John Steinbeck, American novelist, winner of the Nobel Prize for literature died on this day, the 20th of December in 1968. Since his death his fortunes have fallen and risen, perhaps demonstrating his complexity. Steinbeck is of course the author Grapes of Wrath which published eighty years ago, this year, on the 14th of April, 1939. I commented on it on the occasion. And shared some of how important it was to me. Here I revisit that reflection,... Read more
‘ Once a dream did weave a shade O’er my angel-guarded bed, That an emmet lost its way Where on grass methought I lay. Troubled, wildered, and forlorn, Dark, benighted, travel-worn, Over many a tangle spray, All heart-broke, I heard her say: ‘Oh my children! do they cry, Do they hear their father sigh? Now they look abroad to see, Now return and weep for me.’ Pitying, I dropped a tear: But I saw a glow-worm near, Who replied,... Read more
Daiun Sogaku Harada died on this day, the 12th of December in 1961. He was born in Obama, Fukui Prefecture on the 13th of October, 1871. Sogaku was tonsured as a Soto monastic at the age of 7. At twenty he entered the Rinzai monastery, Shogenji, where he had several openings. He also studied at the historic Soto affiliated Komazawa University. Sogaku Harada received Dharma transmission within the Soto school from Harada Sodo Kakusho. He taught at Komazawa... Read more
Empty Moon Zen Network SHUKE TOKUDO Soto Zen Priest (Unsui) Ordination for Janine Seitetsu Larsen and the Bright Cloud Sangha at the University Unitarian Church in Seattle, Washington Rohatsu Eve, 7 December, 2019 Outline of Service Entry Procession Bows Welcome Invocation of the Buddhas Preamble Preparing the New Buddha Atonement Wisdom Water Blessing Receiving the Precepts The Three Treasures The Three Pure Precepts The Three Grave Precepts Verse of the Kesa Ceremony of Recognition Conclusion (Small, low table is prepared with... Read more
The Brain—is wider than the Sky— For—put them side by side— The one the other will contain With ease—and You—beside— The Brain is deeper than the sea— For—hold them—Blue to Blue— The one the other will absorb— As Sponges—Buckets—do— The Brain is just the weight of God— For—Heft them—Pound for Pound— And they will differ—if they do— As Syllable from Sound— Emily Dickinson The other day I found myself in a conversation with someone where the matter turned... Read more
The Zen priest Shunryu Suzuki died on this day, 48 years ago, the 4th of December, in 1971. I write about him from time to time. Here I repeat some of that, with some editing and a small addition or two… To begin at the beginning there are actually two Suzukis who stand large at the dawn of Zen breaking forth into our larger North American culture. The first is Daisetsu Teitaro Suzuki, best known as D.... Read more
Today, the 3rd of December is the feast of Francis Xavier, the Jesuit missionary to Japan. While fervently hostile to nonChristian religions, and with some blood, if indirectly, on his hands in that regard, I believe he is also the first Westerner to write a moderately accurate report of Zen in a European language. Born in the Kingdom of Navarre (modern Spain) in 1506, he was a close associate of Ignatius Loyola. In 1534 the good father was one... Read more
Last week I had the enormous honor of being invited to participate in a panel discussion of Buddhism and Christianity as a journey between at the annual gathering of the Society for Christina Buddhist Studies. There were four of us on the panel proper. I would say two of us were Christians profoundly informed by Buddhism, another probably could best be described as one hundred percent Buddhist and one hundred percent Christian, and me. Out of this... Read more
It was today, the 26th of November, 1953, that a Japanese business executive Koun Yamada had his great awakening experience. This would be a critical event in the evolution of koan Zen in the West. Koun Yamada was born in Nihonmatsu, Japan, in 1907. He attended school and later university with Soen Nakagawa, who would go on to become a renowned Rinzai monk and master. They would remain friends for the whole of their lives. They would also... Read more
On this day, the 24th of November, in 1859 Charles Darwin published his magnum opus On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life. A hundred and sixty years! My, how time flies… Of course with this book we all began an inexorable shift in human thinking toward an understanding of evolutionary biology that would reframe how we understand ourselves and our relationship with the world. His work... Read more
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In