INTRARELIGIOUS REALIZATION Ruminations of an American Zen Buddhist Robert Aitken (Me, I’m fascinated by the meeting of religions and the inevitability of syncretisms and synthesis of various sorts. On the other hand there are numerous problems. The wonderful Zen teacher Robert Aitken offers a view which is important to consider…) I threw up my hands when I was invited to respond to pronouncements by His Holiness John Paul II on the subject of Buddhism. I felt that his Christianity was... Read more

      I’m always happy when there’s a new posting from Andrew Henry’s wonderful wonderful Youtube channel, Religion for Breakfast. If you’re not familiar with it and you care at all for a scholarly approach to the matters of religion, you are in for a treat. You’re welcome. On the 18th of this month, Dr Henry dropped a video exploring the gospel passage from Mark 10:25 “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a... Read more

      The Xinxin Ming Attributed to Sengcan Xinxin Ming (alternate spellings Xin Xin Ming or Xinxinming) (Chinese: 信心銘; Pīnyīn: Xìnxīn Míng; Wade–Giles: Hsin Hsin Ming; Romanji: Shinjinmei), meaning “Faith in Mind”, is a poem attributed to the Third Chinese Chán Patriarch Jianzhi Sengcan (Chinese: 鑑智僧璨; Pīnyīn: Jiànzhì Sēngcàn; Wade–Giles: Chien-chih Seng-ts’an; Romaji: Kanchi Sōsan) and one of the earliest Chinese Chan expressions of the Buddhist mind training practice. The Zen teacher Dosho Port suggests “If anyone finds a dozen to be a bit too many, I’d recommend the Stan Lombardo translation. If you really like to dance, try the Rochester... Read more

        Carlos Duarte Costa was born in Rio de Janeiro on this day, the 21st of July, in 1888. He became a prominent Brazilian Roman Catholic clergyman, eventually Bishop of Botucatu. The bishop denounced the corruption of the civil authorities. And was a central figure in the the Constitutionalist Revolution. He also denounced clerical corruption and complicity in governmental corruption. In the years running up to the Second World War he denounced Nazi and fascist movements. In these... Read more

        The story of St Wilgefortis is simple enough. Born noble as a teenager in some part of what is now Portugal, possibly Galicia, she is promised in marriage to a Muslim or some other kind of pagan, king. Having become Christian she has secretly taken a vow of perpetual virginity. To avoid the marriage she prayed to be made repulsive to the king. The answer to her prayer was a luxurious beard that appeared on the... Read more

      According to the old style, today, the 19th of July, in 1754, is marked as Seraphim of Sarov‘s birthday. Current calendars put the date at July 30th. But noticing it and thinking of the saint caused a flood of mind bubbles… Seraphim is perhaps the most famous of the Eastern Christian saints. He was an ascetic and mystic and is frequently compared to St Francis of Assisi. Now I’m no fan of extreme asceticism. And Seraphim is... Read more

    In 1868, Pope Pius IX convened what would come to be called the First Vatican Council. It appears the pope an his closer associates were concerned with the issues of rationalism, materialism, and liberalism in general, as well as the specifics of rising socialism, communism, and anarchism. They did as charged and duly The Council condemned rationalism, secularism, liberalism, naturalism, modernism, materialism and pantheism. But it was today, the 18th of July, in 1870 that they outdid themselves.... Read more

      Today, the 17th of July, in the year of our Lord, 1948, I was born in the city of “no there there,” in the land named for the island home of a tribe of Amazon warriors and their queen. The 17th of July in 1948 was a Saturday. It was a mild day, the temperature never rose above 65 degrees Fahrenheit. The moon was waxing gibbous under the waning sign of Cancer. It appears it was a... Read more

                            Tomorrow I turn seventy-four. According to the psalmist, The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away. More contemporary translations say seventy years, and eighty. So. The sands are draining out of the glass for me… Some wise person once observed how anyone without... Read more