Category: Dharma Journal

Healing Waters

Deep in a grotto composed of volcanic stone and weathered by hydrothermal activity, Lava Hot Springs mineral waters percolate up through a bed of natural gravels made of white quartz and beige volcanic pebbles....

Ground Zero

A scant five miles below the surface of the earth, a chamber of hot glowing magma sits in anticipation of releasing its simmering power. The Yellowstone volcano will eventually erupt again. It is not...

Selfie Sickness

The throng of visitors at Artist’s Point overlooking Yellowstone Falls is overwhelming. We choose to visit this park after school starts so as to as avoid such crowds. But, apparently, social media has popularized...

Between Drops, Between Thoughts

Waterfalls are glorious displays of nothingness. Water pours over rock precipices and crashes into the earth below, scattering shards of moisture and emitting a fine ethereal mist into the air. The space becomes vibrant...

Nearsighted

Myopia. Nearsightedness. I notice with the advent of the smart phone that people have become very nearsighted. For instance, it appears they cannot see nor read the signs that say, “Give plants a chance,”...

Uplifted

I am looking through the window toward our back porch and see a floating apparition. It is some sort of flower seed composed of gossamer filaments radiating from a central spire—similar to spokes on...

Giving and Receiving

The practice of Tonglen, giving and receiving, can be a profound and liberating experience. We breathe in, gracefully acknowledging the suffering of all beings. Then we breathe out, offering light and love, visualizing that...

Through the Mist

There are so many ways to become intimate with nature: walking barefoot, bending to smell a flower, dropping sweat on a steep trail, becoming absorbed in the view from atop a mountain, tasting a...

Hatred Always Pulls a Trigger

As of this writing there have been 250 mass shootings this year in the U.S. What in the world goes on in the mind of a mass shooter? If we think we would never...

Transplanted

Purple sage (Salvia dorrii ) is a plant native to much of the western United States. It is not really a sage but a member of the mint family. I have come across this...