Wayfarer Quote with Commentary

Darion Kuma Gracen (1949-2007)

Years ago, when my late teacher first introduced me to the Wayfarers as a luminous, loosely-connected lineage of inspired ‘calling’, I found myself a bit confused at first. One day, she would introduce me to a Dao-inspired poet such as T’ao Yuan-ming, Li Bai, or Du Fu. On another day, it would be a Chán or Zen-inspired poet such as Stonehouse, Bai Juyi, or Ryōkan. Yet another day, I would be holding a Wayfarer’s poem (or an essay about a Wayfarer) who was inspired by the esoteric Pure Land tradition (as opposed to the normative Pure Land tradition) such as Kamo no Chōmei, Ippen, the Zen iconoclast Ikkyū, or Saigyō. Then there were those who blended paths, practices, and traditions even more like the Neo-Confucian Wang Yangming, Huanchu Daoren, or Grandmother Lotus Moon / Rengetsu — whose practice path blended Pure Land, Zen, and Shingon.

Initially, I didn’t see a central “lodgepole.” Being raised in Western culture with its tendency toward dualistic ‘this-or-that’ thinking, I was constantly looking for an outward religious thread that somehow connected them all. I was looking for labels and established structures — not quite comprehending (yet) that the Wayfarers have consistently sidestepped institutionalism for a more expansive (and often syncretic) ‘way-within-the Way’.

One night, after a long day of hillwalking and sitting in the mountains outside of Santa Fe, we found ourselves at Dō Renshū Basho (道練習場所), “Place of Way-Practice” a.k.a. “Dust in the Wind Zendō” a.k.a. her front porch on Cerro Gordo. Kuma-sensei was reflecting upon the path of Wayfaring as a practice-tradition of Nature-oriented spirituality and creative living — Dōjindō, Dao ren dao — the Way of the Wayfarers (what she sometimes jokingly called “the original Dead Poet’s Society”).

Still perplexed by the poetic similarities yet the spiritual diversity of the Wayfarers, I asked her: “What is the common thread of all of the Wayfarers?”

She winked, took a sip of her tawny port, and responded:

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