Laura and Jade

Bowlful

Zen adapts

A 1,500 year old Buddhist Monastery, on a remote mountain top in the middle of China, has flung open it's doors to modern society. They have satellite internet ..a web site ..cell phones ..and the Abbot often leaves the meditation hall to attend board meetings in Hollywood California. The monks are even getting MBA’s and learning telecommunications. Have they gone commercial ..? I think not, for me they are an example of how Buddhism adapts to changes in society. A Buddhist revival in China is creating big demand for their services ..and Hollywood studios are anxious to tell their story. It is a Buddhist tradition to accept change ~ and be part of the global community.

You can see them online at Shaolin Temple.

Death by drug arrest

We put hundreds of people to death every year in the US for violating drug laws ..they become victims of prison violence ..dying at the hands of gang members and murderers. In addition, criminal prosecution ruins lives and careers ..which often leads to destitution and suicide. Now, the number of people being killed during police raids is going up ..thanks largely to new property-forfeiture laws and ambitious government officials. In Malibu California, a small army of police smashed into the home of an innocent ranch owner ..and shot him to death when he ran in panic. Drug laws distort law enforcement priorities ..instead of chasing violent criminals, police target ordinary citizens ..and fill our prisons with people who do not belong there. Isn't there a more realistic and sophisticated approach to drug use other than criminalization ..

This was part of a long-winded comment I made to Keshi ..regarding the execution of a 25-year-old Australian in Singapore. You can see her blog at Viva forever .

Lab incident

Someone left an anonymous voice-mail with a big-shot college official saying that they saw somebody from tech support yelling at students. They did not say who it was or anything. Tech support learned about it today when their department chair sent an email around. Now, I've never heard anybody yelling in the lab ..it's actually a peaceful place ..so, who knows what really went down. The attention seems to be on Silvy tho ..he’s a big guy with a commanding presence ..and a booming voice. I think he's a colorful character ..I often see him joking around with students. He’s from New York City, where ..if you’re not yelling at someone ..your not expressing an interest in them. From that perspective ..yelling is a good thing. In any event, I think it shows how an incident can look much different to people on the outside.

At home

at home on earth
land and sea
on a mountain peak
tent wide open
senses clear
a deep breath
no separation here

Wayward child

Most people agree that the moon is the celestial child of Mother Earth ..but, isn't anyone worried that someday it’s going to leave her side and try to make it on it's own in the universe ? ..like a wandering planetoid on the rough streets of the milky way ?

Higher education

When I was in college ..I regarded learning as it’s own reward. I felt like an explorer with a big curiosity to fill. I loved books ..ideas ..theories ..arguments and discoveries. I know that this sounds like a lot of sentimentalist bullshit – most students I talk to today consider higher education a distasteful digression on the way to landing a job making big bucks. Well, you know ..fortunes come and go ..but a resilient mind doesn’t crumble ..it adapts. College is not just a trade school ..it’s a place where you learn how to actively explore ..be receptive and continually refresh your mind. I find these things more valuable than any job skill I ever learned. Society and technology change too fast ..there’s not many jobs skills worth hanging on to.

Day before Thanksgiving

I wake up feeling absolutely no sense of urgency ..I go downstairs ..eat breakfast and chat online with my sister Nancy. There’s an ‘onshore flow’ which means cool and breezy conditions by the water ..so, I go to the computer lab ..and see if I can get caught up ..but end up sitting and talking to John instead. Afterwards, I go to the gym ..not to exercise ..but to sit outside ..eat lunch and watch the tennis players ..which was fortunate because otherwise, I wouldn't have run into Michelle ..with whom I used to work. She tells me what’s been happening ..without a single word of complaint ..which is remarkable because I don’t often hear people talk about work without complaining. She tells me that Sandra Williams is now head of operations ..and Eric Jackson oversees software development. I’m glad to hear it. Eric was my neighbor when I moved to town in 1990 –living down by the harbour. Back then he was a college student wondering what to do with his life..

