Background

Ken Jones was born on May 18, 1930, in Wales, United Kingdom.

Career

Ken Jones was a Zen and Ch'an practitioner and teacher of thirty years' standing. His career has been mainly in higher education. He taught at the Western Chan Fellowship.

Jones was a founder of the United Kingdom Network of Engaged Buddhists. He facilitated numerous workshops and retreats on different aspects of Buddhism, but focusing particularly on "Everyday Buddhism."

In his first book, The Social Face of Buddhism: An Approach to Social Activism, Jones explores theories and philosophies of spiritualized activism that includes thoughts from groups such as Quakers and Marxists. The book is divided into two sections, "understanding'' and "action.''

His other works include Arrow of Stones (2002), Stallion's Crag (2003), The Parsley Bed (2006), and Stone Leeks (2009).

Ken Jones was a co-editor of the quarterly Contemporary Haibun Online. He contributed regularly to the United Kingdom and United States haiku magazines, as well as being represented in British and American anthologies.

Achievements

• Ken Jones was an important voice in socially engaged Buddhism and was the founder and later president of the United Kingdom Network of Engaged Buddhists and a member of the International Advisory Committee of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship.
  
  For his contribution to Pilgrim Foxes: Haiku and Haiku Prose, Jones was awarded the Sasakawa Prize for Original Contributions in the Field of Haikai. His haibun Travellers won first place in the 2005 English Language Haibun Contest. And in 2011 he won joint first place in the British Haiku Society's Haibun Contest.

Works

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• book

  • The New Social Face of Buddhism: A Call to Action

    (Jones presents an astute, well-informed, and balanced ana...)

    2003
  • Bog Cotton: Haiku Stories and Haiku 2012
  • The Parsley Bed: Haiku Stories 2006
  • Unutterable Blunders and Palace Disasters 2006
  • Beyond Progressive Education 1983
  • Rooted in Vengeance 2003
  • Windrow & Greene's Militaria Directory and Sourcebook 1994
  • The Social Face of Buddhism: An Approach to Political and Social Activism 1989

Religion

As a Zen and Chan practitioner, Ken believed in a "radical culture of awakening" in which people need to do "inner work" to enable "outer work."

Politics

Beginning as an old fashioned anarchist, Jones worked, over seventy years, his way through the Communist Party of Great Britain (expelled), the Labour Party (Victory for Socialism Group) (and very nearly expelled) and the United Kingdom Green Party (for which he retained an abiding affection).

Views

Ken spent his spare time as a peace, ecology, and social justice activist, as well as a period on the Samaritans' telephone helpline.

Membership

Jones was a member of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship and Network of Engaged Buddhists.

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  Buddhist Peace Fellowship , United Kingdom

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  Network of Engaged Buddhists , United Kingdom

Connections

Ken's wife was Noragh Jones.

Wife:

Noragh Jones