As a very young child I was intrigued with going to church: the stained glass windows; the smiling nuns and different language; the beatific statue of Mary; and the scary statue of Jesus.

One Christmas Eve, I woke up in the middle of the night and saw the Star of Bethlehem, just as it is in the pictures, and felt peaceful with my born tradition

I arrived to interfaith studies grounded in over three decades as a student and practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism. I had deep and proven trust that my spiritual practice was, for me, a perfect fit. I felt whole, complete, and happy, and could look back on my life and see the transformation resulting from this dedication not just in myself but also in how the outer mandala of my life had constellated. The practice was doing me and I was greatly satisfied.

I’ve been lucky to have met and learned from many spiritual teachers. In 1979 I first saw His Holiness the Dalai Lama, whom I consider my root guru, and have taken teachings with him yearly ever since. Through my work with different monasteries I have been able to take teachings with many of Tibet’s greatest teachers.

This story is not about a Tibetan teacher, nor is she a Buddhist as far as I know. Still, I consider her my first Buddhist teacher, someone who taught me the essence of all the Buddha’s teachings.

I have been blessed to be a caregiver for 3 quadriplegic men. Below is a piece I wrote after my brother Jeff passed, published in a magazine called New Mobility, which he wrote for.

May your spirit soar Jeff!

May many continue to learn

from your wisdom and tenacity!

The conversation with my Death Row Buddhist group last night was about tuning into our own Buddhanature, and organic arose out of how we start each group , where we take refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha in the broadest terms.

I have been contemplating the next step to take in my Buddhist Services on Death Row. My groups have grown from 1 to over 50 men, all of who are deeply interested in pursuing any spiritual knowledge they can find in order to explore and expand their inner lives. Many of them attend the other faith services there as well, so though I provide the Buddhist teachings, I always ask them to identify where and how the topics we are talking about show up in the other traditions.

Every night I go into Death Row for my Buddhist Services, something profound happens. This is a story about the deep synchronicity one accesses when recognizing the truth of interconnectedness.

One day I was walking down the paved ramp towards the yard to my destination, the education building. I like walking down this leisurely quiet route versus the stairway, which seems so abrupt and crowded. I admire the greenery on the side of the pavement; the agapanthus in various states of bloom, the blackberries, and their occasional large fresh, juicy berry. I enjoy the mixed brick and mortar texture of the ancient brown, gold, and tan colored walls, cracked, full of story, like old parchment.

As stated in my bio, I have been lucky to study with some of Tibet’s greatest scholars, starting with His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, the 14 Dalai Lama of Tibet, whom I took refuge with in 1980.  I consider him to be My Root Guru, or ‘Tsawa Lama’ as the Tibetans would say.

Before we can discuss the role ignorance has in Buddhism in general and the Abhidharma in specific it is helpful to find a definition of ignorance that fits with its original usage as well as an understanding that is relevant to our lives. In our western world, the word ignorance is often used synonymously with naiveté, or, more bluntly, stupid. The language of Buddhism obviously did not originate in English. It is important when we are trying to grasp some basic concepts of Buddhism, to dig deeper into what the word meant and how it was used in its original languages before we can extract and transpose meaning into our own language.

It has been slightly over one year since my path of ministry and chaplaincy led me to become a volunteer at San Quentin State Prison. Over the past six months I have had the great privilege of assisting the formation of a new group for incarcerated veterans, “Veterans Healing Veterans From the Inside Out.” This group is the brainchild of Ron Self, former Marine and current incarcerated prisoner at San Quentin State Prison.

Chances are, your beloved furry soul mate pet knew before you did that the time to say goodbye was approaching. That doesn’t make it any easier of course. Our pets absorb our thoughts, feelings and emotions in ways we as humans are just beginning to understand. It is quite possible that your thoughts about your pet’s old age, sickness, injury, etc are getting in the way of them being able to let go.

There’s been several times in the twelve years I’ve been with my horse Tiger where either I was injured, or he was. Consequently, our relationship found new ways to deepen beyond our magical rides through the coastal tundra outside of Inverness, where Tiger lives.

A few weeks ago I hit an all time low in my ‘vertical alignment’ with Spirit. My brother Jeff’s cat Billie, who I adopted after Jeff died 3 years ago, has shared her end of life struggles AND cuddles with me ever since.

 It was a clear, crisp but warm morning in the early spring. Sunbeams sliced through the woods at an angle, displaying a myriad of light rays which made the forest floor look mottled and dappled.

Tiger transitioned into his spirit body on Friday, Dec. 16th, after a very long and heroic fight with laminitis in his RF hoof. He made it clear to us that he was ready - after 4 years of being a willing patient, he’d systematically rejected every intervention, one by one.

When I first heard the term “Animal Chaplaincy” my heart jumped. Though the term felt so familiar to me, a life-long animal lover and steward of the earth, I needed to know more about what Animal Chaplaincy actually embraced. I started off on a journey to find out. Luck was with me, as my advisor in my Masters of Divinity program agreed to let me formally study Animal Chaplaincy as an Independent Study project. Below is an excerpt  from my report, along with some stories sharing some of my Animal Chaplaincy experiences. 

One early spring day I rode Tiger around the mountain counter-clockwise; up the hill out of the ranch, down the back of the little mountain into very wet area above the creek where nettles and thistles stand 6 feet high.