We’re in a rather mysterious season. Yesterday Buddhists who use the Gregorian Calendar observed the Buddha’s birth. With dusk the Jewish community began Passover. And today is Maundy Thursday. Of course against all this we are in the midst of the Corona-19 pandemic. A good time to reflect. Where does it all come from? To where does it all go? What is meaning and meaninglessness? These questions call a poem out of my heart. I share it knowing... Read more
ANTICIPATING PASSOVER Four Steps to Freedom James Ishmael Ford In the Christian calendar today is Palm Sunday. It inaugurates what is called Holy Week, which will retell the story of Jesus going into Jerusalem, celebrate a Passover meal with his friends, be arrested, tried, tortured, and crucified. Then, next Sunday, in the great myth of the Christian story, he will rise from the dead. It is a powerful story, with many nuances and invitations for anyone wishing to... Read more
A CRICKET, SINGING Zen Commentary on Gateless Gate, Case 10 James Ishmael Ford A student of the intimate way came to the master Caoshan Benji. He said “My name is Qingshui. I am solitary and destitute. Please give me alms.” The master responded, “Venerable Shui!” Quinshui immediately responded, “Yes!” Master Caoshan replied, “You’ve already sipped three glasses of the finest wine in the nation. And yet you say you’ve not put the cup to your lips.” Gateless... Read more
On Facebook today Zen teacher Renshin Bunce cited a version of a classic Zen text from another teacher on the great way Koshin Paley Ellison. Let me respectfully remind you: Life and Death are of supreme importance. Time swiftly passes by and opportunity is lost. On this night, the days of our life are decreased by one. Each of us should strive to awaken. Awaken! Take heed! Do not squander your life. Zen teacher Rachel Mansfield-Howlett added another... Read more
Here in Long Beach we are currently under a “safer at home” directive, which is similar to “shelter in place,” but a tad less draconian. For us the most important point is that it means in addition to the purely necessary such as shopping, it is okay to take walks, assuming the precautions we’re almost all familiar with are taken. Our beach and parks are closed. But there is still the neighborhood. Jan & I try to... Read more
TOWARD A SOULFUL ZEN A Review of Pamela Weiss, “A Bigger Sky: Awakening a Fierce Feminine Buddhism” James Ishmael Ford I recently received a review copy of “A Bigger Sky: Awakening a Fierce Feminine Buddhism” by Pamela Weiss. It’s due out at the beginning of June this year. I was happy to get it. Sensei Weiss is interesting for a number of reasons. But certainly not the least of them is that she is the... Read more
On Facebook a friend just posted a meme. The game was to post four images of people who have profoundly shaped the writer’s spiritual life. One was supposed to simply post images. And I guess see if people could guess who they were. I noticed my friend did that, but instantly added some text qualifying and adding in a person that was so close in importance for him that it probably required five pictures. I’ve been on a... Read more
I just learned from my old dharma friend Ken Ireland that Father Willigis Jager died this past Friday. Willigis Jäger was born on the 7th of March, 1925. He entered the Benedictine Order in 1946. He was ordained a Roman Catholic priest in 1952. In 1960 his work took him, among other destinations, to Japan. There he met the remarkable Jesuit priest and Zen teacher Hugo Enomiya-Lassalle. He first began a deep investigation of Zen and the koan... Read more
WALKING THROUGH THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW Reflecting on the 23rd Psalm, Buddhism, Nondual Christianity, Broken Hearts, and a way of Intimacy James Ishmael Ford I think it was two years ago. Jan & I went to the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana to see the special exhibition of Frank Hurley’s amazing photographs of Ernest Shackleton’s catastrophic 1914 Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition. Hurley was an amazing photographer, later famous for his work accompanying Australian forces during the Great War.... Read more
AS EASY AS FALLING OFF A LOG Investigating the Zen Koan of a Non-Attained Buddha James Ishmael Ford (The video is our beginning attempt to offer a Saturday program during the coronavirus. We have not mastered the medium, as you can readily tell by the fact we’re sideways through the sitting part (twenty minutes) and the chanting. It is corrected for the talk, however. At least visually. We probably will improve as we go forward…) The Case... Read more
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