Monthly Archives: August 2010

Daily Life, Out and About, Teachings

Stop Means STOP!

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Travelin’ with Napa Cabbage

One last look over my shoulder at the past weeks. In particular a second look at the driving i.e. the hours of life in the car, alone. I don’t think I would have even attempted to make the journeys I have without the GPS navigation device (in Europe we call them SatNav’s for short). So a grand round of applause to that little friend I have had with me telling me such details as which lane to be in to how many miles until the next turn. I may have mentioned the corker announcement. Drive three….hundred…and….six….miles! That came early on during the trip from Sandpoint ID to Seattle WA. The voice from the machine becomes so familiar, and she became so much my friend and traveling companion, that I did at times come up with responses. In my head. The 306 miles announcement had me responding, Well! I’ll certainly be taking a break!

The voice carries an assuring authority which for the most part I obeyed. The one time I didn’t, on the way to Pine Mountain Temple, I had a happy hour or so cruising through the rural byways of the Central Valley of California. Was that cotton I saw growing? And olives, or some kind of nut?

Now. Out there in the middle of nowhere on a hot and dusty junction. Not a being in sight, no shade from a tree and definitely no bushes, there will come a STOP sign. In America, stop really does mean STOP. No rolling stops as they are called. You have to come to a recognizable dead halt no matter how obvious there is no traffic. And there will be no traffic for hours probably! Somebody once said to me, in fun, you never know if there is a cop hiding behind a bush waiting to book you if you do a rolling stop. So I always stop even when there’s no possibility of that sneaky policeman hovering behind a telephone pole waiting to pounce. We Buddhist keep the rules of the road. Period.

And so it is in daily life. Nothing we do is hidden. There are obviously no Precepts police to keep us in order but we cannot hide anything from ourselves. That’s no matter how much we might justify, or want to justify, our small and not so small transgressions. And as time goes on even as the hand reaches for the cookie jar, so to speak, one knows and stops because taking what is not given is taking stuff. And really that amounts to taking from oneself. There are however judgment calls we have to make be they while on the road or when going about ones day. However, wow betide the one who allows delusion to come to the aid of desire. The way it happens is that over time the small self-justified steps lead to bigger and bigger self-justified (delusional) ones and eventually STOP looses it’s meaning. Stop really does mean stop . Those Stop road signs in America have a real and deep meaning don’t they.

Wondering about the Napa Cabbage? On my last trip I happened to have this bundle of leaves with me and I can heartily recommend them as an easy and refreshing snack while driving. An excellent traveling companion…to eat!

Teachings

Face The Sun

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A reader asked for a Bodhi Leaf pin for a friend who is suffering. The person loves nature. I wrote a brief note to go with the pin and thought I would share it here. Partly as an avenue to offer merit and partly because the advice stands for all of us.

Nature turns its’ face to the sun and that’s what we must do. In our tradition we encourage people to ‘look up’. That never fails to make a difference. Literally, to look up to the sky, the tops of trees and the tops of houses throughout the day helps to lift ones mind and heart.

For all those who find themselves in extremity.

Out and About

Horse In Hand

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Sometimes with company, mostly alone and not on foot!

Yesterday, driving from Santa Cruz up past San Francisco and the East Bay to Meadow Vista above Sacramento I began to feel like the whole world is surfaced with tarmac (black top). There’s an incredibly complex system of freeways in this area of California where, at the very least, the freeways have three lanes, that makes six each way and a maximum of six lanes, adding up to a massive twelve lanes each way. Which all adds up to a lot of black ribbons snaking across the landscape.

And I drove and I drove, at around 70 mph, with cars side by side and one behind the other all driving at around 70 mph, or faster. When the traffic reporter says, the traffic is moving freely, this is what they mean! When it isn’t moving freely that’s when I am extra careful, and nervous. There is then much speeding and slowing down, cars switching lanes playing the odds on which lane will move next, and fastest. The danger of getting rear ended is huge, and the risk of not stopping quickly enough and running into the car ahead is ever present. Freeway driving for hours on end is a mental and physical work out. Tomorrow will probably be the last freeway trip I’ll be making on this journey.

Hope you like the photograph. It reminds me of happy times spent with Venus the horse at Pine Mountain Temple. I have known a lot of horses and ponies through my life. I find them exceptional communicators, mind to mind. And Venus was sweetly vocal with her whinny too. Heavenly horses.

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Ongoing Dad Care

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Just want to draw your attention to a long comment left on this post by Angie.

Out and About

Surf’s Down

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Sadly it was late evening before I managed to get away from the phone and computer. Some days a just like that. When I finally emerged from the house and started walking along the ‘front’ as we call it there was a barking and a whining coming out of the gloom off shore. The seals habitually lounge on a rock just off the point on West Cliff Drive. You can see where that is on the map. When I reached Lighthouse Field State Beach surfer were pealing off their wet suits on the sidewalk (pavement). About a dozen hopefuls were still bobbing around below but there was hardly any swell at all. When the surf is up one gets a grandstand view of Steamer Lane beside Lighthouse Field Beach. If you think surf and Santa Cruz that’s the place to go gorp!

Whether one is in the water or a dedicated watcher I can see how very compelling this surfing business can be. As I walked along West Cliff Drive last evening there was a certain thrum of anticipation that’s infectious. I catch it every time I find myself in Santa Cruz, which isn’t that often. Clearly people can live their lives centered around the state of the waves, wind speeds etc.

One could live for worse, I guess. And….The means of training are thousand fold but pure Zazen must be done. Zen Master Dogen – Rules For Meditation. In other words surfin’ sitting OK, AND sitting sitting is essential.