LIBRARY JOURNAL Ford, James Ishmael. If You’re Lucky, Your Heart Will Break: Field Notes from a Zen Life. Wisdom Pub. 2012. 183p. ISBN 9781614290391. pap. $16.95; ebk. ISBN 9781614290438. REL Unitarian Universalist minister Ford (Zen Master Who?) offers an engaging, brief volume that is a kind of reflection on spiritual progress, with advice for the general reader. He tells how, over time, he acquired spiritual gifts and insights in the Zen tradition (candor, justice, love of nature). VERDICT Half preachment... Read more

THE PRICE OF EVERYTHING Reflections on the Nature of Stewardship A Sermon by James Ishmael Ford 3 March 2013 First Unitarian Church Providence, Rhode Island Text A man, going on a journey, summoned his servants and entrusted his property to them; to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. The one who had received the five talents went off at once and traded with them, and... Read more

On this day in 1933 King Kong opened at Radio City Music Hall in New York City… Me, first I saw it sometime in the nineteen fifties in glorious black and white on television. My goodness, I was scared. And, ultimately, as I was supposed to be, I found myself on the ape’s side. When it was over, I was sad. And… It was a dramatic illustration of what I would gradually see as much of the way things are.... Read more

I serve on the organizing committee for a forming interfaith organization in Rhode Island. Last night we had a planning session with a host of folk, mostly Protestant & Episcopal Christians, largely clergy, a small handful of rabbis, a Quaker, two Bahai, two muslims, one an imam, someone from a New Thought church, me, and, what I found kind of wonderful, they’d asked a representative of a local Humanist organization to come, and he did. It set me to thinking... Read more

My childhood was not the most stable thing in the world. I like to “joke” that I didn’t know people moved during the day until I grew up. We were a small family, my brother and I, my mother and father, and closely aligned my maternal grandparents and auntie. Sometimes living as a unit, more often in close proximity. But, pretty much always on the move. Both the adult males in the family were given to trouble, and found it... Read more

On January 5th this year at a private ceremony at Mugendoji, I gave lay denkai transmission to Dr Douglas Phllips. Doug is a fascinating guy. He’s been knocking around the Dharma world for decades. He has made his living as a psychologist for most all of his adult life while exploring both martial arts and Buddhist meditation. He was a student of the remarkable Maurine Stewart and George Bowman. He also spent many years studying in the Western Vipassana community... Read more

OLYMPIA’S SONG & OURS Olympia Brown and the Radical Announcement that We all are Worthy A Sermon 24 February 2013 First Unitarian Church Providence, Rhode Island Text When I read of the vain discussions of the present day about the virgin birth and other old dogmas which belong to the past, I feel how great the need is still of a real interest in the religion which builds up character, teaches (universal) love, and opens up to the seeker such... Read more

On this day in 1455 Gutenberg published his wondrous Bible. Of course pretty much everyone knows that it wasn’t the first time a book was printed with movable type. Personally, I’m pleased as punch that the oldest extant book printed with movable type is an edition of the Diamond Sutra. But, really, this should not in any way take away the momentous occasion that the Gutenberg Bible announced. What would drive the course of history toward a universal civilization comes... Read more

To Touch the Heart-Mind Sesshin: an intensive three-day Zen meditation retreat Boundless Way Spring Sesshin April 25 – April 28, 2013 Nine hours of meditation per day, liturgy, oryoki (meditative dining) and dokusan (private interviews with the teachers) At our Boundless Way Temple (Mugendo-ji) 1030 Pleasant St, Worcester, MA 9:00 pm Thursday evening, April 25, through 1:00 pm Sunday, April 29 Teachers for this retreat: James Myoun Ford, Roshi is both a Unitarian Universalist minister currently serving as minister of... Read more

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