St Francis Xavier Meets a Zen Master James Ishmael Ford It was on this day, the 12th of March, in 1622 that the Roman church declared Ignatius of Loyola and Francis Xavier saints. They were two of the seven men who took the founding vows creating the Jesuit order in 1534. Xavier spent some years attempting to evangelize India, and also spent time in Japan. I believe he is the first European to write a moderately accurate report of Zen... Read more
Zen Comes West: Recalling Zen Master Soen Nakagawa James Ishmael Ford It was on this day, the 11th of March, in 1984 that Rinzai Zen master Soen Nakagawa died at Ryutakuji monastery in Japan. It’s been a while since I’ve noted the day and this remarkable figure at the foundation of Zen come West. Felt appropriate to offer it again. In my study of Zen come West, Zen Master Who? I wrote about him. Through his regular visits, his Dharma... Read more
Remembering Harriet Tubman, the Woman Called Moses Araminta Ross was born a slave somewhere around 1820 in Maryland. One of vastly too many. Her life, as was the norm for the enslaved, was brutal. At one time when one of her owners threw a heavy weight at another slave while she tried to intervene, she was accidentally hit. She would suffer spells of dizziness and pain for the rest of her life. While it was illegal... Read more
A Zen Unitarian Take on the History of Christianity Zen teacher and Unitarian Universalist minister James Ishmael Ford provides a romp through the history of Christianity. He is the author of five books on aspects of the Zen tradition. His sixth book, an exploration of the arc of the spiritual life, is due from Shambhala Publications early in 2024. In 2022 James gave lectures exploring the history of the Christian church at the First Unitarian Church of Los Angeles. Here... Read more
Thinking of Mother Moshan, one of the Early Zen Masters James Ishmael Ford March 8th is International Women’s Day. And, I find my thoughts turning again to women in Zen. While the records are scant, nonetheless there are clear traces of women who were masters of the Zen way from the beginning of its emergence as a distinctive school in early Medieval China. The first named woman Zen master is Zhongchi, one of the four principal heirs of the semi-mythical... Read more
George Orwell on Clear Thinking, Good Writing, and, as I find it, a Spiritual Practice James Ishmael Ford There are many spiritual practices. Some are more useful than others. For me the heart of that matter is revealed in Zen meditation and koan introspection. But even so there are other disciplines that touch the heart and inform the mind. One I think about is writing as a spiritual practice. I have lots of friends who use journaling and other forms... Read more
The Love of Money: A Practical Spirituality in Zen Buddhism, Judaism, and Christianity James Ishmael Ford “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.” Mark 10:25 As someone raised a poor people’s Baptist through my childhood and earliest adolescence I heard any number of sermons that repeated that passage about the camel and the eye of the needle. It’s cited in all... Read more
CENTERING OUR HEARTS 112 Pointers for the Practices of Presence Wandering around the spiritual bazaar that was the San Francisco Bay area in the late 1960s, and reading what was available, through a combination of good luck and mysterious karma I stumbled on a book, Zen Flesh, Zen Bones, by Nyogen Senzaki and Paul Reps. The book, or more precisely the section called “Centering” offered me the first practical instruction on what meditation might look like. At least... Read more
On Seeing “Living,” a Small Spiritual Classic I don’t do a lot of film reviews at this blog. Mostly because the majority of the movies we go to don’t quite earn a pause to reflect on what I’d seen. Fluff, by and large. And, honestly, what I like. But this time around even I was uninterested in the new Marvel film. On Rotten Tomatoes, while some 83% of the viewers liked it, a scant 47% of the critics could stomach... Read more
Ensō Verde: Considering a Zen Inspired Retirement Community Yesterday, Jan & I attended one of the inaugural orientation sessions for Ensō Verde in Simi Valley. And we are excited. Beyond excited. We think we may have seen our future… We have been exploring the possibilities for Continuing Care Residential Communities, increasingly called Life Plan communities for the past several years. Over the past thirty or so years Jan & I have been of assistance to my... Read more
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