Again as Ecodharma

Jonathan Skinner’s essay concentrates on Kyger’s writing from the 1980s and 1990s and its reflection of and connection with Buddhism as it relates to concepts of ecopoetics, ecocritical studies of poetry of place, and ecodharma, use of Buddhist teachings in relation to ecological concerns. Skinner describes the Buddhist implications in Kyger’s work as a form of “continual conscious compassion,” achieved through cultivating non-attachment and the Buddhist doctrine of pratītya samutpāda, or karmic interdependence with other sentient and non-sentient beings. Skinner examines Kyger’s poems and journal writings, as well as her tenure as editor of the Bolinas local newspaper, the Hearsay News.