And yet we keep setting up boundaries. I never liked them. In the world of my childhood and young adulthood, “sectarian” was a bad word. The sectarians were the activists who spent more energy opposing other anti-war groups than opposing the war, more energy opposing other civil rights organizations than fighting racism. My first teacher, Kyudo Nakagawa Roshi, was part of the Japanese Rinzai sect. When I got to Roshi Bernie two years later, I was moving from Rinzai to Soto. W

I’ve been working with this koan for a long time, thirty years at least, since that early Ox Class when Jishu introduced us to “Who are you?” I didn’t know then that she was leading us into the longish story of Bodhidharma’s arrival in China and his meeting with the emperor. Bodhidharma has managed to piss off the emperor. When the emperor asks, “Who is facing me?” I hear, “Who the hell do you think you are?” Bodhidharma replies, “Don’t know,” one of the great moments in Zen.

A lot of us think of ourselves as peacemakers, but we only talk to our friends. It’s more comfortable that way. We maintain friendships by avoiding the topics which could lead to blow outs. We go to summer barbeques with relatives from the other side of the divide. We maintain the “peace” by avoiding the hot topics, politics for sure, maybe religion, maybe we just agree not to mention Cousin Charlotte or Uncle Joey. Why aren’t they at the barbeque? They weren’t invited. We’re