Category: Dharma Journal

The Dry River snakes its way through Central Oregon for miles but very few humans visit much of its length. A small part of the river canyon is popular but most of the meandering...

Several times a year I am invited to teach the Buddhist point of view at local high schools when they offer courses on world religions. I count this as a privilege. Since I am...

I wonder if it felt pain like I feel pain. This dismembered, mostly consumed bird hidden in the sage and rabbitbrush must have met its demise in the claws and jaws of a large...

On this early January day, I am hiking in the juniper-dotted hills near the southern reach of the John Day Formation. Here, sandy desert soil intermingles with patches of red clay and winter moisture...

I sit here with nothing particular on my mind. I just enjoyed a small bowl of beet green soup and feel my satisfied body soaking up the deliciously simple nutrition. I think to myself,...

On this cold crisp morning, the sky reveals an unmistakable frosty blue hue of winter. The solstice dawns once again as the seasons march on in an infinite circle—always repeating yet never the same....

This morning the thermometer reads eleven degrees. Outside, the sun is making an effort to burn through fog formed in a stubborn atmospheric inversion—a condition in which cold air is trapped by a higher...

One of the profound practices of the Buddhist tradition is to view all beings as if they were our parents in a past lifetime. We vow to repay their kindness. I am often asked...

It is said that repetition is more powerful than truth. What we repeat to ourselves, we will believe—even if it is a lie. We currently have a social media that is based upon repeating...

I think my mom is enlightened. She has dementia. The juxtaposition of these two statements might appear rather odd, but I am quite serious—in a way. Mom is in the moment. She only responds...