I drifted from Toothache to San Francisco.

                                                  When was the last time you went grocery shopping?
 

Mind says, time to take a nap and body agrees. Ego says nope I do not have to take a nap now, not right now, I choose to be creative, enjoy doing what I enjoy doing and then after I really feel tired and sleepy, yes, not till then. Now i wish to allow my mind to ramble a bit, my crucial sadhana, my practice, my prayers and my meditation and share it worldwide; see if there are takers out there to join in this rambling about life, calling it, Zen and the Art of  Living. Off course you immediately ask , but what is Zen? You are caught!  Trapped! and form then onward you are on the Zen Train and you will learn as you go along with a genuine heart that really wants to know, What is Zen? It answers only to you and from you when you have arrived at self realization and it could happen right here right now! Wham it hits you and you are in la la land of spiritual bliss, with a dose of peace and harmony even it it were but for a few moments in time. This is Satori! This is the min-wake up calls one learn to install within if one is to maintain being fully functional as one age, this is the flash of lightning that enlighten the Universe: carpe diem! Seize the moment.

Zen is what happens not what had happen or what will happen. Zen is the art of effortlessness and with pure and genuine intention in being in the here and now, every movement is a form of meditation and this is also what is known as Wu Wei or inactive action, detached involvement or act with bare awareness... and so on that is in the Taoist teachings. Falling asleep is easy but waking up  and staying awake demands effort and how awake are you? How awake do you want to be, do you need to be? That pillow is calling me to the bed and I am still entertaining myself with these nonsense that I keep writing. Oh, Yeah! I admit I am enjoying it and tomorrow the Month of Ramadan Begins! Duh! A whole new dimension of Sadhana or practice happens! It is going to be a tough month like in the past and so I have to get myself in gear. Yes, nothing last forever and life goes no with or without you. A famous Zen saying that i like is, "Life is like a swing door, you push it in it swings in an out it swings out and if you stop, you are dead." Or something like that. You breath in, it swings in and you breath out it swings out and if you stop breathing game over. 

For as long as you can eat and fart, you know you are alive.

So Eat and taste it, Don't fart and waste it....a little Western Zen humor.

By the way I failed to share with you the fact that i am having a very bad tooth ache at this very moment when I am trying decide between taking a nap or keep on writing my post, yes, with a major toothache Zen or no Zen, I tell is a Bitch. On the other side of the coin, this what Zen Practice is, to me. It is awakening to one's innate potentials as a human being. Just about everyone you read today is trying to impart this age old advice to you and me. Some are more elaborate that others, however Zen is minimalism at its core - emptiness. Born into this world but not of it, the Way of Zen as i perceive it to be for me, is to seek and establish one's Dharma Position in this life - Who Am I? And thus the journey begins for you with this simple most primordial question as your companion hang from your neck. Zen in a nutshell is the embarking upon a sacred journey of self discovery even if one is told the self does not exist.

Right Understanding is the key to Zen Practice, I believe which leads to Right mindfulness and Right Meditation. One of my Zen Teachers, the late Dainin Katagiri Roshi whoe was the Abbot of the Minnesota Zen Community at the time asked me a question when we we had the one on one Teacher student interviews or Doan, he asked me," What is your original intention? {for practicing Zen}" and I replied, "To heal myself."  and he said, "Work on that." With the simple question and instruction he woke me up to a new level of looking at myself; I had a moment of Satori! A moment of silence and I believe my Zen spiritual practice became completely real for me...just another way of the way seeking mind, a white cloud in an empty blue sky...UNSUI, now here now gone, so is the nature of our thoughts. This is the steps we dance to do the boogie woogie to, this is the rhythm, the motion of each and every thought wave in the universe, you find yourself in an ocean of Peace or the Pacific Ocean, the ocean of Compassion and Unconditional Love for being who you are and towards others just as equally so. You sort of wake up to a reality that your mind has conceived throughout your life right from Day-1 till the D-Day. 

And the toothache just kicked in and a whole new dimension of pain is spread out from the nerve center  somewhere in the decayed tooth shooting searing pain to up and down my jaw brain into my brain. This is sometimes almost a sin to have to go through for any creature of God, this amount of physical torture the result of negligence is a form of sadistic torture for the young and old alike. The laws of karma sucks! Such Is! We can suffer life without becoming bitter, that was what my goof friend Dr. Peter OYimbo, a Chemist from Kenya  once said to me.  I told him what the Buddha had stated that life is suffering in His Four Noble Truths. Peter was the Chief Chemist at H and H Ship and Environmental Services where i was the Yard Superintendent for the Company. The Company was located at 220 China Basin, off 3rd. Street by the Shaughnessy Draw Bridge, across from Tik Tok Restaurant on 3rd. The longest job I ever held in my life was working for Hand H for six years. I lived my life in the San Francisco Bay Area for more than ten years and am proud to experience the Loma Prierta Earthquake of 1989. Yes the devil is in the details and I lost the trust and friendship through my bad performance of not making it to a farewell lunch that the Doctor had planned for us, he was leaving the company. On the same lunchtime I totally forgot and found myself had fallen asleep in the pickup truck under the overpass by the rail road tracks and next to the River. I fell asleep and lost a valuable friend...Good Bye Mr. Tibs as he was popularly known among my fellow Black Brothers working at 'The Pit'

I learned from a close friend an Iranian Lady who was the Doctor's  Lab Assistant who was like a sister to me that the Doctor thought I had betrayed him to his bosses, my bosses. It is sad but it was also meant to be as such for we had gained our mutual respects as professionals and colleagues beyond that there was nothing worth to be gained . Letting go is never easy but sometimes a necessity. So where ever you are Doctor  for the final time I say I am sorry to you and your beautiful wife. We shared some good moments . 

As of this morning, {3 am} the Fasting Month has begun, the Month of Ramadan is upon us.

Happy fasting to all Good Muslims around the World!