ON BECOMING SPIRITUAL ADULTS A Hanukkah Meditation James Ishmael Ford 29 December 2019 (A Sermon based Upon Several Earlier Efforts) Emerson Unitarian Universalist Church Canoga Park, California Text A candle is a small thing. But one candle can light another. And see how its own light increases, as a candle gives its flame to the other. You are such a light. Moshe Davis & Victor Ratner Once upon a time a friend who is psychic told me how I’d... Read more
Over the past couple of weeks I put a lot of psychic energy into exploring whether I could do an ango, a three-month training period at a Soto monastery in Japan. By way of background. At the dawn of my Zen life I lived in Jiyu Kennet’s monastic communities for two years and change, first at the temple in San Francisco, then the monastery in Oakland, and when the property was acquired the monastery at Mount Shasta. During... Read more
Letters to a Dead Friend About Zen: A Review James Ishmael Ford A while back I was asked if I wanted a review copy of Brad Warner’s new book. I was intrigued with the title and responded that while I was slammed for time, if they were willing to wait, I would read it. And, as is my policy, I would only write a review if I could honestly endorse the book. It took a while to get to... Read more
Speaking of nature mystics, and saints and paragons of the nature way, I find myself thinking of John Muir. The always lovely Episcopal Church commemorates the life and work of the Scottish-American naturalist on the 22nd of April. Actually he was born the day before, the 21st of April in 1838. And I noted all of this in April. However, birthdays are not the normative anniversary for commemoration in Christian liturgical calendars. But, as he died on the 24th... Read more
Ram Das has died. I find myself thinking of this as a major marker for my own life. And, with that, and much larger, a marker on the passing of a phase of American and Western spirituality. In many ways I think of Ram Das as the avatar of the Age of Aquarius. Richard Alpert was born in Newton, Massachusetts, on the 6th of April, 1931. He entered Tufts University in 1948 (which I note is the year I was... Read more
Magnificat “My soul doth magnify the Lord” said Mary, under circumstances which make it something of a startling utterance. Not “I accept the will of the Lord.” Not “I bow before the Lord.” Not even “I give thanks to the Lord.” No, Mary, this young woman, presumably unfamiliar with angels or divine voices of any kind, let alone those pronouncing that salvation would grow inside her ordinary flesh—this woman who may be innocent, but hardly seems naïve— says something remarkable.... Read more
Today, the 21st of December, the ever lovely Anglican communion celebrates a feast in honor of Jesus’ companion, the Apostle Thomas. I love Thomas for three reasons. The first is that he is the doubter. The words are put in Thomas’ mouth in the (nearly completely a-historical visionary) gospel according to John. There he says he will not believe in a risen Christ without putting his own fingers into the wound. Now, this is just to lead us to... Read more
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
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