Right now, every week I visit my friend who suffered the swarm of strokes. We are past being able to talk. Instead I read the psalms to him. A couple of weeks ago it appears he had another stroke. As he’s now in hospice there is no formal diagnosis. His involvement in my visiting and reading the Psalms to him is pretty much limited to trying to repeat the last few words of each psalm. These are hard... Read more

      Last year, a foolish monk. This year, no change. Ryokan Fifty-two years ago, today, on the 5th of July 1970, I received shukke tokudo, also called unsui tokudo, ordination as a novice Soto Zen Buddhist priest in Oakland, California, from the Soto Zen priest Houn Jiyu Kennett. Also. In twelve days I will turn seventy-four. Not one of those big marker years, but valuable for noting the accumulation of years, or from another angle an opportunity to... Read more

      Today is the Fourth of July. We mark this date as the founding of our beautiful broken Republic, whose high minded ideals have been betrayed over and over and over. And yet. And yet… There was an astonishing amount of high idealism, and along with it some serious sharp dealing. Those founders dreamed a republic that proclaimed our common humanity, while keeping slaves. From the beginning we were a mixed thing. And over the many years we... Read more

            SEARCHING FOR WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT A Zen Meditation for the Fourth of July Edward Sanshin Oberholtzer Joseph Priestley Zen Community Empty Moon Zen Each Tuesday morning at 7:30 Eastern time, I give what the Greater Boston Zen Center has, in its wisdom, designated as an encouragement talk. A boost to get you up and going on your daily rounds. Looking about me, paying perhaps more attention than I should attention to current events, I... Read more

    THE FIFTH OF JULY What’s Wrong, and What Might be Right James Ishmael Ford What a time. What a time. Truthfully, too much all at once. Nine days ago, Donald Trump’s… Actually, in this regard Trump is Mitch McConnell’s cat’s paw. So, really, McConnell’s supreme court has declared Roe null and void. With that trigger laws have been triggered. And as of today, abortion is legal in only twenty states and the District of Columbia. Along the way... Read more

      Me, I’m the first television generation. Those just a couple of years older or born somewhere other than on the coasts are not. They are firmly radio generation. And, while I did listen some to radio, we had a television much earlier than people in our financial circumstances probably should have. As a consequence I fondly recall a lot of early television. This ranged from shows made for TV like Crusader Rabbit, Captan Kangaroo, the Roy Rogers... Read more

      Herman Hesse was born on this day, the 2nd of July, 1877. I actually had the privilege of reflecting at greater length about Hesse in a post two weeks ago. But for here, a small literary appreciation. How a writer can help a questing heart. In my adolescence I stumbled upon a copy of his novel Demien. It was an earth shaking document for me. I’d read a lot of Science Fiction but not a lot more... Read more

          As I reflect on the nature of Zen come West I am near endlessly fascinated at the variety of its forms. No doubt the majority of folk who talk about Zen on social media have simply read a book, usually by Alan Watts, but perhaps a bit more deeply, and are more than happy to expound on the power of the moment. Good on them. I hope they enjoy themselves. Zen is also a marketing... Read more

    I’m visiting with an old friend who is in nursing care, and actually has just entered a hospice program. As he has trouble speaking we’ve settled into a pattern of my reading the psalms to him. This has given me a project to have a bit better sense of his ancient prayer book of both the Jewish and Christian traditions. What follows are some notes I’ve gathered about the background of the psalms. It’s just an outline. But... Read more

        Today, the 26th of June, the American Episcopal Church celebrates the life of Isabel Florence Hapgood. For me she’s particularly interesting in that she opened some fascinating doors for spiritual exploration. Born in Boston in 1851 to an affluent family, she had many of the advantages of that time and place. While her gender prevented her from following her twin brother to Harvard, she received good private tutoring and attended the first rate program at Miss Porter’s... Read more