In Gratitude - The Contemplative Traditions: One View, Many Facets Fr. William Meninger O.C.S.O. Aug. 29, 1932 - Feb. 14, 2021

Written By Ken Shuho Small
Sharing a moment with Fr. William Meninger (l) at the American Academy of Religion Conference in San Diego, Ca. in Nov. 2014

Sharing a moment with Fr. William Meninger (l) at the American Academy of Religion Conference in San Diego, Ca. in Nov. 2014

Attending the American Academy of Religions conference in San Diego in Nov. 2014, when I scanned its vast program, I was heartened to find a Zen presentation and even more so, to see that Fr. William Meninger would be presenting. Sometimes, seeming life obstacles, provide windows for the serendipitous. A few months prior, I had, with great precision, somehow, jumped and slipped and fallen exactly on the edge of a culvert breaking my left femur. So I was recuperating, and slowly enhancing my cane assisted walking downtown at the then location of the Dharma Bum Temple, and by the time of the AAR conference, I was able to make the walk of a few blocks to the convention center. I made it slowly over to attend and happily to find in Fr. Meninger’s presentation a living experiential presence, amidst the all too frequent doldrums of scholarly inquiry. I waited on to meet him, after listening to his presentation on the Ox Herding Pictures - A Christian Perspective and we shared and chatted for a few minutes. I was curious about the Trappist monk, Fr. Theophane Boyd OSCO (1930-2003), who I had met nearly forty earlier during Zen sesshin in the Los Angeles mountains and also in New Mexico and asked Fr. Meninger about him. I remembered that Fr. Theophane had been in Snowmas, Colorado at the monastery and I happened to be seated next to him during a Rohatsu dai-sesshin during a frigid December. His deep contemplative qualities were palpable during our shared week of silence and had made a deep impression on my then young mind with his diligence and great presence in his meditation practice. Fr. Meninger and he were close contemplative friends and he shared that he felt Fr. Theophane was one of the great contemplatives of recent time. As we parted after chatting, Fr. Meninger with good humor and knowing in his eyes, noted our mutual and synchronistic twin needs for ‘canes’ for walking; we both laughed in the shared moment.

 

 

 

Ken Shuho Small

Throughout the 1970s and into the 1980s, Ken Shuho Small studied and practiced Zen with Joshu Sasaki Roshi, Genei Tashiro Roshi and into the present time with Sandy Gentei Stewart Osho. In 1971, Ken received lay vows and his Zen name, Shuho, from Joshu Sasaki Roshi.

Since the mid-1970s, he has been deeply involved in cooperative community development, ethnobotany, and herbal medicine. Ken has also engaged in and promoted the indigenous spiritual and healing traditions of Mexico and the Americas. Since the 1990s, he has hosted scores of teachers from all schools of Tibetan Vajrayana traditions, especially Dzogchen; viewing its common roots in practice with Zen.

Ken is curator and collaborator of the Perennial Wisdom Resource Collection and the Lomaland Community Theosophy Archive at San Diego State University’s Special Collections and University Archives.

With the help of others, Ken established The Enso Project in 2018. He now serves as The Enso Project’s ‘vision holder’ and guiding facilitator for Zen practice.

Previous

The Ox Herding Pictures-A Christian Perspective by Fr. William Meninger, O.S.C.O.
Next

Wabi Sabi Zen