Dharma Wheels - a Buddhist biking sangha!

This last weekend, I participated in the DharmaWheels century ride, a beautiful 145 mile bike ride through the Northern California countryside. It's a very special event, in which spiritually inclined bikers ride from temple to temple, on what is called a "Buddhist biking pilgrimage".

Around 7:30 am on Saturday, about a hundred of us started out at the Spirit Rock temple in Woodacre, and rode to the Sae Taw Win Dharma Center in Petaluma for lunch and a lecture, and of course, more riding that afternoon. That evening, when we camped between riding days, I had this amazing experience... we were sitting in the open air, under the night stars, after a long ride... with only candlelight to illuminate a saffron-robed monk explaining the finer points of the dharma. At that moment, it occurred to me that this was exactly how the Buddha would lecture, under the stars and with only a candle or lantern for light. For some reason, I could clearly feel a kind of connection through time, that spanned 2500 years, all the way to Shakyamuni Buddha lecturing under a Bodhi tree. Anyway, the next day, we pedaled along the Russian River up to the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas in Ukiah for a truly delicious vegetarian lunch... and ended up at the Abhayagiri Monastery in Redwood Valley for a closing ceremony.

I was far too busy pedaling to photograph much of what happened, but I did manage to capture a few glimpses of what transpired via video, which I'll share with you here (please note that this isn't one of my "grand directorial" efforts, just using the video feature on my digital camera to record a few interesting memories):

So... a great big thanks to everyone who made this weekend possible!!!

And if you would like more info about this delightful (and honestly, somewhat challenging event), please check out DharmaWheels.org.