The Passing of Jim Hartz

Jim was like a brother to me. I thought he was brilliant. He was at the center of the action in the early days, more than me. We had sometimes intense, always interesting political discussions. And he knew the dharma. Very unique person.

How Jim became a student of Trungpa Rinpoche, in his own words: "So, I lived at the monastery [Gethsemani] sort of perched on the wall, not really a monk, but studying very hard under Merton's influence--and also reading a book called Meditation In Action by a Tibetan Buddhist I first heard of in Merton's dying-breath Bangkok talk, Chögyam Trungpa. Though Merton has stuck to my ribs, so to speak, to this day, the Catholic Church didn't. I became a Vajrayana Buddhist under the influence of Trungpa Rinpoche while still living at Gethsemani, and at some point basically fell out through the bottom of the Judeo-Christian universe, a combination of an ant falling through boundless centerless space, and Edvard Munch's The Scream, and landing in Trungpa's lap--like a scene out of Time Bandits. Trungpa pointed out he was not a babysitter, and why didn't I move over there few feet, create some space to have a relationship through. In any case, I have never looked back."

How Jim became a student of Trungpa Rinpoche, in his own words: "So, I lived at the monastery [Gethsemani] sort of perched on the wall, not really a monk, but studying very hard under Merton's influence--and also reading a book called Meditation In Action by a Tibetan Buddhist I first heard of in Merton's dying-breath Bangkok talk, Chögyam Trungpa. Though Merton has stuck to my ribs, so to speak, to this day, the Catholic Church didn't. I became a Vajrayana Buddhist under the influence of Trungpa Rinpoche while still living at Gethsemani, and at some point basically fell out through the bottom of the Judeo-Christian universe, a combination of an ant falling through boundless centerless space, and Edvard Munch's The Scream, and landing in Trungpa's lap--like a scene out of Time Bandits. Trungpa pointed out he was not a babysitter, and why didn't I move over there few feet, create some space to have a relationship through. In any case, I have never looked back."

I am sharing this with permission from my stepson, Christian Miller. Jim paid Christian some cash to help him move to a new apartment way back in the 1980s.

"Yes, I remember Jim. He paid me 10 dollars an hour to move his boxes. I was in my early teens and at that time that amount was a lot. I remember he was a self-professed communist, or socialist. I ended up walking away thinking that communists (or socialists) were people who respected hard work and backed it up with a fair wage. I also remember he was kind and generally respectful, he didn’t talk to me as some adult do children and I valued that even more than the 10 bucks I got for helping him move some boxes inside.

I think of him often not because I was close to him, but because that experience set an impression that I have to this day, and also because on my walks I pass by that particular building he was moving into all the time. Every time I walk by, I remember that experience. To this day, it is one of my more vivid memories. Please offer my condolences. "

Jim was full of so many fervent ideas and thoughts, hoping to improve the lot of mankind and the universe. It felt to me like there was an ocean of kindness down in the base of his being.

This is a biographical sketch of Jim Hartz's life, compiled by Suzanne Engert, Tim McMaster, and John Horner, and from autobiographical notes Jim himself left:
"Jim Hartz passed away on July 21, 2025. He was born in Bay City, Michigan on June 25, 1944.
His family moved to Florida when he was young. In his words, he had a “Huckleberry Finn childhood.” From there, the family moved to Detroit where he was part of the “greaser” and gang scene.
Jim was a good athlete, and after high school, he was recruited by Bo Schembechler to play football at Miami of Ohio University.
Radicalized by the Vietnam War, his education was short-circuited and he operated a bookstore in Cincinnati, Ohio; worked with Noam Chomsky’s anti-war organization “Resist”; did draft-counseling and gave anti-war lectures at churches. He never strayed from his roots in the anti-war movement, and was a compassionate and critical observer of the international system and US domestic and foreign policy.
Jim went to live as a “brother” at the Abbey of Gethsemani, Thomas Merton’s monastery near Bardstown, KY. There he studied Merton’s writings and read the book: “Meditation in Action” by Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche. As a result he became a Buddhist and a student of Trungpa Rinpoche. Trungpa Rinpoche appointed him a meditation instructor in 1974 and encouraged him to teach. In 1975, Jim attended the Vajradhatu Seminary, and moved to Boulder, Colorado in 1976.
Jim considered Thomas Merton and Chögyam Trungpa to be his “two main mentors.” Jim’s major topic of research was correlating Merton and Rinpoche’s teachings—in fact, Merton and Rinpoche had planned to do a book together, bringing the Christian Contemplative and Buddhist Meditative traditions together.
Jim was a poet and a scholar. He lived in San Francisco for several years in the 1980s, where he was Literary Director at Intersection for the Arts. Subsequent to that, he became Director of The Poetry Center and American Poetry Archive at San Francisco State University. He also taught a graduate level seminar in poetics theory and poetry writing. He received his master’s degree at St John’s in Santa Fe; and worked toward a PhD at Antioch College in Ohio.
And he collected books…many books: on the Dharma, politics and poetry—his favorite topics to study and discuss.
Jim returned to Boulder in the early 90s, and lived at Marpa House and RMSC. He then moved to Clarksville, TN to care for his elderly mother for several years. He came back to Boulder in 2008 where he lived at Canyon Pointe."