Hildegard of Bingen died on the 17th of September in 1179. Today this day is observed as a feats for one of most interesting and complex individuals in the annals of Christian mysticism. Itself a complex subject. The mystical life is often mixed up. In any number of ways. Hildegard was born in the vicinity of 1098 within our common era to a family of “lower nobility,” within the confines of the Holy Roman Empire in what is today Germany.... Read more
Burning burning burning burning O Lord Thou Pluckest me out O Lord thou pluckest T. S. Eliot, the Waste Land Jan and I live in the land of smog and dreams, also known as the Los Angles basin. After a quarter of a century out of state, mostly living in New England, our retirement plan gradually became returning home to California. Specifically to be near Jan’s mom, who lives in Tujunga at the far north eastern edge of the... Read more
Among the problems in transmitting Zen along with other Buddhist meditation schools to the west has been frequently the fact it is part of something larger is too often forgotten. Zen, for instance, has three aspects: First, Zazen and koan introspection, the particular kinds of meditation unique to the Zen schools. Along with that there’s also a teaching about awakening, our true home. These two things are attended to, to greater or lesser degree. But then there’s that third thing,... Read more
I recall the late 1960s when I found my heart calling me to Zen, that there weren’t a lot of books available. Basically there were the works of the scholar D. T Suzuki, important, in many ways, if in some others a bit misleading. He had an Introduction to Zen Buddhism which was translated into English in 1949. Alan Watts wrote a summary appreciation of Suzuki’s contributions, the Way of Zen in 1957. He in fact exaggerated the shortcomings of... Read more
I’ve been thinking a lot about Shinran Shonin of late He was one of those signal figures in the development of Japanese Buddhism. He has been compared to Martin Luther on occasion. Without the bad parts. Shinran was born into Feudal Japanese nobility in 1173. However, like many spiritual figures throughout history he was visited with suffering early in his life. First his father died when he was four, then his mother when he was nine. Driven by grief and... Read more
It was on the 25th of August in 1609 that Galileo Galilei revealed his telescope to the leaders of Venice. Much would follow. Among these things a terrible conclusion. In 1633 that Vincenzo Maculani da Firenzuola representing the Holy Office of the Inquisition, declared: “We pronounce, judge, and declare, that you, the said Galileo… have rendered yourself vehemently suspected by this Holy Office of heresy, that is, of having believed and held the doctrine (which is false and contrary to... Read more
A dear friend, an old Zen hand and an apprentice teacher on the koan way shared her Buddhist Lord’s prayer with me. I immediately asked if I could share it at my blog. And she graciously consented. I find it a complement to the wonderful prayer attributed to Jesus. I would add that just as many scholars suggest his prayer is an outline and an invitation, Mo’s prayer is a presentation and an invitation… *** Our Buddha Nature, Which art... Read more
On August 20th in 1912, Philip Kapleau was born in New Haven, Connecticut. So, we’re now marking 112 years since that event. Kapleau Roshi was one of the pioneers of Zen come west. His importance in this project is impossible to overestimate. At the same time there were complications that have followed him. As recently as a month or so ago someone posted a broadside linking him with a notorious fake teacher as people who made the whole thing up.... Read more
The Assumption of Mary is a Christian festival universally celebrated in the liturgical churches. It is marked in the Eastern Christian churches on the 15th of August as the Dormition of the Theotokos. In the Roman calendar today is called the feast of the Assumption of Mary. In the Anglican calendar this day is traditionally marked as the “falling asleep of the blessed virgin Mary,” although there are more than a few Anglicans who hold to some view of physical... Read more
(My friend and colleague, the Reverend Silvio Nardoni recently shared an article he’d written with me. I was quite taken with it, and not just because he quotes me. It’s good. And I asked if I could reprint it at my Monkey Mind blog. He graciously agreed…) Soul: It’s one of those little four-letter words that covers a lot of territory. Giants in the field of religion and psychology (Thomas Aquinas, Carl Jung, James Hillman, and others) have written with... Read more
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