On Enlightenment - Part II

Meditation. Panic. Raindrops. Nabokov. A four-part series, 12/3/2024 - 12/6/2024.

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The most powerful Zen book on meditation I ever bought was the first one. I have scores of them now. They are gathered together near a Zen coffee cup with some very special sand in it I gathered from a beach near the house. I’ve also assembled some incense hardware and the free candles that came with a dusty black meditation mat. Beautiful things are surrounded by nonsense everywhere you look, and the Zen bookshelf temple and library on my office shelf is no exception.

My Zen Buddhism books have enigmatic thoughts and tantalizing descriptions of enlightenment experiences. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have brought them home. They are the spiritual equivalent of one-night stands and two-week flame-out romances. Every new book is magical for a brief season and then exhausted. I’m a spiritual playa. That’s not a Hindu word.

I have fancy Tibetan, Japanese, Vietnamese and Korean people. I have enlightened guys in Minneapolis (?!) monasteries and women Buddhas…