A hundred blossoming white lotus flowers for you, a Buddha-to-be

I am writing this from the lobby of my hotel in La Jolla, California where I arrived last night. It’s a fancy hotel and at the end of the room there’s a grey-haired guy in a suit jacket with a hooked cane, staring out the picture window at the ocean.

In a few hours I will drive to the Deer Park Monastery in the hills over San Diego for an eight-day meditation retreat. It is a mainly silent retreat, and as a guest there I will be following the daily monastic schedule.

I’m a little bit nervous because I’ve only tried to meditate twice before and one of those times I started sweating and itching all over. But I’m looking forward to detangling my head.

On the flight here I read a few books about Buddhism and I was surprised by how obvious it all seemed. I grew up believing a lot of the things Buddhism seems to espouse (e.g. the interconnectedness of all things), maybe in part because of early exposure to Douglas Adams books.

Anyway, I may break into hives and run screaming after the first day, or I may achieve total consciousness and come back radiating Dharma like a mofo. Either way, I’ll be completely incommunicado for the next 10 days, so don’t expect to hear from me till the 9th!

And happy new year!