Roshi James Ishmael Ford
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James
Ishmael Ford was born in
Oakland, California, in 1948.
He has been a student of Zen since the late
nineteen sixties, beginning his studies with
Shunryu Suzuki and Mel Sojun Weitsman.
In 1969 James began studying with Jiyu Kennett,
receiving Dharma transmission from her
in 1971. After studying in a variety of
spiritual traditions, including Inayat
Khan Sufism and Christian gnosticism,
he was introduced to koan study by
James Wilson in the early 1980s.In 1987 James
began studying with
John Tarrant, helping to establish the
California Diamond Sangha,
the predecessor organization to the
Pacific Zen Institute. In 1998 John Tarrant
authorized James to teach.
In 2000 John Tarrant assisted by
Joan Sutherland and other teachers
within the sangha formally installed James
as a sensei within the Harada/Aitken/Tarrant Zen line.
James Ishmael Ford is an ordained
Unitarian Universalist minister as well as
a Zen teacher. He has recently been called as senior
minister of the First Unitarian Society in Newton
(MA). He is the author of In This Very Moment: A Simple
Guide to Zen Buddhism.
James is a popular speaker as well as a
leader of retreats and workshops around the country.
Over the last decade James and his spouse
Jan Seymour-Ford have established
a half-dozen sitting groups.
Their current effort, the Henry Thoreau Zen Sangha,
is nestled within the congregation at FUSN,
and serves UUs and others in the greater Boston area. J
ames is also the Spiritual Director of Boundless WayZen,
formerly known as the Zen Community of Boston.
Boundless Way Zen
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