Travels With Buddha 1.0

Travels With Buddha — -1.0 — -Eugene, Oregon, USA — — Disconnecting the Dots…or…My Escape From Sarcasm and Irony — — I still have a brown t-shirt that I bought long long ago when my Indian guru strongly suggested that I open my mind. Shrii Shrii A’nandamu’rti (P.R. Sarkar) taught me (through writings and intermediaries, circa 1978) to meditate on the idea that the most important spiritual practice of all was to think for yourself. To find truth (your own truth) he wrote, one needs to calm the body, look inward, quiet yourself from the suffering tumult of the outer world, breath deeply and open your mind. The result is independent thought and coincidently a glimpse of the great nothingness. I bought the t-shirt from a local printer. The t-shirt has a small image of the Buddha and the words “Begin Within.” So let’s begin there.

I have long thought that to achieve meaningful travel writing it was/is not necessary to travel. It is only necessary is to be present. Amazing things are happening in your own neighborhood, you just have to be able to see them. Travel writing is really about learning first how to see. (struggle with the writing part later) . And it is not about what you are seeing (landscapes, architecture, people) as much as it is about how you choose to see what you are seeing. A unique point of view is always more interesting than a new mountain or palace. More interesting to the reader is the story you shape with your point of view. Anyone can go to the mountains, the trick is to bring a special view of the mountains back with you, carried in your imagination. Then you have something to share. Anyhow that is my theory and as I am somewhat homebound this winter, this theory comes in handy. (Irony)

It has been a mild winter in Eugene, Oregon. Not especially cold, not especially wet and even with the sun low in the sky, the clouds have parted every so often and there is real warmth in the sunlight. I’ve had a difficult time writing in complete sentences. I’ve allowed politics to ruin my mood. The most significant thing to happen to me personally in the last month has involved a woman with a dog on a long spring leash. Her ear buds were booming as she walked along the river bike path and she did not hear my bicycle bell as I tried to pass her and her pet. No more details are required, imagination is enough to reward yourself with an image of the ensuing tangled crash, wailing dog, rumble of deep bass from detached earbuds, young womanly concern about the condition…of her dog…..(Sarcasm)

So I am home for a few months. My passport expires in July and I thought it was a good time to renew it now. I was wrong. There is a current US government shutdown which probably renders the word “Expedite” that I wrote (as instructed) on the envelope and the extra $85 I added to the fees mostly meaningless. So with no passport and not a lot of hope about getting one soon, I have to look around locally for diversion and entertainment.

Time to turn inward. What of interest might be rattling around in my mind/brain/soul/intellect? Surely it can’t be empty up there…(that would certainly be a Zen awakening)

As a child I was a lonely sort. Growing up on a Connecticut farm, my siblings all much older, I roamed the brookside, orchards, hay fields with two imaginary companions. They were twins, all together we made triplets. Digger and Doogy and me. When left to use the confines of my own imagination, unable to find any “real” companions, I have to say I was a pretty resourceful kid. I just made things up, including my friends.

I actually remember being pretty happy. So why shouldn’t it work again?

Enter Buddha. My imaginary traveling companion. We sit together, empty our minds, and begin to wander. Travel writing not limited by….well, travel.

You are welcome to join us….