Where have you been?Out.What have you been doing?Nothing.It is time to sing the praises of doing nothing. Nothing. Taking time off. Time for oneself. Delicious stuff. And in history a fairly rare thing. For most of humanity for most of time, time has been, is work. Rest is occasional. Doing nothing scorned if not actually criminal. One of the great gifts of the Jewish tradition was the idea of sabbath of rest as sacred. I am also forever indebted to... Read more

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Today Harry was laid to rest. He had been offered a State funeral. He declined. He wanted a private burial. And he’ll get that. But he could not avoid his fame and the need for a public funeral, which took place at the Cathedral in Wells. I first heard of him simply as the oldest Englishman who had died at the age of one hundred eleven. Turned out he was also the last survivor of the trenches of World War... Read more

In our generation there are few individuals who shine forth as does Nelson Mandela. I’ve thought a lot about him and how he became Nelson Mandela. On this day in 1962 a young revolutionary leader was jailed. I don’t know a lot about that man. But he wasn’t Mandela, not the Mandela. I wish no such experience for anyone. And such an experience is much more likely to produce bitterness, hatred and a burning desire for revenge. Or, just to... Read more

Contrary to what you may have read elsewhere on the web Barack Hussein Obama was born on this day in Honolulu, Hawaii… Read more

The scholarly blog Transient and Permanent recently posted a list of Buddhist contributions used in the current Unitarian Universalist hymnal, along with corrections of attribution. As I consider the Buddhist influence within contemporary Unitarian Universalism particularly interesting it seemed worthwhile cross posting… Between themselves, Philocrites and Paul Oakley came up with all of the Buddhist contributions to Singing the Living Tradition, the current hymnal of the Unitarian Universalist Association. There are ten in all (although several are repeats or near... Read more

Probably not the one you’re thinking of. Nazeer Gayed was born on the 3rd of August, 1923. He was elected pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandia and head of the Holy Synod of the Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria and installed on the 14th of November, 1971. I find him one of the more interesting of contemporary Christian leaders… Read more

For the past few years I’ve felt what we teach at the Boundless Way was the Harada Yasutani koan curriculum resting upon a base of shikantaza. I realize that’s not quite right. We actually offer a single practice. Standing here we call it shikantaza. Standing here we call it koan introspection. From one position we say sit down, shut up and pay attention. From the other position we throw out points of engagement from our tradition to grab that attention.... Read more

As all things are buddha-dharma, there is delusion and realization, practice, and birth and death, and there are buddhas and sentient beings. As the myriad things are without an abiding self, there is no delusion, no realization, no buddha, no sentient being, no birth and death. The buddha way is, basically, leaping clear of the many of the one; thus there are birth and death, delusion and realization, sentient beings and buddhas. Yet in attachment blossoms fall, and in aversion... Read more

Well, pretty early tomorrow morning, Jan & I and our friend Chris who has been staying with us while he and I’ve been working on a book project, pack up the car and drive to Walpole, New Hampshire for our July Boundless Way sesshin. Sesshin means to touch the heart mind. It is the deep retreat of the Zen tradition. I’ll probably not be able to post anything until I return next weekend. At each service there is a dedication,... Read more