Autobiography of a Boo Boo

A Mini-Memoir of Spiritual Adventures

Links on this page lead to blog posts from 2007. They’re an attempt to make sense of the decades I’ve spent pursuing meditation and The Big Questions of Life. They touch on experiences with childhood ponderings, academic and personal philosophizing, psychedelic trips, and traditions in the spiritual sub-culture, including the “Siddha Yoga/SYDA” organization founded by Swami Muktananda (which I followed 1979-84), and the Korean-style “Kwan Um School of Zen” founded by Zen Master Seung Sahn, aka Dae Soen Sa Nim (with which I’ve been involved 1988-present). I focus on what’s led to my continuing fascination with Zen, particularly how I was stunned by my first retreat with this school.

As a preface to the memoir, this post summarizes the Zen practice I do currently:

·      Practice

Here are the chapters of the memoir itself, which I’ve collectively entitled “Autobiography of a Boo Boo.”

·      1: Something (Rather Than Nothing)

·      2: India

·      3: Zen Master

·      4: Finger in Socket

·      5: Sitting

·      6: Smile

·      7: Like Space

·      8: Buddhism

·      9: Why?

·      10: Epilogue (Up to Your Ass in Analogies)