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Mmmmoooooowaaaaah…

Submitted entry: I went to a meditation meeting last night. It was…odd.

I got there a bit early - it turns out to be the house of a late 30s early 40s couple, Dennis and Tara. The house was much like our Ozarks house - sweet little cottage in that nice neighborhood near the co-op.

I hang out in the living room with Tara and Dennis and one of their three kitties. They Seem like fairly cool people.

Before long, Creek arrives. Creek belongs at the East Wind commune. Sweet hippie boy with wild hair and moustache. Just back from a year studying abroad in England and suffering from culture shock upon returning.

Then came Gregory, Gregory makes his money making jewelery and sort of reminds one of Donald Fagen meets Rick Moranis.

These folks are all Tibetan Buddhists - same lineage, as I said, of Pema Chodron, and their meditation is not what I’m used to. What I’m used to is following the breath - focusing on it and gently coming back to it when I forget and go away. This particular lineage is very much into visualizations. visualize this image, and chant over and over the same thing while counting prayer beads. I’m sure it is legitimate and all, and it was an interesting experience that I might well do again, but it was really odd.

At one point it occurred to me that it felt much like if there were such thing as pentecostal buddhists or something. With all due respect and all that, like I said - I tend to believe what they say way more than I believe what any Christian says. At the beginning of the chant, Tara started and it sounded just like Ellen DeGeneres talking to whales in “Finding Nemo”.

ANYway. We’re all sitting, everyone’s chanting, in a pentecostal way when the cats, upset at having had the cat door moved start banging on the outside metal door. FINALLY they figure out they can leap in the window and so one of them - a sweet black and white boy named Zebra walks to the middle of the floor and starts yelling at his mom for not making the door accessible and screeching about how humiliating it was.

Then in about thirty minutes, it was over. Poof.

We have a conversation about Rinzai-school zen. That’s the really severe one I went to in New York City. Tara had been raised a Catholic like me and I mention that they have something in common - they both have a big stick in the corner to hit you with.

Dennis brings out the TV and VCR, plugs in some speakers and a DVD of Prince (as in Purple Rain) Live is on, beers are offered (Only Dennis and Creek accepted) and then pizza arrives and we watch a buddhist documentary.

And then we all played Paper Mario and indoor mini golf.

Pisco Musk Flooas

The Game