We’re in the midst of the holiday season, and with that can come a lot of abundance: Busier schedules, holiday parties, travelMore eating, more drinking, more excessMore shopping, more spending, more financial stress It’s a beautiful season, but it can be a lot! In this article, I’m going to share some thoughts on creating a slower holiday season. Imagine a season of reflection and slowing down. A season of connecting with others but also finding solitude. A season of festivities but also quiet. A season where you increase your resilience inste...

Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world. Barlaam & JosaphatVarlaam & Joasaph1680 Russian Engravingbaed uponSimon Ushakov           It’s November 27th! And with that, once again, the blessings of the saints Barlaam & Josaphat are upon us! This is flat out my favorite of all Christian holidays. And I like to remind people of the details of this original Christian Buddhist mashup. So, please forgive th...

Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world. Taking the Path of ZenRobert Aitken             “Ordinary people and saints living together. Dragons and snakes all mixed up.” Blue Cliff Record From one angle Zen did proceed from the brow of Zeus. Like Athena, a goddess of intelligence and wisdom. It is here. This is it. Fully present. It has always been. What you see is what you get. And it is ready to be engaged. Fro...

Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world. Closeup of Wood sculpture of Guanyin early 19th century CE Qing Dynasty (1644-1911 CE) China         Our American Thanksgiving has just passed. While it’s set for the third Thursday of November, I’ve noticed many people move the date around for their personal or family observances. I personally know some people who marked it out on Wednesday, and we here in Tujunga actua...

Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world. Keiji Nishitana(Wikipedia public domain)         Keiji Nishitani died on this day, the 24th of November, in 1990. I noted this a few years ago. And thought it good to repeat. What follows is lightly edited from that earlier posting. If you’re unfamiliar with Professor Nishitani, and you are interested at all in Zen, I suggest you may want to learn more. He was one of the...

Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.   Soto Zen Buddhist Association2012 Dharma Heritage Ceremony             An old friend  just announced on his Facebook page the formation of the Soto Zen North America project. Now the posting on social media was quickly taken down. So, it might have been a bit premature. But the website remains. So… As it happens this past year following an extended period of discernmen...

A Faithful Skeptic: Margaret Fuller’s Transcendentalist “Credo” November 21, 2023 James Ford Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.   Margaret Fuller1848 by Thomas HicksNational Portrait Gallery                     In 1842 Margaret Fuller sent her mentor the Reverend William Ellery Channing a letter. It was “A Credo,” her attempt to formulate her faith.  It was published posthumously together with other writi...

Guidelines for Seated Meditation: A Traditional Zen Text November 19, 2023 James Ford Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world. Hakuin Ekaku meditatingself-portrait1764Eisei Bunko Museum     One who embarks on the path of awakening aspiring to master Wisdom is a Bodhisattva motivated by Great Compassion, taking the Great Vows to save all beings with the cultivation of Samadhi, and not seeking Liberation for one’...

Nov 16, 2023 Zen Master Seung Sahn used to say, “Life has no meaning, no reason, and no choice.” His next line was, “No meaning, no reason, and no choice is great meaning, great reason, and great choice.” Ultimately there is no meaning, but what do we do with the moment that we have? So in his teaching, Zen Master Seung Sahn said Buddhism means to attain your true self and help this world. Of course it sounds linear, but it’s not really linear. It’s not first do one, then the other. But attain your true self is the answer to that question “What...

On the Spirituality of Duty: A Zen Teacher’s Meditation November 15, 2023 James Ford Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world. Good Samaritanartist unknown1873Public domain                 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 ...

You start the day with the feeling: there’s a bunch of things I need to do right away. Then the rest of the day, you’re driven by the feeling that there’s so much to do, and you’re behind on it all. You finish the day with the same feeling, and it carries over until tomorrow. The constant feeling of being behind — it’s something so many people can relate to. So what can we do about it? What we usually do is either be driven, driven, driven by this fear … or we conclude that we need to abandon everything and start with a fresh slate. With this f...

Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world. Alfred Russel Wallacephoto taken in Singapore, 1862Wikipedia           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 cha...

Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world. Flammarion engraving1888         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...

Speaking the Language of Dragons: Zen’s Gateless Gate November 5, 2023 James Ford Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world. Gateless BarrierRobert Aitken             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...

Nov 02, 2023 Clear mind is like the full moon in the sky. Sometimes clouds come and cover it, but the moon is always behind them. Clouds go away, then the moon shines brightly. So don't worry about clear mind: it is always there. When thinking comes, behind it is clear mind. When thinking goes, there is only clear mind. Thinking comes and goes, comes and goes, You must not be attached to the coming or the going. By Zen Master Seung SahnFrom Dropping Ashes On The Buddha

Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world. Soyen Shaku(Wikipedia)         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...

Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world. Reginald Horace Blyth(Wikipedia)                     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 honor...

RECORDANDO A ROSITA LA REMACHADORA: Y Otros Pensamientos Que Surgen por el Día de Igualdad de las Mujeres October 27, 2023 James Ford Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.           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 a...

People have often told me that they’re surprised by how much I get done during the week, from team members to clients. I’m not saying that to brag, but to relate that I forget how much work I’ve done to be able to make a bigger impact in the world. So in this article, I’d like to share some of my secrets. In truth, they’re not really secrets, but things you’ve likely heard before. That said, I’m hoping that something here might be the inspiration you need to put a key idea into action. I’m not a member of the productivity cult — getting stuff d...

teaching Oct 26, 2023 Buddhist practice is about coming back to the source and finding a way to find that stability so that we're not pulled and pushed around so much by everything that we like and everything we don't like. The Buddha simply said we suffer because we don't have what we want. Or we have what we want, but we're afraid to lose it. We're constantly trying to shape the world in the image that we think it should be, but it really translates into what we want. Usually, we want some safety, some security. We don't want so much change b...