Rusty Ring

(This entry from my ango log is a timely reminder of how difficult life was in the jungle during those first frigid, rainy months. I...

Love is an act of courage, a losing bet that makes all who place it holy. Absurdity, sacrifice, and heartbreak are integral to it; mark...

Where it swelled near its confluence with the Willapa River, Wilson Creek bore incongruous signs of heavy industry: breastworks of peel...

The wildlife of the North Pacific rainforest is famously reserved; where the East has its flashy cardinals , red efts , and indigo bunti...

(My nephew, currently 28, photographed at 16 in the forest where I sat ango .) Appearing also on My Corner of the World .

Palladius said, "One day when I was suffering from boredom I went to Abba Macarius and said, 'What shall I do? My thoughts aff...

(This is the trail up Elk Ridge, just across the ravine from the jungle camp where I sat ango .) Appearing also on My Corn...

True nature; It is on this mountain. Because of the heavy mist, the exact location is unknown. – An Ancestor's commentary on the...

When I first became a hermit monk I had no zafu, so I sat on a sofa cushion. That got me off the ground – no pun intended – but was bul...

Among many incisive observations in Adam Savage's maker manifesto Every Tool is a Hammer , I found this boldest: "There is no...

Today's top headline: "Free-range Buddhist Eaten By Health-Conscious Cougar." – Haiku written eleven years ago, in ant...

This is Lobaria , either oregana or pulmonaria . (Probably the latter.) Common lichen of the North Coast, it completely sheaths ...

Among the more dubious traditions of Western Zen is a particularly frustrating custom we might sum up as "crap on Korea". ...

(This is a tree on the edge of my camp during ango . As I've mentioned twice before , humans like to hang skulls in conspicuous...

(A shot of a creek in the jungle where I sat my 100 Days .)

I often meet people who "used to do" Zen. Many were deeply engaged, once; some were students of famous teachers. It's...

I didn't want to read this book. And I really didn't want to keep reading after I started. But as I've often said, denial is...

What I most ached for on the mountain was a musical instrument . They're like languages, each complete and distinct and irreplaceab...

I have Christian friends who revel in the notion that God attends to them personally, that they are important. But true peace lies in ...

(Why is it so satisfying to see it neatly folded for the road, like this? I'll actually come up with excuses to meditate in somethi...