An excerpt from her first book
As a Sailboat Seeks the Wind
Buddha on the Road
I have just turned
off of Route 2 where it climbs into the hills of Western Massachusetts and
follows the Deerfield River before meandering through the wild country that
borders New York State. Moving
slowly over a dirt-packed side road, I see a little beagle, tail up, on a
spring jaunt, heading straight for the highway.
I’m on my way to
my meditation group where we sit in silence, walk in silence, and discuss the
Buddhist teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh.
Right speech. Right
livelihood. Right action. I have a few minutes to arrive at that
peaceful little meditation room on time – a few minutes before the bell sounds
and we try to follow our breath and be in the present moment. But, in this moment, I stop the car and
call to the dog and surprisingly she comes to me. I tell her to get in and she does. We set off to find her home.
The roads in these
hills lead to different worlds. A few
middle-class families live straight ahead in attractive country homes. I stop to ask if they recognize this
dog. No. They haven’t seen her before. I backtrack a couple of miles and, turning right, I enter a
complex of small roads and houses that remind me of the movie Deliverance. Cars
and trucks are parked on lawns.
Run-down houses, set off the road, are slightly ominous. I stop at a house here and there asking
the same question. No, they don’t know her. But then I hit gold.
Yes, up the road, a half a mile on the right, second driveway from the
large garden up there on the hill, there’s a bunch of buildings and she lives
right there. The house farthest
in.
I drive back and
forth, never seeing that large garden, asking a few more people. Finally, I ascend a steep driveway and
find a man on a second story deck.
I receive my final instructions – next driveway on the left. I ask the man what the dog’s name
is. He thinks a minute, looks down
at the dog, looks down at me, and says, “Buddha.”
Missing
meditation, I had found Buddha on the road.
"Marian Kelner writes from a wide-open, all-embracing heart and shares her love of this world in poetry and prose." 