What do you think?
Rate this book
The Intimate Way of Zen: Effort, Surrender, and Awakening on the Spiritual Journey
An intimate mystery encompasses us all and tugs at our hearts. What does it mean to follow that tug across the arc of a spiritual life?
Reflecting out of more than fifty years of practice in Zen Buddhism, Unitarian Universalism, and other contemplative traditions, James Ishmael Ford invites us into a journey through life's mysteries and the stages of spiritual development.
Lightly structured by the archetypal Buddhist oxherding images, Ford’s exploration is rooted in the Zen way while being deeply enriched by various strains of world mysticism. The book, sprinkled with insights and quotes from Buddhist, Daoist, and Christian traditions, serves as a map and a companion to spiritual seekers or pilgrims—whether within one religious tradition or cobbling together a way of one’s own. “Here is the most natural of all natural experiences,” writes Ford. “In the midst of our suffering, our longing, our desperation, we capture a glimpse. Something touches us. And with that, if we are lucky and really notice some movement of some spirit within us, we turn our attention to the intimate way.”
Reflecting out of more than fifty years of practice in Zen Buddhism, Unitarian Universalism, and other contemplative traditions, James Ishmael Ford invites us into a journey through life's mysteries and the stages of spiritual development.
Lightly structured by the archetypal Buddhist oxherding images, Ford’s exploration is rooted in the Zen way while being deeply enriched by various strains of world mysticism. The book, sprinkled with insights and quotes from Buddhist, Daoist, and Christian traditions, serves as a map and a companion to spiritual seekers or pilgrims—whether within one religious tradition or cobbling together a way of one’s own. “Here is the most natural of all natural experiences,” writes Ford. “In the midst of our suffering, our longing, our desperation, we capture a glimpse. Something touches us. And with that, if we are lucky and really notice some movement of some spirit within us, we turn our attention to the intimate way.”
296 pages, Paperback
Published July 23, 2024
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
August 3, 2024
lovely
Such a joy to follow a wise teacher’s process in effort, surrender, and awakening. Makes me feel that there is hope for me and the world. Still working on “emptiness,” but just a little more comfortable with that after reading this book. Thank you James
Such a joy to follow a wise teacher’s process in effort, surrender, and awakening. Makes me feel that there is hope for me and the world. Still working on “emptiness,” but just a little more comfortable with that after reading this book. Thank you James
November 2, 2024
An absolute joy to read and a tonic for a tired and meandering practice. The overarching structure to the book is the Oxherding Sequence of 10 stages in Buddhist practice. He has a meditation on each of the stages, though the book isn't really a discourse on those structures; rather those 10 stages provide a platform for Roshi Ford's beautiful meditations and meaderings.Throughout the book, Roshi Ford weaves religious texts, Christian and Buddhist, classic literature, and popular culture (Groundhog Day) into a beautiful and tender mixture that shows a life of spiritual probing and curiosity.
I read this book slow, a chapter (each are short) each morning and the book wakened up my tired mind. Highly recommended!
I read this book slow, a chapter (each are short) each morning and the book wakened up my tired mind. Highly recommended!
June 18, 2026
We're constantly told to chase something. More success. More productivity. More answers. More everything. Zen gently suggests that this endless reaching might be the very thing keeping us restless.
What if, instead of chasing life, we let life come to us?
In this book The Intimate Way Of Zen by James Ishmael Ford. Awakening, in the Zen sense, isn't some dramatic lightning-bolt moment. It's much quieter than that. It's learning to see things as they are, without constantly trying to change, fix, or label them. Simple. Not always easy, but simple.
Zen also has a refreshingly down-to-earth quality. It doesn't ask us to escape our bodies or transcend everyday life. Quite the opposite. It reminds us that we're human beings living among other human beings. We eat, walk, breathe, ache, laugh, and stumble through our days together. Respect your body. Respect other people's bodies. That's already a meaningful practice.
One thing I find fascinating about Zen is how little it asks for blind belief. It's not particularly interested in convincing you of grand theories. Instead, it invites you to pay attention to what's right in front of you.
Think of it this way: belief is often concerned with what happens someday. Faith, in Zen, is trusting what can be experienced right now.
