I’ve just learned that Sister Elaine MacInnis, Catholic nun and Zen master died yesterday, November 29th, 2022. If I did the calculations correctly, she was 98 years old. A number of years ago I served on the membership committee of the American Zen Teachers Association. It had been formed largely out of a list of names compiled by some of that second generation of Zen teachers including Bernie Glassman and Mel Weitsman. As the organization grew, we... Read more
Salvation by Character: Recalling My Spiritual Ancestor William Ellery Channing James Ishmael Ford William Ellery Channing was born on this day, the 7th of April, 1780, in Newport, Rhode Island. I try to acknowledge this every year. I count him as one of my more important spiritual influences, in a very real sense he was a spiritual ancestor. I was working at Wahrenbrock’s Book House in San Diego. The exact date is lost for me, some time... Read more
I give you the end of a golden string; Only wind it into a ball, It will lead you in at Heaven’s gate, Built in Jerusalem’s wall. William Blake was born on this day, the 28th of November in 1757, in Soho, in Westminster, in London. His family were Dissenters and his whole life he would follow his own spiritual lights, but nonetheless William was baptized into the Anglican church. His formal education was brief,... Read more
There is a tradition. It tells us one of Jesus’ apostles, Thomas, who we know as the Doubter, carried the message of Jesus all the way to India. There he found responsive hearts on the Malabar coast, and a small community began to flourish. Another tradition says that a few centuries later the king of the area, Abenner was told by astrologers that his newborn son Josaphat would one day set aside kingship and become an... Read more
The Motley Bodhisattva by John Ching Hsiung Wu (I was taken with this brief article in John Wu’s Golden Age of Zen. It offers a taste of the teacher Fudaishi. He is credited with the invention (some articles make sure we understand this is highly unlikely) of a library table for ease of access to the Tripitaka. In Buddhist mythology he becomes the patron and protector of libraries. He was a householder practitioner and a master of... Read more
Toward the One, the Perfection of Love, Harmony, and Beauty, the Only Being, United with all the Illuminated Souls, Who form the Embodiment of the Master, the Spirit of Guidance. When I lived in the Zen monastery in Oakland, I served on the jisha team responsible among other things for hosting guests. So, no surprise when the roshi told me we were getting a VIP visitor. His name was Samuel Lewis, and while he was mostly... Read more
THE GOOSE IN THE BOTTLE Exploring the Possibilities of Interspiritual Dialogue A Sermon delivered at the First Congregational Church of Long Beach United Church of Christ 20 November 2022 James Ishmael Ford First, thank you so much for welcoming me into your community. If you don’t know we Unitarian Universalists and especially the Congregationalist roots of the United Church of Christ share a history. And even today you might imagine a Venn diagram for the UCC and... Read more
It was on this day, the 19th of November, at the dedication of a graveyard at Gettysburg, after the keynote speaker the remarkable Unitarian clergyman Reverend Edward Evertt held forth for two hours; that President Abraham Lincoln stood and spoke two hundred and eighty five words… Read more
When the song of the angels is stilled, when the star in the sky is gone, when the kings and princes are home, when the shepherds are back with their flocks, the work of Christmas begins: to find the lost, to heal the broken, to feed the hungry, to release the prisoner, to rebuild the nations, to bring peace among the people, to make music in the heart. Howard Thurman Howard Washington Thurman was born today, November... Read more
Last year on this day, the 16th of November, the anniversary of the death of Alan Watts in 1973, I wrote a small appreciation of Alan. And I find it not a bad time to pause and consider him, his life, and his contributions again. Watts remains an important figure in my life. And, more important I think he stands as a significant figure in the meeting of psychology and Eastern religions, as well as the... Read more
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In