6/25: A Quick Escape to Striking Sedona, Arizona

After picking up our youngest, Zachary, from the tiny Flagstaff airport, we headed down to the stunning resort community of Sedona as we had a few hours before we had to return to the airport to pick up our older son, Alexander, who was flying in from San Francisco, so they and Steven could hike down to the bottom of the Grand Canyon early the next morning.

Steven and I decided to drag Zachary to Amitabha Stupa and Peace Park north of Sedona as we'd already made reservations to go to Bhutan and Tibet as part of a very long trip beginning next March to parts of Asia we hadn't seen on previous trips to that part of the world.

I read that Buddhist tradition teaches that"great benefit and auspicious blessings come from walking clockwise around the Stupa at least three times while making personal wishes and prayers for the welfare of suffering beings and world situations." People coming to the park were asked to enter the sacred land with respect and courtesy for others.

While construction of the exterior of the Stupa began in July of 2003 with a small team of workers, another team was preparing traditional offerings, such as tsa tsas which were small ceremonial stupas, and also ceremonial objects and precious metals from enlightened masters. Thousands of large and small rolls of sacred mantras were printed, amounting to almost a billion sacred prayers, that were then covered with fine cloth and ribbons. Everything was blessed in elaborated ceremonies and placed in every chamber of the Stupa all the way to the top of the spire. 

In addition, 21 wealth vases and one large copper cauldron were placed in the Stupa's center to heal and protect the environment and to restore the earth's vital energies as well as to "foster temporal and spiritual prosperity." The vases represented the inexhaustible treasury of the Buddha's teachings - wisdom that never diminishes. Stupas are considered to be the very embodiment of all the Buddhas' wisdom and tolerance in the world. The 36-foot high Amitabha Stupa was named for Amitabha, the Buddha of Infinite Worship. 

Before he attained enlightenment, Amitabha vowed that anyone who recited his name at the time of death would be reborn in his pure land, Dewachen, where Buddhists believe it is possible to attain enlightenment and return to the world to help free beings from suffering. Because Stupas are considered to be the Body of the Buddha, we couldn't sit, stand or climb on the Stupa nor place any objects on it. 

Even in the scorching, desert heat, some plants thrived and bore pretty flowers. 

This was Zachary by the Medicine Wheel, an ancient Native American symbol used to represent the Circle of Life. In a larger sense, it was a map of the Universe and the spiritual ideas within it. In the center of wheel was a circle of seven stones referred to as the Seven Sacred Dancers. Buddhists see the dancers expressed as the seven rainbow colors or as the seven chakras or energy centers of a greater intelligence they call creation. People walk the Medicine Wheel for guidance, healing or clarity when life challenges us to look deeper within ourselves. The Wheel for Buddhists is like a divine mirror helping believers to remember all that they are.

Prayer wheels are filled with hundreds of millions of sacred mantras or prayers for peace. When people spin and then walk around the wheel in a clockwise direction, the virtuous energy goes out into the world bringing peace and blessings to everyone, according to Buddhist teachings.

I was glad we had the opportunity to visit this Stupa so I could learn more about Buddhism in preparation for our trip to much of Asia next spring. Steven had spent a lot of time in his earlier years studying Eastern religions so he was far more versed in Buddhism than either Zachary or I.

From the Stupa we headed south through the city of Sedona toward the Christ of the Chapel of the Holy Cross so we could experience a facet of an altogether different religion, Catholicism. The Southwest's spectacular rock formations continued to enthrall us as we made our way to the church.

The chapel, built into the side of a mountain, was inspired and commissioned by local rancher and sculptor, Marguerite Brunswig Staude, who had been influenced to build such a church in 1932 by the newly constructed Empire State Building in New York. . 

Once we walked inside the small space, there was a feeling of peace and calm as we reflected on the sheer natural beauty that surrounded the church. What an imposing statue of Jesus on the cross that was carved from a tree that seemed to grown from the bottom of the altar and reached up to the sky. Lina: Please tell Caroline that the first name of the chapel's religious custodian was Kieran!

The views from outside were incredibly impressive.

The modern chapel seemed to emerge right out of the rock when viewed from below.

Zachary was tired from getting up so early for his flight from Denver and also likely from anticipating the hike to the bottom of the Grand Canyon early the next day. He decided, therefore, he preferred sitting in the hot car to hiking with us on the Mystic Trail at the base of the mountain. It was too bad as Steven and I enjoyed getting out and taking advantage of the gorgeous scenery on the unusually named trail.

I loved the bright colors and the unusual-shaped blooms of this plant.

Later, we stopped at Oak Creek Vista for some striking panoramic views of the narrow road we'd just taken from Sedona en route back to Flagstaff. I love this photo of Zachary and myself as he is never in any of our travel photos any more.

Next post: Photos of the three men in my life, Steven and our sons, Alexander and Zachary, hiking down to the bottom of the Grand Canyon on June 26th, and then back up the following day!

Posted almost exactly two months lately on August 27th, 2019, from Dublin, Ireland!