Steve Durham

<p style=”text-align: left;”>I’m a little hesitant to reply — to take up space — since I’m generally so inactive here (but always thinking of you all).  I’m hard at work on a novel of historical fiction, and I anticipate the final edits and read-throughs will take me the rest of the summer.  Then I may try a few letters of inquiry to p…[Read more]

My wife and I went (along with a group from my Quaker meeting) to see the movie “Green Book” a week ago.  I don’t know whether this will be showing in European cities, but if it is, we highly recommend it.  The “Green Book” is the actual title of a booklet showing African American travelers through the Deep South in the U.S.  in the 1950s and 19…[Read more]

(1) I’m re-reading The Unhindered Path by John Paraskevopoulos — am taken by the clarity of his writing, and especially by the sections on Amida Buddha and the Absolute.  Energizing!

(2) Witness: Lessons From Elie Wiesel’s Classroom by Ariel Burger.  The title says it all.

(3) The Fragrance of Light also by John Paraskevopoulos — a coll…[Read more]

A cold and rather gloomy day in Chicago.  A friend of mine thrives on such days; but while I appreciate the occasional cloudy, rainy or snowy day, I miss the sun!  Last night we saw “A Christmas Carol” for at least the 20th time.  We used to take the kids every year.  The sets were wonderful, the acting … well, it depends on the character.  I fo…[Read more]

It’s bitterly cold here in Chicago this morning.  Wind chills are far below freezing.  I worry about the homeless on mornings like this, above all about those who didn’t make it to a shelter last night.

Currently I’m re-reading “The Unhindered Path” by John Paraskevopoulos, and am looking for other good Pure Land reads.  I just finished “On th…[Read more]

Cool and rainy here (Chicago USA), although in another day or so it also will be baking hot.  My in-laws are moving in with us in another 10 days — both well into their 90s and physically unable to take care of themselves any longer — so our house is torn up as we get our little basement apartment ready for new occupants.  Since all we have o…[Read more]

In Chicago (USA) we’re coming out of an unseasonable chilly spell, into some unseasonably warm (hot) weather.  I think over all I miss the chilly weather!  I’m a Quaker serving as a police chaplain (interesting mix!), and today was “Police Recognition Day.”  The chaplain team along with graduates of a “Citizen Police Academy” put on 18 hours of fo…[Read more]

Namo Amida Bu.

It has been a long time since I posted (and since I did a lesson in Vow 22, which I sorely regret). Illness and general busyness have kept me sidetracked. A quick update: I will be offering a 1 or 2 session “course” in Pure Land Buddhism (probably jodo shinshu) at my Quaker Meeting House next fall. The larger schedule will…[Read more]

Enjoying some beautiful, if slightly chilly, weather in Chicago over the weekend and today.  I attended my new church — Quakers — for the first time a “free man” yesterday … i.e. I’m only going back to my Orthodox church one more time, in a little over a month, for our priest’s last service before retirement.  Otherwise I’m now a Quaker!  …[Read more]

My question is: How do I relate to you (Amida Buddha) on a daily basis?  That is to say: Is this a “personal” relationship?

Never mind — I answered my question by Googling the difference between GMT and my time zone in the US.

I have an ignorant question — how would 7:30 p.m. GMT translate to the Eastern time zone in the USA (e.g. New York, Maryland)?  Does anyone know?  If it is an hour I can make, I’d be interested in participating, although I might need to practice first (I have Skype but have never used it).  Namo Amida Bu _/|_

It is cold and rainy here (Chicago), with temperatures to reach the low 70s (Fahrenheit) by early next week … but not before it snows!  Grrrrr.  I hate shoveling snow.  Snow days are mostly good for staying inside, curled up with a good book!  But snow is forecast for the Suchness of things, so I’ll not complain again 😉  Speaking of book…[Read more]

I call it my “daily, non-traditional [from a Christian perspective] prayers” … every morning I can, I light a candle and place it before a Buddha figurine (occasionally one that includes Kuan Yin), bow and say the nembutsu in all 4 directions.  Then I pray in a fairly traditional way, using some prayer phrases I learned in Eastern Orthodox…[Read more]

Greetings from Chicago, where it finally has snowed.  A not bad snowfall, as a matter of fact.  I’m hard at work trying to figure out what to do with myself, not having a sangha and no clear way to practice.  I do have my new Quaker community, or will by late June when I make the change; but as open and flexible as they are — and they are! — I s…[Read more]