Tsok-day in...PA?

All the trees in PA have no leaves. I like our woods and our property and wonder what spirits are already here. It seems sure, in any case, that they haven't heard or experienced the Dharma in this lifetime. So I like to take the chance to hang prayer flags or do smoke offerings whenever I can. Recently I have been putting some incomplete statuettes of Buddhas in sheltered places in the forest--rocky cliffs and old trees--and hoping they are meeting wide-eyed does, deer, and squirrels, and planting good seeds in their minds for future lifetimes.

I recently was in Davidson and was able to do Tsok with Khenpo Chorpel, Hun, Brian, and Valerie, and felt confident enough to try it on my own. My family was curious--I went shopping for goodies with my mom--but I felt most comfortable just doing it slowly and carefully on my own. It all seemed to work out in the end, and I felt very pleased with my beautiful shrine.

I'm grateful that the ritual has been performed now in this part of the world, and it reminds me of how important the Dharma is to places that before have been without it. I came away with the wish that Buddhism might grow deeper where it has taken root, and that it might arrive swiftly where it has not.