrake is generally considered among the foremost academics studying the subject. He specializes in Christian spirituality. But out of his years of study has offered some insights into what spirituality seems to be as a current within religions writ large. It is a current, a strand, an aspect. As the spiritual but not... Read more
Looking the precept up simply as a translation from the Bramajala Sutra from which our Soto Zen sixteen precepts come, we get something pretty straight forward: “Not to be stingy, or encourage others to do so.” Looking to versions offered by contemporary western Zen teachers we find a variety of angles. Perhaps with a bit more nuance than we might assume. First, from Robert Aitken, the root teacher of our community: “I take up the way of not... Read more
Robert Ingersoll died on this day, the 21st of July, 1899. Perhaps an unusual figure to note on the anniversary of his death, which is more commonly done in religious circles. Death being a marker for winning the victory and obtaining one’s reward. Some might sneer, suggesting his reward was hell-fire. But that’s not what I think. I see a life complete. And his was one of integrity and intelligence, which seemed to grow ever deeper... Read more
Beloved, we have existed within you for all of our days. Before the earth was formed and the mountains arose, before stars and dreams, before any beginnings and all the endings, it is holy. You are holy. Even in the midst of our worst, you are there. And always you whisper a call to return. A thousand years for you are no more than yesterday, like a... Read more
I’ve been working on a brief reflection to mark my seventy-fifth birthday tomorrow. After a ton of writing, I’ve done three quarters of a ton of cutting. This I couldn’t just leave as scattered pixels into the universe. A bit of a reading list, my core spiritual texts. Maybe they’ll be of some use to you. And in that spirit I offer this list up. For me the... Read more
It is good to sing praise to you, my heart. To give thanks for the blessings of life, To notice love coursing through my body in the morning And faithfulness through the night. I hear our human voices as music, And silence as melody. I delight in your world; You make my body sing with joy. How great is your goodness. How unfathomable your deep currents, Not seen by eyes Not grasped by mind Everything united Everything touching. ... Read more
The sea is calm tonight. The tide is full, the moon lies fair Upon the straits; on the French coast the light Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand, Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay. Come to the window, sweet is the night-air! Only, from the long line of spray Where the sea meets the moon-blanched land, Listen! you hear the grating roar Of pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling, At their return,... Read more
“An enlightened person who loves alcohol, when they pass the liquor store, their head will still turn.” I spent some time recently pursuing that quote. While one version of it or another is a Zen trope, the person who most likely said it in this form was Taizan Maezumi. Maezumi Roshi is of incalculable importance to me directly and... Read more
According to tradition Bardaisan, or sometimes Bardesanes, was born into a wealthy pagan family in Edessa (today Sanliufa, Turkey) today, on July 11th, 154 in our common era. He was educated with the princes of the Abgar dynasty. He became a Christian and was ordained a priest within the Syriac church. Later he served as an advisor to the royal court. With the fall of Abgar IX, he fled... Read more
The Case this is the song of mehitabel of mehitabel the alley cat as i wrote you before boss mehitabel is a believer in the pythagorean theory of the transmigration of the soul and she claims that formerly her spirit was incarnated in the body of cleopatra that was a long time ago and one must not be surprised if mehitabel has forgotten some of her more regal manners i have had my ups and downs but wotthehell wotthehell... Read more
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