A Critique of Centering Prayer: Text and Commentary Francis Tiso (I shared online a reflection by the lay Catholic spiritual director Carl McColman regarding Centering Prayer and some of its critics. In a response Fr Tiso noted he’d also written a reflection on Centering Prayer in response to an extensive critique. I read it. And then asked if I could share it at this blog. He graciously agreed. There were some problems with the document as I... Read more

          Joseph Priestley died on this day, the 6th of February, in 1804. Me I think of it as a holy day, a feast for a radical saint. Priestley was a scientist, political radical, and one of the more influential founders of the modern English speaking Unitarian movement. He was born into a comfortable dissenting family in Birstall, Yorkshire, on the 24th of March, 1733. His brilliance was noted very early. At four he could recite the... Read more

      The master of the cut and paste novel, gay, drug addict, wife killer, essayist, short story writer, painter, spoken word artist, general all around self-obsessed jerk, and brilliant brilliant writer William S. Burroughs was born on this day, the 5th of February, in 1914. Were he still alive he’d be one hundred and nine years old… Not quite that long ago, but bunches and bunches of years ago, I was working in Moe’s bookstore in Berkeley. Moe... Read more

        THE UNITARIAN WHO WOULD BE PRESIDENT A Meditation on the Politics of Unitarian Universalism A sermon delivered at the First Unitarian Church of Los Angeles 5 February 2023 James Ishmael Ford Back in the day, most people with an axe they were looking to grind regarding candidate and then President Barack Obama, wanted people to know he really was a Muslim. You know. Some kind of other. But there were a few people who wanted to... Read more

          THIRD PURE PRECEPT Zen’s Shorthand for the Bodhisattva Vow A talk delivered at Empty Moon Zen‘s Saturday morning Zoom gathering James Ishmael Ford To remind you. The three pure precepts are derived from verse 183 in the Dhammapada, a collection of sayings attributed to Gautama Siddhartha, the Buddha of history. The verse goes: “Renounce all evil; practice all good; keep your mind pure—thus all the Buddhas taught.” There we clearly see the first two of... Read more

  Perception, Wisdom, and Wonder Closing the Rift Between the Rational and Spiritual Danaan Deneve Weeks Delivered as a sermon at the First Unitarian Church of Los Angeles January 22, 2023 I want to talk about wonder. This isn’t going to start like I’m talking about wonder, but I swear that’s where this is going. First, a little context: I am an evolutionary ecologist, and I am also an animist. As an evolutionary ecologist, I study how organisms interact with... Read more

      A Note on the Use of Chairs in Zen Meditation I have been practicing Zen well past fifty years. My skin is wrinkling. My hair is a different color than it was in my youth and maturity. I’m shorter than I once was. And I need to go to the bathroom when I need to go to the bathroom. Admittedly, I still am not worried about buying green bananas. But I know that day is right around... Read more

    A Simple Introduction to Zen’s Koan & Huatou James Ishmael Ford It seems we all have a question. Why was I born? What is it all about? Who am I? What is this? In my adolescence along with all the other things of changing body and awareness, I realized how desperately I wanted to know if there was a God. It burned in me in ways that words simply fail to convey. Questions. In Zen there are two... Read more

  Zen as a Way of Magical Realism James Ishmael Ford Yangshan Huiji had a dream. In it he traveled to Maitreya’s hall, where he was led to the third seat. No sooner had he sat than a senior monk struck the bell and announced, “Today the one sitting in the third seat will preach.” Yangshan immediately stood up, and also gave the bell a strike. He then said, “The truth of the great way is beyond the four propositions... Read more