Water rat

The ocean gives me vitality ..makes me feel high for the rest of the day ..like I'm on opium. The shock of cold water awakens my body ..sends a rush of blood to my head .. and awakens my mind. It surrounds me ~ moves me ~ takes away the pain of walking upright ~ and the pressure of holding myself together. Out here, there is no gap between what I expect and what happens ~ just water molecules in motion ~ or what Buddhists call ~ flowing cohesion.

Infinite summer

Ahhhh, it feels like ‘Tucson by the sea’ ..this is the real summer season in Santa Barbara ..I’ve been in the water almost every day. There’s a local condition known as an ‘offshore flow’ where hot air blows down from the mountains ..pushing cold ‘marine air’ out to sea. It makes the beach feel like the desert. I did some exploring. It turns out that the offshore flow is part of a larger weather system that moves in a circle ..if there’s an off-shore flow here – it means there’s an on-shore flow somewhere else. Sure enough, I watched a giant fogbank move out to sea this morning ..travel up the coast ..then loop back on shore further north ..around Hollister Ranch ..where I sat on a cliff and watched it roll over me this afternoon.

Indian summer

Mi Ahijada

While I was married, my wife Laura and I would travel to Mexico and visit her family. On one of these trips, we baptized her niece Karla, the daughter of her sister Evelyn –becoming the child’s Godparents. In Mexico, that makes you the adoptive parents in case anything happens. Karla was six years old then. Laura and I split up four years ago ..and we haven’t seen each other since. Well, that changed last Friday while I was walking home from the market. A gray truck pulls up with a little girl waving at me from the passenger window. I walk over to see if they needed any help when I realize that Laura is driving and the little girl is Karla – mi Ahijada! Her mother Evelyn was killed in an auto accident ..and no one knows much about the father. Karla wanted to see her Padrino (Godfather). We hugged and kissed. I was in shock. Their story brought me to tears. Karla now lives with Laura in Ventura, California. Her 12th birthday is three days away and I’m wondering what to get her.

Walking path

I used to go to the Zen center before they moved away. Sometimes they would lead us in 'walking meditation' where we would walk mindfully through the hall ..stopping at the statues of various bodhisattvas, like Kanzeon and Manjusri ..and bowing out of respect for their teachings. Now I practice walking meditation on a path that starts behind my house. Part of it passes through a botanical garden where I’ve learned the names of some of the trees growing along the side. So now, I stop and pay hommage to things like the Chinese bamboo ..the Hollyleaf Cherry ..the Mountain Ebony ..the Himalayan Indigo ..a giant succulent ..and all of it's children and grandchildren growing wild on either side. I mean, what would my walking path be without them.

Tech support

I decided to collaborate with John on my BIG computer project. The thing is, he doesn’t know he’s collaborating ..in fact, I don’t think he would agree to it if I asked him outright. So, I tricked him by asking for his advice ..and drawing him in slowly. Now he’s captivated. For John, that comes natural ..he’s tech support. I‘ll drop by the lab next week and see if he's finished .

Small feats

I'm learning by example from our country’s leaders. They just got back from a two-day summit in Latin America ..without reaching an agreement. They're calling it an accomplishment. From now on, when I look back on my day and see that all I did was chat ..I'm going to consider that an accomplishment too. Don't get me wrong ..I'm not implying anything about our leaders ..I think communication is a good thing.

Big picture

A neuroscientist named Allison Sekular reports that young people are quicker than older people at making detail discriminations ..but that older people are better at seeing the big picture ..and recognizing patterns. I can relate to that. I can usually tell when surfing conditions are improving by the direction of the wind ..the color of the ocean ..and the flight pattern of the birds. Younger people, on the other hand, sense surfing conditions from rapid pressure changes underneath their board ..right before they get demolished by the wave.

Gina

Gina is from Malaysia ..she is studying Zoology ..specializing in birds of the coast. I asked her what she thought about the theory that birds evolved from dinosaurs. She said: “It’s a fact that birds evolved from dinosaurs – not just a theory”. Pelicans are the closest to dinosaurs “predators of the sea” she called them. Hey, no quarrels from me ..I’ve seen them hunt. “They look pretty efficient” I commented. “Oh yeah” she said, “They communicate telepathically ..that’s why they can take off and fly in such tight formations.” OK ..I was afraid to ask whether that was a fact or a theory. She told me a lot of other things about birds. Let’s see, raptors became hawks ..the black birds I see on the shore all the time are called “cormorants”. She said they’re so smart that they can count ..I forgot to ask what. Pelicans fly in formation by drafting like cyclists ..the ones in front produce an updraft that allows the ones in back to float ..the leaders will eventually peel off and take their turn in back to rest.

