Or give me that old time faux-Buddhism!
To pick up the tale of my cross-country trip in 1974 which is recounted in my post titled Picking up Hitchhikers — Picaresque Adventures in the US, I got to Seattle and spent some time with childhood friends. I then hitchhiked to Portland to see my cousin Melodie and my Aunt and Uncle. While somewhere in Washington State and standing along the road trying to get a lift, I noticed that someone had written on a road sign, ‘Carla and Laurie will ball any foxy looking dudes’. This appeared to be written by a woman and I pondered who Carla and Laurie were and whether I fell into the category of ‘A foxy looking dude’ or not. Well, one has to while away one’s time as best as one’s imagination will allow! From Portland I took the Greyhound bus to Monterrey CA to see what was left of Cannery Row (Steinbeck y’all).
My goal at this point was the Tassajara Zen Center, which is located in the coast range above Monterrey. At that time there had been a lot of interest among impressionable American youths such as myself in Oriental philosophy which had been popularized in the youth counter-culture — initially by the Beats, then by the Hippies, and, I suppose, most of all by The Beatles during their most intellectually addled period hanging out with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and Mia Farrow in India. I read every major book of eastern religions I could lay my…
