The boy king Edward VI was crowned on this day in 1547. For those of us interested in Western religion this is a momentous occasion. His father Henry VIII had broken from the Roman church, principally to re-marry. But, he had originally been raised to be a bishop and was in fact theologically sophisticated, and his reformation church was pretty much Catholicism sans pope. With Edward VI being only nine years old, ecclesiastical authority fell to his “advisers,” lurching the... Read more

Clyde Tombaugh was born into a small farming family in Streator, Illinois, in 1906. His desire to attend college was ended, it seemed, when a hailstorm destroyed the family crop. He turned his attention to astronomy and built his own telescope. After sending drawings he had completed based on his observations to the staff at Lowell Observatory, they immediately hired him on despite having no degrees. While working for the observatory, he was assigned the nearly hopeless task of pursuing... Read more

A Few Words on Zen’s Sex Scandals and What Might Follow James Myoun Ford Boundless Way Zen I’ve commented here and there on the larger sex scandals touching on our Zen communities here in the West. I’ve been praised and I’ve been castigated for these comments. I liked praise better. I can claim for good or ill the distinction of being the first of the Western Zen teachers to write an open letter to the Zen Studies Society board calling... Read more

I see that Iran has officially banned the sale and, presumably, ownership of Buddha statues. People of the Book and Zoroastrians have some sort of official protection, but not Buddhists. And, even though, I gather from the news stories, these statues are mostly purchased as decorative items, they are no longer to be tolerated. Someone might become a Buddhist, I suspect they suspect. And heaven forfend… Or, at least the religious authorities will… I understand. They have to be careful,... Read more

A quick glance at Wikipedia drew together my jumbled memories and ideas of this holiday’s origins and what it all might mean. Historically, such as that is, it celebrates a person (or two) of this name who died on this day. And… Well… That appears to be the end of the known stuff about St Valentine. After that he becomes the canvas for various people looking for someone to represent something. At first as an exemplar of courtly love. Later,... Read more

My Facebook life has gotten a little exciting. Pope Benedict XVI’s announced abdication has generated various comments and in my circles more than a little snark. I joined in a bit by posting the Onion article titled Resigning Pope No Longer Has Strength to Lead Church Backward. Additionally a member of my congregation who has been running for UU pope has in the wake of the upcoming vacancy expanded his job search and I endorsed his bid. This proved too... Read more

One might think ever since poor Phineas Gage took that railroad spike through his head people would stop thinking our minds are much more than epiphenomenon to human brain function. (Epiphenomenon is a secondary phenomenon, and phenomenon is a manifestation – I paid a fortune for my degrees and I’ll be darned if I’m not going to put them to good use…) But, noooo…. People persist in the fond delusion we have an existence beyond our existence. That would be... Read more

Now don’t get me wrong, I have problems with the term. For one, etymologically it makes no sense, the terms are for all practical purposes synonyms. For another, using the word “spiritual” to stand for the good stuff in religion and “religious” to stand for the yucky, hierarchical, bullshit parts of religion begs the question of which really is which. And so I’ve been known to say I’m religious but not spiritual. Stir the pot a little. Still… There are... Read more

Dr William Green is a fascinating, and I think significant figure. Currently he serves as a professor at Tougaloo College in Mississippi. He is also a bishop within the African Orthodox Church, a small but vital African American denomination with roots in the Episcopal Church and the episcopi vagans movement. These facts alone make Professor Green interesting. But, there’s more… He also spent his formative spiritual years under the guidance of the shadowy but fascinating Dr Neville Pemchekov Warwick. (There’s... Read more

A Tale of a Tail: Encountering the Ox as it Passes Through the Window & With that Finding Zen’s Way of Liberation James Myoun Ford Boundless Way Zen I was raised in a Christian fundamentalist family. At my grandmother’s knee I learned the problems of this life all happened because of Adam and Eve, because of original sin. They screwed up, seriously so, they sowed seeds of discontent, and because we’re their descendants, we have inherited, we have harvested the... Read more