I see that Mitch Miller died yesterday. He was ninety nine years old, and apparently active pretty much to the end. A fixture of my childhood, I recall him fondly… Read more

I gather that while the American Declaration of Independence was voted on the 4th of July, many, maybe most scholars don’t think it was fully signed until today, the 2nd of August in 1776. Such a remarkable document, I feel great pausing and reflecting upon it, again… But, I also find myself thinking of a much later document, a Buddhist declaration first formulated in 2004 and then revised in 2006. Maia Duerr at her Jizo Chronicles says of this Buddhist... Read more

While I have little taste for its magical aspects, I do like the neo pagan movement for many things. One of which is how it reclaims the rhythms of life for those of us more or less uncomfortable with the calendars of “mainstream” religions, drawing instead upon older sources, usually from pre-Christian Europe. However we choose to mark them, it does seem important to note the shifts and with that the rhythms of life on our planet. I see how... Read more

As those who read this blog know I live out my life within the rhythms of two spiritual communities, a church and a sangha. Taken together they inform everything I say or do, either as an expression of what they’ve taught me, or as examples of how I’ve fallen short of my ideals. Sadly, more often for the later reason… So, nine days ago. Just as sesshin was beginning I learned of the death of a member of the congregation.... Read more

Just back home from sesshin. Seven days of facing the heart mind. Forty-one companions, most pictured here as we gather in front of Mugendoji, our Boundless Way temple in Worcester, MA, before heading back to what we were up to before the great madness descended upon us. Time to take a nap… Read more

Jan & I are off to sesshin at our Boundless Way temple in Worcester, leaving auntie & the cats in charge of the old homestead. Sesshin means to touch the heart mind. And frequently one does. Also, this is a special treat, it is our only seven day retreat in the Boundless Way sangha annual schedule – so far… If you would like a glimpse of what sesshin looks like, this is a nice video. At our own sesshin we... Read more

I missed this important video when it first came out. As it were. But too important not to pass on… Read more

I’ve now received a couple of emails from people who read my small report from this year’s American Zen Teachers Association gathering in Batavia, New York. Most expressed disappointment that I wasn’t addressing in a direct way the recent events regarding the revelation that the Rinzai priest Eido Shimano, who has been haunted by relentless allegations of sexual misconduct with students over many years, and who was revealed just this past month to have been actively engaged in one more... Read more

On this day in 1850 Sarah Margaret Fuller Ossoli, while returning to America with her husband and infant child, drowned in a shipwreck just off the coast of Fire Island in New York. One of my real heroes, I wish she were better known… And I wish there were better videos on Youtube about her. But, at least these are sincere, I hope tantalizing,  and the later points to very good book, so, here you go… Read more

Early on Wednesday I got in the car and took the seven and a half hour drive up to Batavia, just outside of Rochester, New York, where the Rochester Zen Center’s country retreat, Chapin Mill is. Took me a tad under ten hours… Wednesday is casual, but by tradition features gender specific gatherings. The women planned something. The men wandered around aimlessly before most gradually coming together near the swimming pond. There has been much sadness of late regrading sexual... Read more