The Rite Source was founded in 2007 in response to the need for better bereavement support in the U.S. and for a way to situate the challenges of bereavement in the larger context of spiritual struggle and transformation.    Informed by and deeply grounded in Confucian, Buddhist and Christian principles, our aim is to introduce and adapt ancient Asian practices, specifically Japanese hoji as a means of mediating the emotional experience of grieving and cultivating a common culture of compassion, solidarity and civility. 

In these pages, we describe how we determined our name, our logo, our sensibilities about reverence and about beauty . In addition, you will find pages with a brief biographical sketch of our founder, background on the rites known as hōji, and endorsements of our work.  For more information on how the seemingly exotic but actually simple rites at the center of our work reach deeply into and have the potential to affect all sectors of our life and times, check out the discussion section and let us know your views.

The Rite Source gets its name from our hope to be a resource for individuals, families and professionals for marking the loss of a loved one and for spiritual growth in general based on and informed by rituals known in Japan known as hōji. Hōji are undergirded by centuries of Confucian tradition which values ritual as a means for what Confucians call “self-cultivation.” Our name indicates our hope to fulfill the mandate created by the observation of witty Irish undertaker and cultural critic Thomas Lynch, who notes that ritual, ethnic and communal grounding is missing in contemporary American grief therapies. To wit, we offer instruction in, consultation around and creative adaptation of hōji. More than 20 years’ research on the rites as they are practiced in Japan has proven their effectiveness in assisting individuals and families in adjusting to loss.

We acknowledge the generosity of the owner of The Right Source Television Production in San Antonio, Texas, whose permission to use a name sounding similar to that of his business was crucial to our moving ahead. We dedicate our efforts in part to the peaceful repose of his daughter, who died on Valentine’s Day in 2007.

The Rite Source incorporates a calligraphic element in the execution of the “R” as a reference to the self-cultivating qualities which are at the heart of the rites we teach as advocated by the Buddhist and Confucian traditions. Grounded in the Confucian notion that individuals are formed by a network of relationships that are themselves best nurtured by attention to appropriate qualities of the self, we hope to provide resources for individuals, families and groups in the challenging context of bereavement.

Another frequent design element in our stationery and website is bamboo. Bamboo is noted in Asia for its flexibility. We aim, through our counseling services, to provide a context and consultations that will allow bereavement to bend but not break us. In observing the well-paced rites of hōji, our clients have the opportunity for marking their experience like the nodes in the bamboo: significant stopping places along the trajectory of growth that grieving generates. Like a bamboo grove, we hope that both our individualized counseling and our training opportunities offer a quiet, contemplative resource for individuals, families and groups and for professionals looking to enhance their repertoire for assisting others in the spiritually transformative experience of grief.