Roshi James Ishmael Ford trained in the Soto tradition and was ordained osho by Houn Jiyu Kennett in 1971. Later he spent twenty years investigating Zen's koan way within a householder lineage. He received Inka in the Harada Yasutani lineage from Dr John Tarrant in 2005. James also ordained as a Unitarian Universalist minister and spent twenty years in parish ministry. A prolific writer on the range of the spiritual life, he blogs as Monkey Mind on Patheos, and offers a spiritual newsletter, Unanswered Question at Substack. James is the author of five books on the Zen way. His sixth, The Intimate Way of Zen: Effort, Surrender, and Awakening on the Spiritual Journey has just been released by Shambhala Publications.