Eight years ago, Jan & I retired from our respective positions, she as research librarian at the wondrous Perkins School for the Blind, and me as minister of the First Unitarian Church of Providence. We shrunk our worldly goods as best we could, sold our home, and moved back to our native California. Our intention was to be near Jan’s mom who lives in the once independent city and since 1932, a... Read more
Alfred Russel Wallace, died on this day, the 7th of November, in 1823. After Charles Darwin there are two figures I think are counted as critical to the development of modern evolutionary thought. Darwin resisted the public forum, disliked the rough and tumble of public disputation, and feared the challenge to his position in society publication could lead to. If it weren’t for the fact that Wallace had come up with pretty much the same... Read more
I first practiced Zen in the Soto style, with its emphasis on the deep discipline of Just sitting. Later I entered a Soto monastery where I encountered Japanese Zen’s monastic discipline of minute attention to the details of life. Later after I left the monastery and other spiritual disciplines I began a small sitting group on the Russian River in northern California. Among the snakes and dragons that wandered into my zendo was a former monk... Read more
Occasionally I’m asked what is my holy scripture? That is, is there anything like the Bible for me as is generally understood by Christians. The short answer is no. But there’s a longer answer. Here I find myself thinking of the Gateless Barrier. Of the handful of books that have a permanent place in my heart, this thirteenth century Chinese anthology of Zen teachings, is one of the most important. The Gateless Barrier, sometimes... Read more
The Japanese Zen master and critical figure in introducing Zen to the west, Soyen Shaku (釈 宗演) died on this day, the 29th of October, in 1919. He was born Tsunejiro Ichinose, in 1859. His older brother wanted to ordain, but was unable to due to family obligations. At twelve young Tsunejiro ordained in honor of his brother. Similarly when he was given the opportunity to choose his own dharma name, he chose the name of... Read more
Reginald Horace Blyth was born on the 3rd of December, in 1898. He was the only child of Henrietta and Horace Blyth, a railway clerk. During the first world war Blyth was a pacifist and in 1916 he was sentenced to prison. When the war ended he attended the University of London, reading English and graduating with honors. While at university he met Anna Bercovitch and they married. The young... Read more
RECORDANDO A ROSITA LA REMACHADORA Y Otros Pensamientos Que Surgen por el Día de Igualdad de las Mujeres James Ishmael Ford (Women’s Equality Day & That Image of Rosie the Riveter traducido por Miguel Acevedo) Ayer, 26 de agosto, marca un día de gran impacto en la historia estadounidense. Ustedes no estarían necesariamente enterados, dada la poca atención que ha recibido en la prensa. Fue en esa fecha de ayer, en 1920, que, el... Read more
(A dharma talk delivered on October 21st, 2023, during sesshin at the North Carolina Zen Center.) About five years ago I was contacted by people who ran a spiritual tour group. While they visited several locations around the world, they specialized in trips to Bhutan. They were planning their next trip there and said they were looking for a theme presenter. They asked if I wanted a free trip to Asia. They added it... Read more
(A dharma talk delivered at the North Carolina Zen Center sesshin on the 19th of October, 2023.) A couple of weeks ago I was privileged to attend the first in person gathering since covid of the now venerable American Zen Teachers Association. The meeting was held at Great Vow Zen monastery in Oregon. I’d hoped to see Teshin there, but he was gallivanting around Japan. For me these gatherings are mostly meant to... Read more
The Japanese Zen community marks today, the 15th of October, as the anniversary of the day in the year 606, when Jianzhi Sengcan returned to that mystery from which all of us come and, as with that ancient venerable, to which all of us return. In our Zen traditions Sengcan (Seng-ts’an in the older Pinyin transliteration and Sosan in Japanese) is the third Chinese ancestor, inheriting the dharma from Huike who inherited it from Bodhidharma.... Read more
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