Category: Dharma Journal

It is a cool summer morning in the high Cascades and our Tacoma bounces through deep ruts and over exposed rock on the road to Broken Top trailhead. Arriving at the parking area, we...

The skies are hazy from all the wildfires burning to the southwest of us but Sparks Lake is nonetheless beautiful. Although the water is low this time of year, it does not prevent numerous...

Lama Rinchen is sitting on a low stump overlooking a trail along the Metolius River. He chants an Amithaba practice and the Tibetan syllables spill down the bank, merging with the river. Seed sounds...

“I don’t know what I am doing,” is often a dharma practitioners refrain. Not knowing is very auspicious, although it may seem a bit frustrating in the moment. When I am learning a new...

To say Buddhism in America is at a crossroads is to understate the obvious. Standing at a crossroads always entails a decision as to which way to go. We have received transmission of the...

Although it is adjacent to a neighborhood, one can still hear the Deschutes softly whispering as it flows along a popular hiking trail. It is an urban river at this point, but one can...

We are on the bank of the North Santiam River where it flows into Detroit Reservoir. This is apparently a very good fishing spot. Several fishing boats, with antenna-like rods sticking out in all...

Storm clouds have been gathering all afternoon and now they speak in thunder. Wind is whipping all things moveable as plants, tree limbs, awnings, and my shirt are batted about in a rhythmic dance....

You can still see a thick cable laying along an old logging road left over from a harvest conducted in the late 1980s. The cable will be here until rust cuts its way to...

Today the desert lives up to its namesakes—dry and deserted. Summer sun is evaporating what little moisture remains in the soil and plants are withering into dust. A few hardy asters peek out from...