self-stone
The stone symbolized something permanent that can never be lost or dissolved, something eternal that some have compared to the mystical experience of God within one’s own soul.”

Carl Jung, Man and His Symbols

 

 

A day after a severe heart attack eight years ago, the young doctor told me, “You have pretty much blown out your heart.”   A second doctor later said, “After a heart attack and heart failure, you’re going down.  You may be going down slow, but you are going down.” The traditional Western medicine wisdom is that heart cells do not regenerate after a heart attack.

Surprisingly still alive three years later,  I had a dream that I had twenty-four hours to find Buddha in the desert.

………………………………………………

Heart and mortality issues can make for a spiritual emergency; the creation of the Stone Sanctuary came out of that archetypal quest.

Before the  work began on the Stone Sanctuary  —  two and a half years  ago — I was told that my heart functioning was deteriorating and that I imminently needed a pacemaker;  it was on my mind as I was creating the Sanctuary that this might be my last summer and last project.

All summer I worked until exhaustion; by the end of the summer I was working with the stones eight hours a day.

Much to the surprise and disbelief of the doctors at the Mayo Clinic after that summer,  my heart function had actually improved and no pacemaker was needed, most likely as a result of the moving all of those stones.

The stones saved my life, on many levels.

I had found the Buddha in the stones.

 

bearpaw1000-copy

Previous: Animal Instincts

Beginning: Cracking the Egg

6 Comments

  1. Thank you for writing about this amazing journey. The synchronicity generated between yourself and the natural environment is so potent!

  2. Buddhism can certainly be found in the stones in many places including those places that many scholars refuse to admit ever felt the migration and influences of Buddhists. North America is one such place. Google: “Buddhist Symbols and Customs North America” “Mandalas Mantras Manjis and Monuments” “Dimensions of Dine and Buddhist Traditions”. Evidence of Vedic Indian influences are being discovered all over the Four Corners area once home of the now departed Anasazi people. “Were the Anasazi People Buddhists?” There seems to be a lot of evidence to support that theory. In the New Mexico wilderness south of Farmington is a beautiful rock garden full of amazing rock shapes that most people believe were created by erosion. I believe these are actually rock carved shapes that tie back to Vedic Vajrayana Buddhism. One example is the Vedic Hamsa. Google: “Canadian Goose Bisti Badlands” for this image. Why carve a swan- goose? Why there in the Four Corners with so many other Vedic customs and influences? For a possible explanation google: “Hamsa Vedic Swan Goose” for how that shape ties into Vedic religious beliefs. Cracked Eggs are also significant Vedic symbols. They represent in that belief system the creation of the world. Is it a coincidence that in another part of the Bisti Badlands that there are numerous carved rocks that have been labeled “cracked eggs” by those not knowing of any Vedic connection because that is exactly what they look like to this very day. Google: “Cracked Eggs Bisti Badlands” for images of these stones. After that google: “Cracked Egg Buddhist Creation Symbol”. With all the scholars who make their living analyzing the Anasazi Culture and the Four Corners exclusively you would think that they based on all this evidence would be at a minimum at least considering this information. Not so. Is it because of a eurocentric cultural and religious bias?

  3. Google: “Church Rock: Cathedral in the Desert” & “Mexican Hat Rock- Topo Map”

  4. Is Church Rock, Utah more than simply a natural rock formation? Could it be tied to an almost identical (colors and all) Buddhist Stupa in Sri Lanka?
    Google: “A Kapruka Pujawa at Ruwanweliseya Muhasay” and “Observe the Colorful Buddhist Flag Wrapping Ceremony at Ruwanweliseya Stupa”.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *