 |
 |
|||||||
|
|
 |
|||||||
|
Snowboarding to Nirvana
See more at:
In the "Zen and the Art |
Magical EncountersA Rama student who was teaching meditation classes was starting a new job that involved a commute via train. The first day of the job, the student balanced a coffee, bagel and Wall Street Journal on the train platform waiting for what locals jokingly called the silver dragon from the north to appear. The student noticed a young man sitting on the platform avidly lost in a paperback book. He looked athletic and tanned, had a tattoo on one leg and seemed like a perfect profile for a snowboarder. "I really should pay attention to what young people are into these days. It might help my teaching efforts," thought the student and quietly began to angle over to get a better view of what book could possibly be holding the young man's attention with such energy. The student was unable to get a clear view of the cover, but through some eye-squinting could make out the title of the chapter the young man was just starting: "Zen and the Art of Snowboarding", a title of a chapter in Dr. Lenz's novel "Snowboarding to Nirvana." "No way!" laughed the student. "Here I am trying to figure out what appeals to young people so I can better relate to them, and here this guy is reading the very book I would most want to share!" The student watched the young man reading the book even as he walked onto the train. The student did not dare interrupt what was obviously an interchange between the young man and Dr. Lenz, as the student could clearly see light working with the young man's mind as he focused on the book. However, a month later, the student was again on the train platform, and the young man sat down right next to the student. This time the student started a conversation by turning to the young man and saying, "So, how did you like the book?" "Excuse me," said the young man, "I think you have the wrong person." "No, I think I have the right person," said the student firmly. "I saw you reading 'Snowboarding to Nirvana' last month. How did you like it?" "Oh, man!" exclaimed the young man, breaking into a smile. "That book was wonderful. I can't even describe how much it helped me!" And so they talked, some about snowboarding, some about the book, some about meditation. And the student mentioned about studying with Dr. Lenz for several years. "You know him?" asked the young man. He was sad to find out Dr. Lenz had died. "Man, I was wanting to write him a letter to tell him how much his books meant to me." "If you liked the books, you might want to check out the music," suggested the student. "There's music? That I can buy in a store?" demanded the young man. And the student gave him some titles of Zazen commercial albums. The train came, and they boarded separate cars. A few weeks later, again they sat next to each other on the platform. The student spoke about something in the news and deliberately kept the conversation away from Dr. Lenz or the books. "If he wants to bring it up, this time it's on him to do it," thought the student. "I'm not trying to pester him." After a silence, the young man asked very gently if it was ok to ask some questions about meditation. And then a whole bunch of questions spilled out of him, and this time they entered the train in the same car and sat next to each other and talked about Dr. Lenz and meditation and the book all the way to their destination. "I can't believe I would actually get to meet someone who knew him," said the young man. And the student thought, "I can't believe I'm talking to someone who is so interested!" Out loud the student said, "This seems like something we would call a set-up, where Eternity set something up in a magical way." In the "Zen and the Art of Snowboarding" chapter the young man had originally been seen reading, Master Fwap explains to the young snowboarder, "In Zen Buddhist philosophy, all of life is considered to be holy. It is the Zen belief that all individual manifestations of life are interconnected by invisible lines of energy. These lines of energy intimately connect everything in the universe to everything else, in and through astral and causal dimensions." (pp. 15-16) "Look, I know you have to go to work, but I can schedule some time with you? I really want to learn how to meditate," said the young man. The student laughed, "Sure, I can become a Buddhist monk who does house-calls!" They traded phone numbers and arranged a time for the student to come give the young man a meditation lesson.
|
|||||||
|
|
||||||||
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
