On this day in 1790 Rhode Island ratifies the Constitution. Of note is that it was the first to declare independence from Great Britain, a couple of months before the rest of the colonies on May 4th, which is observed here… Feisty crowd, Rhode Islanders… They resisted ratifying the Constitution for numerous reasons, apparently some noble. They finally voted ratification on this day insisting on the Bill of Rights as part of the document. And even then the vote to... Read more

So, what is Dharma transmission in Zen? We know there is a transmission lineage that claims a succession from the Buddha down to any number of people. It doesn’t take a lot of historical research to see this idea was birthed in China and is heavily influenced by the Chinese idea of family and familial inheritance. At the same time it stands for something, or some things that remain compelling to many people on the spiritual path. As a practical... Read more

Bram Stoker’s gothic novel Dracula was published on this day in 1897. While vampires had long been part of the cultural matrix. and there were even novels in the nineteenth century before Stoker, it is Stoker who brought it into the culture’s livingroom, or possibly more accurately into the bedroom. The unsigned Wikipedia article on vampires notes how Stoker’s “vampirism as a disease of contagious demonic possession, with its undertones of sex, blood and death, struck a chord in Victorian... Read more

On this day in 1878 Gilbert & Sullivan’s H. M. S. Pinafore opened at the Opera Comique in London. It has continued on its voyages ever since. For those unfamiliar, if such exist, here’s the five minute version… Read more

I just received a PDF of my contribution for the upcoming (July) issue of Shambhala Sun. I really liked it. It includes really nice illustrations by Mike Holmes. He gives pictures for my three basic rules for meditation practice: sit down, shut up & pay attention. That last one “pay attention,” is, I find, the hardest for people to actually tumble to. Some while ago I opined on a story going around the web purporting to be a Zen anecdote,... Read more

I see how on this day in 1934 Bonnie & Clyde met their fate. They share this anniversary date with the burning of the mad friar Savonarola who met his fate on this day in 1498. I see there is some move within the Roman church to rehabilitate Savonarola, for reasons beyond my understanding. Not sure when they’ll try to rehabilitate Bonnie or Clyde. In the meantime this day allows us to admire some great Blue Grass… Read more

Just learned that Frank Edward Ray died last week. He was ninety-one & it had been some forty years since he led twenty-six children to safety after a truly horrendous kidnapping and mass burial. Good to recall people who really are ordinary, who step up to the plate when the time comes. Good bye, Ed. And, thanks! Read more

Sorry you’re not here to see what is going on, Harvey. But, your call to be recruited has been heard & continues to be heard. The struggle continues… And every day more hearts see the justice of your call… Read more

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THERE ARE ONLY HANDS AND EYES: ZEN BUDDHISM AS UNIVERSALISM Delivered at the 2012 Universalist Convocation at Murray Grove Lanoka Harbor, New Jersey 19 May, 2012 James Ishmael Ford Let me start with an anecdote, a conversation between two old hands on the Zen way collected in the twelfth century Chinese spiritual anthology, the Blue Cliff Record as case eighty-nine. Joan Sutherland and John Tarrant’s translation. Yunyan asked Daowu, “How does the Bodhisattva Guanyin use those many hands and eyes?”... Read more