Berry Crawford at Simplicity Zen, interviewed me about a lot of things, although the touchstone was the Zen path. For more about the Empty moon project. For about my work specifically.   Read more

        “It has been said that man is a rational animal. All my life I have been searching for evidence which could support this.” Bertrand Russell It was on this day, the 26th of May in 1328 that the minister general of the Franciscan order and three other friars, including William of Occam, fled the papal court at Avignon. They were reasonably confident if they stayed they would be condemned as heretics and executed at the order... Read more

      Many years ago now, Jan and I and some friends visited Ireland. While in Dublin, in Merrion Square, we saw the famous statue of Oscar Wilde lounging on a rock. It’s quite the piece of art.  As, of course, was Oscar. Following his disastrous libel lawsuit against the Marquess of Queensberry, Oscar Wilde was arrested on the 6th of April, 1895, charged with “gross indecency.” As it happens, it was today, the 25th of May, that Wilde... Read more

    Today, the 24th of May, the Romani, or at least some Romani, celebrate Saint Sarah, sometimes called Black Sarah, or Sarah the Black, Sara e Kali in Romani, as their patron. Like many popular saints in the Roman Catholic calendar, her historicity is shrouded. Some like the idea that her cult in fact came with the Romani from India, on their ancient journey to Europe. In this telling she is a distant remembering of the goddess Kali. Others... Read more

    It was today, the 23rd of May, in 1498, that the Dominican Friar Girolamo Savonarola was burned at the stake in Florence. He may be a bit better remembered for the falò delle vanità, the “Bonfire of the Vanities,” which occurred about a year before, on the 7th of February, in 1497. For a moment Savonarola was functional dictator of Florence. And under his orders the people gathered together what they and the good friar considered temptations into sin,... Read more

        American politician, San Francisco City Supervisor, and civil rights activist, Harvey Milk was born on this day, the 22nd of May, in 1930. I note this nearly every year. It’s important. In a more just world he would have been ninety-two today. However, in 1978 he was assassinated together with San Francisco Mayor George Moscone. The reasons were complicated. Although the precipitating event was because the murderer had resigned his position as a Supervisor and realized... Read more

        Antoinette Louisa Brown was born, today, the 20th of May, 1825, in Henrietta, New York. She was the youngest of Abby & Jospeh Brown’s seven children. Her extraordinary intellectual capacity was noted by the time she turned three. She was also deeply religious, offering prayers and occasion children’s sermons in her local Congregational church. At sixteen Antionette started teaching, but aspired to seminary. Supported by her progressive parents as well as from savings earned teaching, Antoinette... Read more

      Happy are they who know good and do good. Their love for the good feeds them continually. They are like trees planted near the river, whose roots go deep and wide. They thrive, bear fruit in season, and weather drought without wilting. Those who are not so grounded will blow around like dry leaves in the wind. Root yourself in Good, and live. The Psalms are much on my mind these days. And, with that I think... Read more

        I am in the midst of a project reflecting on the Biblical Psalms. While searching for possible Buddhist comments on them I stumbled upon S. Yamabe & L. Adams Beck’s translation of the Buddhist Psalms of Shinran Shonin. Not the psalms I was looking for. But… While I’m a Zen person, I’m fascinated with Pure Land Buddhism, as it is in fact the most popular form of Buddhism in East Asia. And, the author of these... Read more

        Elizabeth Palmer Peabody was born on this day, the 16th of May, in 1804. The litany of her accomplishments is long. Widely read and cultivated, after starting and running two schools, and would eventually open the first kindergarten in the United States. Elizabeth served as William Ellery Channing’s private secretary for nine years. She transcribed his sermons, edited them, and saw them through publication. Continuing her interest in education she assisted Amos Bronson Alcott in his... Read more