The Unity of Religions James Ishmael Ford “The soul should always stand ajar, ready to welcome the ecstatic experience.” Emily Dickinson For anyone who says there are common currents to religions, say, like for me; there are challenges. Hard questions. Is there really a thread through them all, a tie that binds, some universal truth found in all religions? Just looking at the various creeds and the rites of the religions, it seems the answer would be no. No. And... Read more
Wild and Precious: A Celebration of Mary Oliver Reflecting on the making of an audiobook James Ishmael Ford Just shy of a year ago I received an email. Helena de Groot was, okay, is a producer for Pushkin, a multi platform publisher. She said they’d stumbled upon my allusions to Mary Oliver at my blog, which included one full on appreciation. Helena went on... Read more
DYING & RISING A Zen Reflection on Easter James Ishmael Ford For the last half of my professional ministerial life, I served in some venerable New England parishes. Spiritually we were pretty much generic contemporary Unitarian Universalists. That is, we shared a naturalist and humanist bent. And issues of social justice were very important to us. But at the same time, there was always a bit of a Protestant Congregational Christian sense... Read more
Every Day is the Good Day: A Zen Meditation on Good Friday James Ishmael Ford Yunmen, asked, “I do not ask you about the fifteenth of month. Come. Tell me about after the fifteenth. He then gave his own response, “Every day is a good day.” Blue Cliff Record, Case 6 Today is Good Friday. And I find it a perfect day to consider a koan. Koans are not puzzles, although they look like them. Rather... Read more
Zen, Maundy Thursday, and the Mysteries of Memory and Communion James Ishmael Ford There are three rituals associated with Jesus’ ministry. The first is baptism, which he continued from his teacher, John’s ministry. The other two are foot washing and communion. These last two are marked out for observing today, Holy Thursday, or in some communities as Maundy Thursday. I don’t know why one, foot washing, remained in most of the Christian community an occasional act, while the other, communion... Read more
HOW TO PREPARE AND DELIVER A (ZEN) DHARMA TALK James Ishmael Ford “So the hymn comes to a close with an unsteady amen, and the organist gestures the choir to sit down. Fresh from breakfast with his wife and children and a quick run through of the Sunday papers, the preacher climbs the steps to the pulpit with his sermon in hand. He hikes his black robe at... Read more
NOT KILLING A Consideration of Zen’s First Grave Precept James Ishmael Ford Death and with it, killing is a great conundrum. Half of the conundrum of life and death. The fact of it. And how we engage it. Even, actually, how we think about it. One of the axioms of our Zen way is that everything, including our inner states have consequences. So, going for the hard thing, going toward the heart of the matter, what about death and especially... Read more
Nelson Mandela Raises his Fist: A Meditation on a Zen Koan James Ishmael Ford The Case Zhaozhou Congshen went to a hermit’s cottage. At the entrance he called out, “Anybody in? Anybody in?” The hermit appeared in the doorway and lifted up his fist. Zhaozhou replied, “The water is too shallow for a ship to anchor.” And he left. Later, he went to a hermit’s cottage and at the entrance asked, “Anybody in? Anybody in?” This hermit lifted up his... Read more
ZEN COMMENTS ON AN ANCIENT KOAN Baofu and Changqing Go on a Picnic Blue Cliff Record, Case 23 Ken Ireland (Reprinted with permission from Koan Conversations by my old friend Ken Ireland. Ken is someone to know. Ken began meditation practice in the early 70’s while a Jesuit. Claudio Naranjo introduced him to zazen as well as the Enneagram. He also introduced Ken to Master C.M. Chen, who went to Tibet in 1929. Ken has studied and practiced with both... Read more
(Zen) Buddhism and the Coming Revolution Gary Snyder I first shared this essay four or five years ago. For some of us I think it a timely re-read. For others maybe it can be a useful first read. It was originally published as “Buddhist Anarchism,” in the first of the four issue run of the Journal for the Protection of All Beings. As that first version of the essay was published in 1961 it becomes one of the very first broadsides... Read more
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