Indian summer v.4

I wake up ..drink some coffee ..chat online with my sister Nancy ..then rush out the door. I put the top down ..zip through town ..turn up the Stones ..drown out the voices ..and check out the shore ~ I watch waves crash on the beach ..feel wet sand on the soles of my feet ..and take a running leap ..reawakening in the ocean. I ride a few in ..swim past the impact ..slow down and breath ..and just float for a while. I see pelicans dive-bomb for fish ..there’s even a family of seals out here today. They must have just moved in ..they weren’t out here yesterday.

Halloween

My neighbor Dez is a singer in a Goth rock band. He's very popular ..performs at all the Oz fest concerts. At home though, he is a family man ..with a wife and two kids ..they’re the sweetest neighbors. This is the first Halloween that I've been home since they moved in. Turns out Halloween is the biggest holiday of the year for them ..kind of like Christmas. They put up outdoor lights ..make you walk through a cemetery with tombstones and great big ghoulish-looking pumpkins. When you get to the porch, holographic ghosts whirl around ..projected on vapor ..and reeeal strange noises come from inside – muhwahahahahahaha.

Repose

Oh wow, deck time ..it’s been awhile. Feels good ..I got my laptop ..I'm listening to Patrick O’Hearn ..and I'm sipping Jamaican rum ..facilitates the writing process. Another weekly cycle is complete ..and I’m restoring myself for the next one. There are other cycles out there as well ..I'm not travelling in a straight line. Seasons come in cycles ..the tide comes in cycles ..waves hit the beach in cycles ..and nerve impulses reach my brain in cycles. I recently added more cycles by enrolling in college courses. Now I have classroom cycles ..and a lot of little ‘computer lab’ cycles in inside of those. They’re starting to interfere with my journal writing and sleep-wake cycle.

Licorice buzz

I’ve discovered a new taste sensation ..black licorice and chocolate. Trader Joe sells gooey licorice from Australia ..along with chocolate butter biscuits. I recently put the two together and went orbital. This is an entirely new level of decadence. It's given me an idea for a new product. What I want to do is put a smidgen of chocolate and crunchy biscuit inside the licorice. Now, I know there's a lot of licorice candy already out there ..so what I’m thinking of doing is adding a pinch of hashish from Afghanistan .. the taste alone gives you a buzz ..combine that with the sugar high you get ..and I bet you I'll make a million bucks ..I’ll call them tar balls ..they’ll help rebuild Afghanistan's economy.

Booted

It’s 3:00 AM and I’m wide-awake ..someone actually threw me out of my dream ..and I’m pissed. Doesn’t look like I’ll be getting back to sleep anytime soon ..feel too unsettled. So, I lay here and wonder what it means ..unresolved conflict ? Fear of banishment ? A sense of urgency ? Foreboding ? Torment by some inner demon ? Imbalance in the flow of my qi ? Sugar kicking-in from the starchy white rice I had with Japanese dinner ? I wonder if there is any sake left ?

Chainsaw

A man with a chainsaw woke me up this morning ..he wasn’t actually standing by my bed ..he was pounding on the door ..and I answered it before I was awake. The people in my dream hadn’t disappeared yet ..and I wasn’t sure who he was. I asked if he wanted my wallet or my limbs ..he said my car ..and I said, what? and then ..oh yeah ..you’re from the tree service ..I’ll go move my car ..just need a moment for this dream to end.

Noodles

Instant Raman noodles are becoming a bigger part of my diet ..sometimes they’re dinner. I’m talking about the kind that comes in a disposable cup. It starts out as a clump. I add boiling water and suck them up. Should I be worried ..? They’re replacing my diet of rice and beans from Taco Bell.