Author and Buddhist Teacher Diane Berger in Conversation With Editor Steve Wilhelm Regarding Her Memoir, "Small Boat, Vast Ocean."

Author and Buddhist teacher Diane Berger comes to Eagle Harbor Book Co. to share her memoir, Small Boat, Vast Ocean: My Years in Solitary Buddhist Retreat, which describes her extraordinary experiences on a three-year solo retreat in the Tibetan tradition.  She will be in conversation with journalist Steve Wilhelm.  They will discuss her journey and Diane will read from her memoir.

Diane’s writing vibrates with the environment of the Pacific Northwest where her retreat took place, including more than a year on Bainbridge Island. The book is based on retreat journals and poetry, interlaced with post-retreat reflections. The writing has been called “lyrical” and “eloquent,” and moves between the practical, the emotional, and the spiritual. This contemplative journey in solitude, like any of this length, was filled with interior challenges and insights. Also central to her story are encounters with nature, often sublime, sometimes startling, such as meetings with bears and one cougar.

Before retreat, Diane worked as a journalist and a teacher, and later ran a humanitarian non-profit, including guiding trips to Tibet and India. After life-long travels around the globe, this interior voyage of retreat was, for Diane, the ultimate adventure, while an expansion of her spiritual path toward compassion and wisdom. She has now returned to ordinary life, bringing stories from her unique interior journey out to the world.

About Steve Wilhelm:  Steve Wilhelm is a long-practicing Buddhist in the Tibetan and Vipassana traditions.  Before retiring in 2016, he devoted 34 years to journalism, covering stories related to international trade and aerospace for Puget Sound Business Journal.  Since retirement he has pursued his current passion, editing Buddhist works.  He has edited five Buddhist books and is the editor of Northwest Dharma News, an online publication that covers Buddhist news and events in the Pacific Northwest and Western Canada. Steve is a certified teacher of meditation and Buddhism through Spirit Rock, and teaches at the Eastside Insight Meditation Group.  He has completed extended retreats, and made numerous pilgrimages to Asia.

Join us as Diane and Steve delve into Diane’s extraordinary journey and discuss the Buddhist traditions that guided her. The evening will be fascinating, thought provoking and uplifting. RSVP now to ensure your place at this event.

Small Boat, Vast Ocean is available for sale now at our store or via our website.  Copies will be available for sale and signing at the event.