People wonder what it is like to step away from self and other, even if only for a heartbeat. The ancestors tell us this insight is the way of liberation. So, of course many are interested in those anecdotes and pointers sprinkled around the world’s sacred literature. Now, of course, if this is so true and our lives hang in the balance, the most important thing is to find for ourselves. Still, on the way, hearing from those who’ve walked... Read more

On this day in 1965 LSD was declared illegal in the United States. Precisely how illegal has shifted over the years. It is now a schedule 1 drug as defined in the 1970 Controlled Substances Act. Which as far as I’m concerned adds in the assertion that drugs on this list have no potentiality for medical use. A bizarre category in the bizarre field of drug control. As someone who came of age in the late 1960’s in the San... Read more

On this day in 1877, Chief Joseph and his band of the Nez Perce surrendered to General Nelson Miles. Read more

FILTHY LUCRE A Meditation on the Divided Heart and Its Healing James Ishmael Ford 4 October 2009 First Unitarian Church Providence, Rhode Island Text And they send unto him certain of the Pharisees and of the Herodians, to catch him in his words. And when they were come, they say unto him, Master, we know that thou art true, and carest for no man: for thou regardest not the person of men, but teachest the way of God in truth:... Read more

I found a notice in my email forwarded from Zen Mountain Monastery in New York. It is a significant marker in our larger contemporary Western Zen community and so I’m sharing the gist of it. This past Sunday (John Daido Loori) Roshi met with the Zen Mountain Monastery Board of Directors to let them know he feels it is time for him step down as Abbot General of the Order and to pass his responsibilities on to the next generation.... Read more

MAKA HANNYA HARAMITA SHIN GYO The Great Prajna-Paramita Heart Sutra In Sino Japanese with a translation by Robert Aitken KAN JI ZAI BO SA GYO- JIN HAN-NYA HA RA MI TA JIAvalokiteshvara Bodhisattva, practicing deep Prajna Paramita, SHO- KEN GO ON KAI KU- DO IS-SAI KU YAKU.clearly saw that all five skandhas are empty, transforming anguish and distress. SHA RI SHI SHIKI FU I KU- KU- FU I SHIKI Shariputra, form is no other than emptiness, emptiness no other than... Read more

ASKING by Dan Fante For years I thought that talking to the Gods was an exercise done privately under unforgiving distant stars ridiculous unrequited prayer done by staring at old cold books with mean small print But then I discovered that just ain’t it at all God can be found in the ‘thank you’ voice of the guy at the counter at the 7-11 or the quietness of a stranger’s parking lot smile or the rattle of weeds across a... Read more

Things to Do in the Belly of the Whale by Dan Albergotti Measure the walls. Count the ribs. Notch the long days.Look up for blue sky through the spout. Make small fires with the broken hulls of fishing boats. Practice smoke signals. Call old friends, and listen for echoes of distant voices. Organize your calendar. Dream of the beach. Look each way for the dim glow of light. Work on your reports. Review each of your life’s ten million choices.... Read more

STANDING ON THE SIDE OF LOVE A Sermon for Yom Kippur James Ishmael Ford 27 September 2009First Unitarian ChurchProvidence, Rhode Island Text Now God said to Jonah, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against their wickedness.” But instead Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish and went and found a ship. God sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest, so that the ship was about to be broken. The mariners... Read more

I gather many of the kids in the video were recruited that morning and they had just one rehearsal… Cool… Read more