A figure emerging from light, from shadow almost there yet fading into space

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What happens in the Sak Yant ritual stays in the Sak Yant ritual.

…at least that is how things went for my good friend, Heather.

Heather studies the Buddha Dharma with an Ajarn–a Thai monk and master teacher. Her practice is beautiful. Living. It inspires her dreamworld where she regularly attends bodhisattva circles and visits devalokas (heavenly realms).

A few years ago, Heather deepened her commitment to the Dharma and received her teacher’s blessing of Sak Yant. I called her shortly after the ceremony wanting to know every detail: What were the initiation rites?

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It is often said that everything you need is right here. Sometimes that means right inside of you. Sometimes that means right here in the universe.

Perhaps it means both. They are connected.

...and somewhere in that, there is wholeness.

Artist Chris Huang’s work conveys wholeness on many levels, both in its content and form. His message celebrates the interconnectedness of nature’s elements, and his images present those relationships in a way that feels, magically, complete. Each piece looks like a collage of all things in the universe working together. Everything that is needed is there; a beautiful depiction of existence.

With pleasure, I traverse a Chris Huang piece and I’m left feeling warm and earthy, dazzled by pattern and color. Full of hope.

Mauri Pioppo, jeweler and artist, finds her inspiration in nature.

In our conversation on Uncommon Beauty, she describes gazing at the waves on the beach and noticing the shapes and formations left behind, how those imprints in the sand felt more moving and inspiring to her than the ocean itself. For Mauri, beauty comes not from the cultured aesthetics impressed upon us in society and social media, but from the exceptions to those rules. She seeks and discovers in secret spaces.

When making her jewelry she looks to her surroundings for the basic, fundamental elements calling to be carried on with embellishment. She loves foraging for rocks and stones in forests, mountains, and rivers, holding them in her hands to feel how time has impressed them. She takes these tokens from nature and adds to them: gems and diamonds, gold and silver, giving them a new life. Her uncommon process is directly affected by these materials. Her wandering and windy mind is grounded by the earthy elements and metals. The rock, her touchstone to earth, history and nature provides her a literal touchstone adhering her to the moment of creation.

One evening, my dear friend & mentor, Kobun Chino Roshi, asked me “Where do you come from?” I answered, “I’m not sure.” He responded rather fiercely, “If you don’t know where you come from, how do you know where you’re going?” When I asked him if he knew, he said “Yes. Haven’t you heard of the Lost Lineages?” When I replied, “No, is that where I’m from?” He said, “Yes, somewhere very ancient, feminine & Earth-based.”

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