Dear Laurie, It was wonderful meeting you at our Tuesday evening gathering for zazen. We look forward to you and your friends visiting with us on Saturday. I offered to provide some simple introductory resources. Here’s a quick offering of links to articles I’ve written on Buddhism and Zen. I hope you find them helpful. Myoun James Myoun Ford Anaheim Zen Sangha First, the story of the Buddha. And, with that something addressing what does it mean to... Read more
“Don’t Trust Anyone Over Thirty” was my generations’ motto. I just looked it up it was coined by Berkeley Free Speech activist Jack Weinberg. Ironically, I notice he himself was born in 1940, so not actually a Boomer, even if the motto was fully owned and copyrighted by my Boomer cohort. Or, as is actually the case, a part of my cohort. The majority are never a part of these things… And with that returning to the... Read more
I believe that there are three documents that speak to the true American dream. The first was the American Declaration of Independence, published on the 4th of July, 1776. It established a vision. The other two were both delivered by Abraham Lincoln. Together they would reshape, refocus us, call us, as he said, to our better angels. Lincoln led us to a new birth of that dream. One was his Second Inaugural Address, delivered on the 4th of March,... Read more
The Meat Cutter’s Apprentice James Ishmael Ford Once upon a time, long ago and quite far away… There was a young man named Raw Silk. Since adolescence Raw Silk found he burned with a desire to know God. After some struggles, there briefly was a romantic interest, and there were the constant demands of his family’s shop, he finally determined to become a monastic as the best way to enter the intimate way. He told his mother... Read more
Getting Real Or, the Velveteen Rabbit as a Commentary on an Ancient Zen Koan James Ishmael Ford There’s a Facebook meme going around that purports to be an analysis of cockroach opinion. Apparently, they see the future looking pretty good. At least for cockroaches. As far as human beings go, we seem a textbook example of success carrying within itself the seeds of its own destruction. Over population and ecological catastrophe following our human excesses seem to... Read more
It was fifty-nine years ago today, on the 14th of November in 1960, that six-year old Ruby Bridges integrated the New Orleans Elementary School district. The photographs from that time are hard to witness. But, Norman Rockwell’s painting of that time, The Problem We All Live With, well, it raises the stakes in ways we all need to pause and consider. For me it all takes me back to the early 2000s. It was sometime during our first... Read more
(I wrote this last year. I’m reposting today in honor of the occasion, the Reverend Doctor James Luther Adams birthday…) What is now many years ago when Jan & I first moved to New England’s rocky and lovely soil, Jan wanted to go to the Cambridge cemetery to put a rose on Henry James’ grave. I was more than happy to join her as I wanted to put a flower on William’s grave. After consulting some guides we bought... Read more
Last night, Jan, Mo, and I went to see Jojo Rabbit. I’m still processing. Bob Mondello at NPR tell us, “Jojo Rabbit is gently comic for a while, and then surprisingly affecting at the end, so perhaps it’s not fair to wish that Waititi had opted to deal more directly with the horrors of the Third Reich. We are, after all, living in a time when fascism is again a growing threat.” Which, of course, raises a bunch... Read more
Join Us for An Intensive Zen Meditation Retreat, adapted for non-residential attendance. Thursday, December 5 through Sunday, December 8 University Unitarian Church, 6556 – 35th Ave NE, Seattle WA 98155 In the Zen tradition, December calls us to steadily intensify practice in daily life, inspired by the Buddha’s awakening together with the world and all beings, upon seeing the morning star on the eighth day of the twelfth month (Rohatsu). The Zen Practice Groups of University Unitarian Church and Woodinville UU... Read more
Coming and Going Sesshin 2020 Three-week Residential and Non-Residential Open House Meditation Retreat January 3 – 24, 2020 Boundless Way Temple, Worcester, MA www.worcesterzen.org Please join us at our annual open house Zen retreat at Boundless Way Temple.We will be open every day from 6 am to 9 pm during this sesshin.Here are all the ways that you can take part: Join our residential practice by staying at the Temple overnight for one or more nights.... Read more
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In