Shodoka – Song of Realization Yoka-daishi (d.713) Excerpted from Buddhism and Zen Compiled, edited and translated by Nyogen Senzaki and Ruth Stout McCandless (New York: The Philosophical Library, 1953), pp. 32-72. The stanzas italicized were translated from a copy of the original by Nyogen Senzaki, and the commentary following the stanzas was from Senzaki’s own instructions to his students. … The minute you attain Buddha’s Zen, the six noble deeds and the ten thousand good actions are already... Read more

      George Fox died on this day, the 13th of January, 1691, 331 years ago. He was born into a Puritan family in Leicestershire, England sometime in July, 1624. His father a weaver and so the family was financially secure. He doesn’t seem to have been formally educated, although he was literate. George apprenticed as a shoemaker. But he was also known for his spiritual calling and his quest for simplicity. Following an inner voice he began to... Read more

    The Five Remembrances & the Path of Heart Maureen Weinhardt Empty Moon Zen I am of the nature to grow old; there is no way to escape growing old. I am of the nature to have ill health; there is no way to escape having ill health. I am of the nature to die; there is no way to escape death. All that is dear to me and everyone I love are of the nature of change; there... Read more

      MAY YOU LIVE IN INTERESTING TIMES A Meditation on Olympia Brown & Navigating Hard Times James Ishmael Ford A Sermon delivered at the First Unitarian Church of Los Angeles 9 January 2022 I come to you today with some bad news. But, not to worry unduly. I also have good news to share. And they’re connected. Let me start with the bad. Okay. For most of us it isn’t exactly news. These are, you may have noticed,... Read more

      About twice a month I visit an old ministerial colleague. He lives in an assisted living house across the Los Angeles metroplex from where we live, so about an hour’s drive away. More if we push close to LA’s rush hour. He suffers from two things. One is macular degeneration, a disorder I particularly dread. But, worse he suffers from vascular Parkinson’s. It’s a nasty thing, the product of a cluster of strokes. It looks like Parkinson’s,... Read more

    Today is many things. For one thing it’s the anniversary of Mr Trump’s little attempted putsch. Lots about that going on. And attention does need to be paid. But in the Western Christian tradition today, the 6th of January is the feast of the Epiphany. And that is what has most captured my heart for this day. Epiphany means “manifestation” or, perhaps “striking appearance.” It’s also called the Theophany, which means “a vision of God.” Here we get... Read more

    Mukunda Lal Ghosh was born in Forakhpur, in Uttar Pradesh, on this day, the 5th of January, in 1893. The fourth of eight children. His parents were well to do, his father a vice president of the Bengal Nagpur Railway. Because of his father’s work the family relocated several times, giving young Mukunda a more urbane sense of India. A major turning in his life was when he was eleven years old, and his mother died. His heart... Read more

      When I was a child I was fascinated with a Bible my grandmother owned, which had in addition to the text a commentarial column which included a chronology of the events recorded. At the very beginning was the date 23 October, 4004, before the common era. That’s when God created the world. Today, the 4th of January, is the birthday of James Ussher, Anglican scholar, archbishop of Armagh and primate of the Church in Ireland. It was... Read more

      KEIZAN JOKIN’S ZAZEN YOJINKI What to be aware of in zazen, sitting meditation Translated by Thomas Cleary Timeless Spring : A Soto Zen anthology. Weatherhill, Tokyo-New York, 1980, pp. 112-125. (A couple of years ago I shared the translation of this text by the Venerable Reiho Masunaga. Possibly the most important early text on Zen meditation in the Soto school, here is the version by the American scholar Thomas Cleary.) Zazen just lets people illumine the mind... Read more

      Peggy Teresa Nancy Kennett was born at St Leonards-on-Sea, Sussex, England, on this day, the 1st of January, in 1924. Houn Jiyu Kennett was the first women Soto Zen master to teach in the West. Her teaching career also opens questions of orthodoxy and authority that begin to define the outer limits of what might be described as traditional Zen. She is the lineage source for Shasta Abbey, Throssel Hole Abbey, and the Order of Buddhist Contemplatives.... Read more