Casting our Net into the Great Night: a Zen Meditation

Last updated on: November 2, 2024 at 1:22 pm By James Ford

(At our half day sit with Empty Moon Zen today, our guiding teacher Roshi Edward Sanshin Oberholtzer gave the dharma talk. He unveils the miracle promised in Dongshan’s Five Ranks, a promise which reconciles the absolute and relative, the essential and the contingent, form and emptiness. I asked if I could reprint it at my Monkey Mind blog and he graciously agreed. Well worth a read…) In philosophy departments the pre-Socratics are often treated as precursors to the philosophical greats,... Read more

Conclave: A Zen Buddhist reviews a sort of Christian movie

Last updated on: October 29, 2024 at 9:36 am By James Ford

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On Sunday Jan and I took in the new film, Conclave. It’s advertised as a mystery-thriller. That seems a bit of misdirection. I suspect in part because for a Hollywood production, it’s pretty much outside the conventional boxes. And how to characterize it is difficult for the advertising people. It’s based upon the 2016 novel of the same name by the British novelist Robert Harris. The script is written by Academy award nominated screenwriter Peter Straughan. The director is Edward... Read more

The Zen Poetry of R H Blyth

Last updated on: October 27, 2024 at 6:49 am By James Ford

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There are people I try to remember on either their birthdays or the anniversaries of their deaths. People who have in some way touched the spiritual life. And out of that have brought some kind of healing to the world. One such person is R H Blyth, who died on the 28th of October, in 1964. Reginald Horace Blyth was born on the 3rd of December, in 1898. He was the... Read more

Karma and Rebirth: The Basics

Last updated on: March 25, 2025 at 3:10 pm By James Ford

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I have an interest in the thesis that the Heart Sutra, beloved of the Mahayana, and chanted in Zen temples and centers basically every day, was in fact a Chinese composition, which was later back translated into Sanskrit. Best I can tell this theory was kicked off by the formidable scholar Jan Nattier. But of the various scholars who’ve dug into this question, possibly none has done so with as much diligence as Jayarava Attwood. He has shifted me from... Read more

Thomas and the Canonical Gospels: Shared Sayings

Last updated on: October 19, 2024 at 5:17 pm By James Ford

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A list sayings from the Gospel of Thomas that correspond to quotes attributed to Jesus in the canonical Gospels When commenting on the Gospel according to Thomas writers will say some are the same as found in the canonical gospels, some pretty much word for word, others modified. I used ChatGPT to come up with a list. I eliminated some as too farfetched for my tastes and ended up with 22. Immediately I found myself confronted with some very... Read more

Zen and the Beauty of Ancient Days: Dongshan’s First Rank

Last updated on: October 12, 2024 at 1:24 pm By James Ford

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At our Saturday morning zazenkai on October 13th, 2024, my dear friend and co-conspirator at Empty Moon Zen, Roshi Edward Sanshin Oberholtzer gave the Dharma talk. He explored the first verse of Dongshan’s famous Five Ranks. I asked if I could share it at my Monkey Mind blog, and he graciously consented… It often takes a child to ask a question that opens either a can of worms or a fresh insight into the nature of things. Where do babies... Read more

A Buddhist Appreciation of St Francis of Assisi

Last updated on: October 4, 2024 at 4:37 am By James Ford

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Many years ago I ran across a book describing a visit to Japan sometime before the second world war. I don’t recall a lot about it. Except, that is, for one thing. The writer described encountering a small Buddhist society whose members were following an adaptation of the rule of St Francis. I’ve long since lost the book and have never been able to find anything else about this little band, almost certainly consumed in the fires of that second... Read more

A Buddhist Reflection on the Great Soul Mohandas Gandhi

Last updated on: October 2, 2024 at 8:32 am By James Ford

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The 2nd of October is Bandhi Jayanti in India. It is one of three national holidays in the country. The United Nations has also marked out today as an International Day of Non-Violence. For me an important world spiritual holy day. I try to take time to reflect on Gandhi, the paths of nonviolence, and what it means for me on this day as it rolls around. Sometimes I also recall to share a thought or two here at the... Read more

Of Angels & Devas: Messengers between the worlds

Last updated on: September 29, 2024 at 7:09 am By James Ford

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I’m much taken with the feast of Michaelmas, sometimes also called the feasts of the saints Michael, Gabriel, Uriel, and Raphael. Or, in short the feast of the Archangels. It’s an important holy day in my personal if wildly eclectic spiritual calendar. This festival touches on the liminal. The dream. The miraculous. I don’t note it here on this blog every year as it rolls around, but I do revisit it every few years. An archangel is a chief or principal... Read more

Amazing Grace: A Zen meditation on the Vermillion thread

Last updated on: September 25, 2024 at 8:28 am By James Ford

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“Why are perfectly accomplished saints and bodhisattvas still attached to the vermillion thread?” Harada Yasutani Zen tradition, Miscellaneous koans Songyuan Chongyue, who lived through much of the twelfth century and almost a decade into the thirteenth, liked to rub our noses in things. He posits this question about the vermillion thread, the red thread, and it has been gathered as an important early koan in my Zen school. It’s wrapped up with a couple of other questions, one of which... Read more