Clark Strand

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 published two books featuring his poetry.

Early life and education

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]

Career

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 published two books featuring 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]

Personal life

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]

Bibliography

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