So here's the gentle recommendation. Slow down. Watch. Listen. Notice what's happening around you and within you. Try not to judge every thought, feeling, or situation the moment it appears. And when action is needed, act. Then return to stillness.
Again and again.
Wisdom doesn't usually arrive with fireworks and a soundtrack. More often, it shows up quietly when we're fully present for the life we're already living.
What if, instead of chasing life, we let life come to us?
In this book The Intimate Way Of Zen by James Ishmael Ford. Awakening, in the Zen sense, isn't some dramatic lightning-bolt moment. It's much quieter than that. It's learning to see things as they are, without constantly trying to change, fix, or label them. Simple. Not always easy, but simple.
Zen also has a refreshingly down-to-earth quality. It doesn't ask us to escape our bodies or transcend everyday life. Quite the opposite. It reminds us that we're human beings living among other human beings. We eat, walk, breathe, ache, laugh, and stumble through our days together. Respect your body. Respect other people's bodies. That's already a meaningful practice.
One thing I find fascinating about Zen is how little it asks for blind belief. It's not particularly interested in convincing you of grand theories. Instead, it invites you to pay attention to what's right in front of you.
Think of it this way: belief is often concerned with what happens someday. Faith, in Zen, is trusting what can be experienced right now.
So here's the gentle recommendation. Slow down. Watch. Listen. Notice what's happening around you and within you. Try not to judge every thought, feeling, or situation the moment it appears. And when action is needed, act. Then return to stillness.
Again and again.
Wisdom doesn't usually arrive with fireworks and a soundtrack. More often, it shows up quietly when we're fully present for the life we're already living.
January 31, 2026
Snakes & Ladders
I have recommended this book many times over the last year. This book is like sitting down with an old, wise friend and having a heart-to-heart conversation. James Ishmael Ford has many decades of experience and he shares his experience, views, and philosophy with what Zen might call, grandmotherly kindness. In the past year, I've read it three times.
I have to share a unique experience I had. I was staying at a Zen center on retreat and had just read Ford's analogy of the Path being more like the game of "Snakes & Ladders" than a linear path of A-B-C. We fall and are picked up again.
I was talking of this book and Ford's analogy and model to a young man at a retreat dining table. He asked me, "Do you want to play Snakes & Ladders?"
I thought he misunderstood. I'm not saying I like the children's game -- I'm liking it as a model of the ups and downs of the spiritual path.
My dining hall friend had brought the game of Snakes & Ladders on retreat (!) (what are the odds??). It was called Leela, and was the old Indian game where like Ford describes, with snakes being vices, and ladders virtues. The game came with a book explaining every square. We set it up one night and several retreatants played it.
I have recommended this book many times over the last year. This book is like sitting down with an old, wise friend and having a heart-to-heart conversation. James Ishmael Ford has many decades of experience and he shares his experience, views, and philosophy with what Zen might call, grandmotherly kindness. In the past year, I've read it three times.
I have to share a unique experience I had. I was staying at a Zen center on retreat and had just read Ford's analogy of the Path being more like the game of "Snakes & Ladders" than a linear path of A-B-C. We fall and are picked up again.
I was talking of this book and Ford's analogy and model to a young man at a retreat dining table. He asked me, "Do you want to play Snakes & Ladders?"
I thought he misunderstood. I'm not saying I like the children's game -- I'm liking it as a model of the ups and downs of the spiritual path.
My dining hall friend had brought the game of Snakes & Ladders on retreat (!) (what are the odds??). It was called Leela, and was the old Indian game where like Ford describes, with snakes being vices, and ladders virtues. The game came with a book explaining every square. We set it up one night and several retreatants played it.
January 4, 2026
This was such a beautiful book. It felt like an opportunity to take a Zen master out for coffee. This really made me want to dig into the Ox Herding images of Zen and really inspired my spiritual path. This was from the library so I wish I had more time with it, but looking forward to more from this author.
April 13, 2025
A book written from the heart - self-effacing, honest and inspiring - one man's Zen journey - everyone's Zen journey.
Needs a second read .... and a third ......
Needs a second read .... and a third ......
April 2, 2026
Loved this book. Wise and as comforting as an old loafer, something not often found in explanations of abstruse teachings such as the 10 of oxherding pictures.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews