Looking south to the Date Mountains from Cipher Canyon Ranch.
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Cipher Canyon Ranch sits at the foot of Black Mountain, on the west side of Skull Valley. The foothills that rise on either side of the canyon are webbed with six miles of trails and meditational sites, built by the former owners, the Sadhana Society, a religious organization with a radically diverse perspective. When they sold us the property in 2003, they left behind an extensive system of stone pathways, staircases, bridges, standing stones, and shrines, which they named. It is a continually unfolding pleasure to have been able to live here and walk this unusual land.
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One of the stone staircases built by Swami Ramananda.
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Tagore Shrine
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Many of the shrine sites contain devotional objects, either statuary representing the particular figure that the shrine is named for, or some token meant to provide focus for meditation or thought. The sites also provide texts to read--sometimes books of poetry, sometimes information about the name of the shrine, sometimes words that represent the purpose of the shrine. In this way, the shrines can be used for both educational and contemplative purposes. It is easy to spend the day wandering the trails and visiting the meditational sites.
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Buddha and stone marker at the Kuan Yin Shrine
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