Clark Strand (born August 14, 1957) [1] [2] [3] is an American author and lecturer on spirituality and religion. A former Zen Buddhist monk, he was the first Senior Editor of Tricycle: The Buddhist Review . He left that position in 1996 and moved to Woodstock, New York, to write and teach full-time.
He is also a poet and has written two books that feature or include his poetry.
Strand was born in 1957, [1] and grew up in Arkansas [4] and Alabama. [5] The family moved to Atlanta in 1971, [6] and Strand graduated from the Lovett School in 1975. [7]
Strand was raised as a Southern Presbyterian, [8] and converted to Buddhism in the 1970s. [9] He studied philosophy and religion at Sewanee: The University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, [10] graduating in 1980. [11]
Strand began his post-university career as a Zen Buddhist monk. [12] In 1988, he left the Dai Bosatsu Zendo, a Rinzai Zen Buddhist monastery in upstate New York [13] [11] and became the director of New York Zendo, a Rinzai Zen Buddhist temple in New York City. [11] In 1990 he resigned from New York Zendo [14] [15] and ceased being a Buddhist monk. [16]
Following a few years of psychoanalysis, he became the first senior editor of Tricycle: The Buddhist Review in 1993. [17] [18] He also continued his decades-long exploration of the spiritual traditions of the world in search of a more spiritually-evolved version of religion that was compatible with modern life; the journey took him inside of numerous communities including Buddhist temples, Hasidic synagogues, Christian monasteries, and Hindu cults. [17] [16] [19] This eventually led to his books Meditation Without Gurus (2003) and How to Believe in God: Whether You Believe in Religion or Not (2009). [17]
In 1996, Strand left his position as senior editor of Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, and moved to Woodstock, New York to write and teach full time. [18] [20] [21]
In January 2000, Strand founded the Koans of the Bible Study Group (since renamed Woodstock Buddhist Bible Study), a weekly inter-religious discussion group devoted to finding a new paradigm for religious belief and practice. [16] He also founded the Green Meditation Society in Woodstock, which promotes an ecologically-based approach to spiritual practice, drawing upon the environmental teachings of the world's great religious traditions. [22]
In the early 2000s, he began exploring Soka Gakkai International, which originated from Soka Gakkai Japan, a humanistic religion based on the teachings of the 13th century Japanese monk, Nichiren, who lived in Kamakura period. This led him to write Waking the Buddha: How the Most Dynamic and Empowering Buddhist Movement in History Is Changing Our Concept of Religion (2014). [23]
Strand has written additional books on spirituality, as well as articles on a variety of religious, spiritual and ecological themes. He writes for The Washington Post , [24] The Huffington Post , The New York Times , Newsweek’s On Faith Blog, Tricycle,Body & Soul, Spirituality &Health and several other publications. [25] [26] [27]
He also lectures and teaches classes, workshops, and retreats. [17] In May 2015, he participated in the First White House U.S. Buddhist Leaders Conference. [28]
Strand is also a poet, [29] and has written two books that feature or include his poetry: Seeds from a Birch Tree: Writing Haiku and the Spiritual Journey (1997), and Now is the Hour of Her Return: Poems in Praise of the Divine Mother Kali (2022). He also teaches classes and workshops in writing haiku. [30]
Strand lives in Woodstock, New York. [21] He and his wife, author Perdita Finn, [31] are co-founders of The Way of the Rose, a non-sectarian rosary fellowship that welcomes people of all faiths and spiritual backgrounds. [32] [33]
| 1997 | Seeds from a Birch Tree: Writing Haiku and the Spiritual Journey | ISBN 978-0-7868-6242-9 |
| 1998 | The Wooden Bowl: Simple Meditations for Everyday Life | ISBN 978-0-7868-6286-3 |
| 2003 | Meditation Without Gurus: A Guide to the Heart of the Practice | ISBN 978-1-893361-93-5 |
| 2009 | How to Believe in God: Whether You Believe in Religion or Not | ISBN 978-0-7679-2069-8 |
| 2014 | Waking the Buddha: How the Most Dynamic and Empowering Buddhist Movement in History Is Changing Our Concept of Religion [34] | ISBN 978-0977924561 |
| 2015 | Waking up to the Dark: Ancient Wisdom for a Sleepless Age [35] [36] | ISBN 978-0-8129-9772-9 |
| 2019 | The Way of the Rose: The Radical Path of the Divine Feminine Hidden in the Rosary (with Perdita Finn) | ISBN 978-0812988956 |
| 2022 | Now is the Hour of Her Return: Poems in Praise of the Divine Mother Kali | ISBN 9781948626750 |
'Eido Roshi (嶋野 栄道) announced that Clark Strand had resigned as resident monk of New York Zendo....'