Here's another one of the shots I took of the Zen(?) monk in front of the Zen Mall. I originally didn't use this one because it's kind of blurry. It's the first of five shots I took and I was rushing to get it, hence the blurriness. But in retrospect this one shows the monk better.I've been scratching my head over one of the comments regarding the previous post. It says, "I guess Brad does not know his Buddhist monks. Funny for a guy who says he was trained as a Buddhist monk in Japan. Oh, sure, clothes and sects are not important at all, but makes you wonder what else he doesn't know."
This was in response to my calling the monk in the photo a Zen monk. Actually I don't know if he's a Zen monk. He could be Jodo-shu. He could even be Nichiren-shu for all I know. I'm not sure what those guys wear. Though he looks Zennish to me. He is definitely a Buddhist monk or some sort. Or somebody who wants to look like one. And it's certainly funnier if he's a Zen monk at the Zen Mall. So I went for the joke.
I'm not sure what the purpose of comments like this is. I imagine the writer intends to cast doubts upon my veracity as a monk or as a teacher or some such thing. But why bother? I suppose I'll never understand this kind of behavior. Who are these people? Do they have some kind of agenda? Are they fans of Genpo Roshi or something? Anyhow, the comments section is still free to all who wish to use it. So there ya go.
My friend Regina in Frankfurt, Germany sent me an email that said, "Isn't it a wonderful discussion on your blog? You gathered a nice community together." I think generally that's the case, especially recently. I've been trying to encourage that trend a little by commenting in there myself now and then. But I rarely have time to read the whole discussion. This in itself is nice; that there's so much there I can't keep up with it.
I've been thinking about the life I've been leading for the last several months, and how much I like it. I gave up my apartment in Santa Monica as of March 1, 2010 and have been living in other people's houses, apartments and squats ever since. Initially this was supposed to be a transitional phase with the idea that I'd find somewhere and settle there at some point. But now I'm wondering when that will be or even if it's strictly necessary.
My current plans have me staying at my sister's house after which I will go to the Great Sky sesshin (there's still time to sign up, so do it!), after which I'll go to Tassajara and be a guest student, following which I'll be a guest teacher at Tassajara (ironic, huh?), following which I have some gigs in the San Francisco Bay area where I'll be staying with friends...
It just goes on and on and on.
Of course at some point I will have to stop being a leech on society. But for now this hobo existence is working out pretty well. Yet I'm still taking suggestions for places to settle. I've had a couple interesting ones that I've got to follow up on.
I wish I had some great Zen lesson to leave you with. But I don't. So instead I'll leave you with the trailer for Birdemic. The scene shown when the video is paused on YouTube doesn't give you even a hint of how awesomely insane the trailer is. It's not a sex film.
