MANY LOVES A Small Reflection on the Spiritual Life James Ishmael Ford Today I want to talk of love as the many splendored thing that it is. Frankly, love is a subject one should return to regularly in a church, don’t you think? And we’re still quite close to Valentine’s Day. I’d bet some of us still have Valentine’s chocolates uneaten at home. Well, maybe. So, while still in the general area of that peculiar holiday, let’s... Read more
Travers Christmas Humphreys was born In Ealing, Middlesex, England, on this day, the 15th of February, in 1901. The son of a judge. In his teen years his elder brother died and this opened the doors to that great quest through which many before and since have walked. While at school he was introduced to Theosophy and about the same time Buddhism. It would become a life-long interest. He also followed in the family profession, and after attending... Read more
I notice that it was on this day, the 11th of February, in 1972, that half the great Zen missionary to the West, Shunryu Suzuki‘s ashes were interred at Tassajara, the mountain training center he had founded. Six days later the other half would be interred in Japan. He is one of the most important of our shared ancestors, we who practice within the Zen ways here in North America. Here’s a very small sample of his teachings,... Read more
The Case The master Huoan asked, “Why is it the Western Barbarian has no beard?” Gateless Gate, Case 4 I’m enormously fond of this case. It’s deceptively simple. In fact people in our lineage come upon it at a moment when most can “easily” pass it in the technical sense of Zen’s koan tradition. But, to get it deeply? Well, that can very much be another matter. A matter for a lifetime. It’s similar to the Mu... Read more
CHANGE & NOT KNOWING Darwin, Huxley, & the Shape of Naturalistic Religion James Ishmael Ford My “six-year old just got out of bed to tell me that here apple cores turn into soil & she can plant seeds in that soil to grow into apples. ‘Mommy, it’s a circle. You have to write that on the internet. What if they don’t know!’” Lynna Odel, found on the Internet As I’m sure most here know, the 12th of February is... Read more
Today is Imbolc, a festival of my ancestors marking the beginning of Spring, half way between the winter solstice & the spring equinox. And let me tell you, like my people on that little island for so long, so long, at this moment I’m ready for Spring. This has been a hard winter. I’m also among that crowd that are pretty sure dealing with Imbolc and the lady at the heart of its celebration is the fairly obvious origin for... Read more
No doubt there are as many ways into the interior life as there are humans. And there is even a bottom line to it all: Ultimately life is the teacher. This said here are three things that you can consciously take on that can grow into the Deep Way: 1) You need some shut up time. If you’re making noise all the time it is hard to pay attention, hard to notice the lessons and the lesson. 2) You need... Read more
The Mysteries of Love The Three Eras of Universalism A version of this was first delivered at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Anaheim, California, on Sunday, the 19th of January, 2020. Revised and a little expanded it was delivered at the First Unitarian Church of Providence, Rhode Island, on the 26th of January. Then, with a few tweaks more it was delivered on the 27th of January, at the Fraters of the Wayside Inn, in Sudbury, Massachusetts, James Ishmael... Read more
I wrote this last year. I thought it worth sharing again this year, with a few small edits… According to Matthew Ciolek’s Zen Buddhist Calendar today is the birthday of Su Dongpo. The listing noted he was an esteemed if controversial bureaucrat, lay Buddhist practitioner, and poet. I thought that interesting enough to look a bit further. Wikipedia says Professor Ciolek’s dates are wrong, marking his birth as the 8th of January in 1037 and his death... Read more
Zen Master Juzhi & the Matter of the Finger that Wasn’t There James Myoun Ford Whenever the master Jinhua Juzhi was asked about the intimate matter, he simply raised one finger. One day a visitor asked his young attendant what his master taught. The young man raised a finger. When the master heard about this, he cut the young man’s finger with a sharp knife. The attendant began to scream and grasping his bleeding hand ran toward the exit. As... Read more
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