I’ve found myself thinking a lot about the Service of the Living Tradition, where the preacher Vanessa Southern called the Unitarian Universalist community to a new awakening. I think Peter Mayer is the bard of that awakening, the first significant hymnodist of contemporary Unitarian Universalism. The theology he represents in his songs is the deep insight of radical interdependence, which we can find emergent in the twin assertions that the individual is precious beyond description and that individual, we, each... Read more

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“(W)hen I say “God”, it is poetry, not theology. Nothing that any theologian ever wrote about God has helped me much, but everything that poets have written about flowers, and birds, and skies, and seas, and the saviors of the race, and God — whoever that may be — has at one time or another reached my soul. The theologians gather dust upon the shelves of my library, but the poets are stained with my fingers and blotted with my... Read more

The question of Zen’s kensho has come up several times in the last few weeks. That’s just the circles I move in, I guess. Kensho or satori are the experiences (although some will challenge, and for good reasons, the use of that word experience) of insight into our deepest reality. While perhaps most closely associated with the Zen tradition, if there’s a natural insight into reality, then obviously it is owned by no religion. One of the coolest things for... Read more

Every once in a while something happens that confuses and heartens at the same time. I was surprised to learn that Exodus International apologized to the GBLTQ community. And, then, now, has shut down… Their attempt to “cure” gay and lesbian people was predicated upon a long discredited psychological model that homosexuality was a disease to be cured. After inflicting terrible things upon many people for something near forty years, they noticed. It is a miracle when people notice. And,... Read more

The Unitarian Universalist Ministers Association gathers just ahead of the annual UU General Assembly, this year in Lousville. This morning UUMA worship featured, as is the tradition, two speakers, one who has served twenty-five years and the other fifty years. The fifty year homilist this year was Robert Senghas. Bob has been a Zen practitioner for something more than a quarter of a century. Among many other things along the way, including serving as acting president of the denomination for... Read more

Buddhist Voices in Unitarian Universalism Edited by Wayne Arnason & Sam Trumbore Forward by Lama Surya Das Skinner House Books, Boston, 2013 I received a copy of this book in the mail last week. I stuffed it into my bags as I prepared to fly first to Houston for a Zen teachers conference, and from there, directly to Louisville for the Unitarian Universalist Association General Assembly. I started reading it on the plane from Houston to Louisville. In Kentucky, I... Read more

Click on image for the full picture Front row: Stan Lombardo, Myoun Ford, Gaelyn Godwin, David Rynick Middle row: Haju Sunim, Mary Mocine, Ruben Habito, Ryodo Hawley, Karin Kempe, Genjo Marinello Back row: Kristen Larson, Judy Roitman, Gentei Stewart, Eshin Godfrey Not pictured: Kaijaku Kinst, Jane Schneider, Kosho McCall, Lee Ann Nail, Myozen Blacker, Peggy Sheehan, Peter Schnider, Shinshu Roberts Read more