On this day in 1531 Henry VIII was declared supreme head of the church in England. Now don’t get me wrong. I adore the Anglican communion, my absolute favorite among the “orthodox” Christian churches. But they do have their problems… Read more

Ruben Habito, a former Jesuit priest and now professor of world religions and spirituality at Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University, is a Zen master in the Sanbo Kyodan reform of the Soto Zen tradition. A good guy. And I think an important Zen teacher. Here’s a pretty good example of why I think this… “Zen is an experience of unlimited love.”Ruben Habito Thank you, Glenda, for the pointer! Read more

I see that the great Schnozzola was born today in 1893. A vaudevillian who made the successful transitions first to radio and then to television; in his old age, but still working, Jimmy Durante was a fixture of my childhood. His quick wit was accentuated by a thick Brooklyn accent and a truly magnificent nose. Wikipedia gives an illustration of the professional, which also reveals a certain kindness in his character. “On August 4, 1955, The Jimmy Durante Show was... Read more

So, I’m in the vegetable department at Whole Foods trying to decide on whether to get a green pepper and a red pepper, or a green pepper, red pepper and a yellow pepper, when Three Dog Night starts singing to me… Okay, maybe they were singing to everyone. But, I have to admit beyond the small dash of nostalgia, I was glad for this little flash of joyous noise. Thought you might like it, too… Read more

Sadly, there is no common Buddhist calendar in the West. And here we have an example of the confusion that follows this lack of conformity. Today together with the 15th of this month is observed in parts of East Asia as Nirvana Day, a time to recall Gautama Siddhartha, the Buddha of history’s death. The records of his life together with his teachings were all written down in languages he did not speak hundreds of years after he died. So... Read more

It is my understanding the California native and Arizona resident, now Protestant missionary, Robert Park, has been released from imprisonment by North Korea authorities. He looks so young in the video clip. If you weren’t following his adventures, this past Christmas Mr Park crossed the border into North Korea carrying a letter calling upon the dictator Kim Jong Il to stop suppressing (Christian) religion, to shut down the gulags and then to retire from office. The twenty-eight year old Park... Read more

Yesterday afternoon the Vice president of the United States administered the oath of office to Scott Brown as the junior senator from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Not my happiest moment. Last night I was talking with an old friend who after many years of Zen practice had let go of a regular sitting discipline in the complex mix of separating himself from his former community. A good man. With, as we say in Zen, some eye. I’m very fond of... Read more

And here’s a fine example… Happy birthday, Gertie! Read more

The Innkeeper’s Diary,The Wayside Inn, Sudbury, Massachusetts [1930 – 1950](1) The Inn Diaries© were transcribed from a copy of the original diaries held in Longfellow’s Wayside Inn Archives, [January 1996]. During these years, the staff recorded their observations and the activities at the Inn each day. These pages are of the days when the Fraters met. This diary is copyrighted by Longfellow’s Wayside Inn Archives. The material presented here contains the full text of “Fraters” material currently found (1-23-1996). Some... Read more

As long as we’re thinking about Groundhog Day, how about one of the lovely movies about the spiritual path… Yes, it is silly. And yes people don’t actually literally live lives over and over again in the reanimation sense. But we do play out our patterns over and over again. And, there is some hard quest for love that seems to drive us, usually into all the wrong places. Until and unless we are blessed with a little peek into... Read more