A Place to Land

His eyes were very kind but he had a somewhat detached presence. After all, I was a white guy showing up unannounced at his adobe home on First Mesa in the Hopi lands. I had a dream of Crow Mother, a Hopi initiatory katsina, and felt compelled to seek out a shaman to help me understand. I was guided to a Hopi healer named Augustine Mowa and now sat in his presence. Much happened in our exchange, but what I remember most is in his words, “Your problem is you have no land.”

Indeed, I had been wandering for a few years. I left my massage therapy practice and moved into an ashram. I left the ashram and moved to Santa Fe. I bounced around, experimenting with various ways to express my spiritual longing while trying to make a living. I was now seeking guidance in the presence of a respected elder in the Hopi nation. What a journey! No wonder Augustine Mowa told me I have no land—no place to land.

That was nearly 45 years ago. It took me another few years to really understand the shaman’s counsel. I needed to find a place to land both physically and spiritually. When I recognized Oregon as my physical environment, and met my teachers in the Vajrayana Buddhist tradition, I finally arrived home. But finding a place to land is an ongoing process. One must continually honor and nurture one’s home territory through stewardship of both earth and spirit.

So, I founded a Dharma Center in the city of Bend to offer a way station for those wanderers still searching and a home for those who feel earth and spirit come together here. My prayer is for this place to have a moment, serve its purpose, and eventually return to the metaphorical soil from which it sprouted. Nothing lasts forever, but we can grow something wonderful between now and forever that helps to ease the difficulties of beings looking for a place to land.