Why do waves go so well with Buddhism? There's something about sex, sand, and suffering -- which one meets with while reading The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy on the beach. But becoming a greater surfer has much more to do with wu wei (the ease of effortless flow), wushu (martial arts), and applying Taoist principles like yin and yang to Zen (jhana) Buddhist practice, which involves mindful in-the-moment awareness and radical acceptance of what is.
Southland facing a triple threat of heat, humidity, and high surf
Temperatures topping 100 inland raise fire risk
Rong-Gong Lin II (July 21, 2026, Los Angeles); Eds., Wisdom Quarterly
Southern California will face a triple threat this week of dangerous heat, muggy weather and, along the coast, hazardous high waves. It may be better for surfing, but it will be risky for all beachgoers who get near the water.
"We're looking at an at least several days -- if not longer -- heat event, which can really be concerning," said meteorologist Robbie Munroe of the National Weather Service's Oxnard office. Hollywood may catch fire on the Sunset Strip from all the tourists dripping sunblock.
Officials warned of elevated fire danger across large swaths of SoCal starting Tuesday, with a high risk of fast-moving and "plume dominated" fires driven by heat and instability. Such blazes have large vertical growth and can spread rapidly even when not driven by the wind. More: latimes.com
Wisdom Quarterly's new book on going with the flow while out to sea among brutal sharks, cancerous sun, chapping wind, and rich territorial surf punks suffering from localism and getting into fights about it.
Why do waves go so well with Buddhist practice? There's something about "sex, sand, and suffering" -- which one meets with while reading The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy safely on the beach. But it has much more to do with wu wei, wushu, and applying Taoist principles to Zen practice.
For instance, when out on a wave about to ride, instead of "doing," try "allowing." Go with the flow. Rather than interfering or trying to cut against the grain, embody radical acceptance of what is and ride it out. That's what Wisdom Quarterly's resident Meditation Teacher Seven says is a far better approach than struggling to dominate.
Let the waves dominate so that the only thing to do is allow, allow, allow. Then in this allowing, suddenly it becomes effortless and intuitive, perfectly obvious and impossible to explain with words.
People do sometimes try to express it in words, but it all becomes a jumble of oohs and ahhs like surf slang or Himalayan shoestring spiritual seekers on ayahuasca down in the jungles of the Amazon with shamans Michael Harner.
As a graduate student in the 1950s, Michael Harner undertook field research on the culture of the Jívaro (Shuar)Natives of the Amazon in Ecuador [5] as he began to pursue a career as an ethnologist. His UC Berkeley doctoral dissertation (1963) became the basis for his book, The Jívaro: People of the Sacred Waterfalls[6]. In 1960-1961 he reported that he became a participant-observer by experimenting with the powerful plant medicineayahuascawith the Conibo of the Peruvian Amazon [5]. He wrote about in the articles "The Sound of Rushing Water" (1968)[7] and "The Role of Hallucinogenic Plants in European Witchcraft" (1973)[8]. Dr. Harner, Ph.D. returned to the Native Jívaro in 1964, 1969, and 1973, at which time he learned the use of the psychoactiveentheogenmaikua (Daturabrugmansia, jimsonweed) [5]. More
There's a similar feeling to be had by skateboarding or hang gliding, BASE jumping or surviving the pit (slam dancing to a favorite song at a concert). Surfing seems very safe by comparison. It all becomes instinctive and beyond thinking. It's a good place to be just for that moment, rising above the turmoil of the mind or diving into the silence of the heart. Rumi would understand. The historical Buddha pointed out the detailed Path to it.
I'dunno, Bro, looks pretty gnarly. Let's just tan.
Surfing is a surface water sport in which an individual surfer (or two) uses a carefully modified wood, fiberglass, or polyurethane board to "ride" on the face, the forward section, of a swelling wave of water. This swell usually carries said surfer toward shore or to a watery death by drowning for not respecting Mother Nature enough. Waves suitable for surfing are primarily found on ocean shores. But they can also be found as standing waves in the open ocean, artificial simulators, lakes, rivers in the form of a tidal bore, or wave pools (and also in a physics experiment when a tide pool is sent back to sea). More
Surf Spots - California Beaches: The Wedge? That's Newport Beach. LA's Palos Verdes Peninsula isn’t known for its surfing outside of local circles, and there is a sad reason for that. It’s called “localism.” The area has a severe case of the disease. Located between Los Angeles and Long Beach, and possessing some excellent breaks, one would think this place would be much better known. Locals know all about surf spots like Palos Verdes Cove (near the crumbling peninsula called Palos Verdes Estates), Lunada Bay, Haggertys at Malaga Cove, among others.
A few weeks ago, LA and OC beaches were being subjected to king tides, riptides, with dangerous surfing conditions for experts only. The cause this time seems to be a tropical storm elsewhere disrupting the height and frequency of waves. Surfers may love it as they avoid great white sharks, but others will find it hard to take a dip or swim. Localism is, of course, a greater danger as human sharks with a sense of entitlement circle strangers and drive them out. Expect swells, tubular conditions at The Wedge and elsewhere. Warning: Water may be a little contaminated due to crumbling infrastructure. Sharks are a tiny worry compared to the microscopic contaminants and plastic particle debris. Enjoy.
Dhr. Seven, Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Jennifer B., Seth Auberon, CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
Samsara is the endless swirling and cycling through the Ocean or Wheel of Rebirth and Suffering, which inundates us with various floods (ogha, a name for the four cankers).
The Vipassanā (Insight Meditation) organization of S.N. Goenka released a short, animated cartoon on YouTube, created around a story that Goenka tells during a discourse on his famous free 10-day silent Buddhist meditation retreats.
Whether one hears this story during a 10-day course or through this video, it is easy to get drawn in. Goenka-jii is a very engaging storyteller, and we can sense his audience of intensive meditators is with him when we hear them laughing along.
The narrative is simple enough: a learned professor traveling by ship provides daily lectures, which are attended by an old sailor. One day, after his talk, the professor asks if the sailor has studied geology. The sailor replies in the negative. The professor informs him that he has wasted one quarter of his life.
After his talks on the subsequent two days, he inquires about the sailor’s knowledge of “oceanology” (oceanography) and meteorology. With each negative response, the professor tells the old man he has wasted a quarter of his life, now up to three-quarters in total, because he hasn’t studied the science of the earth he lives on, the sea he sails on, or the weather around him.
The old sailor is in awe of the professor’s knowledge and erudition. He takes the criticism to heart, each time drooping his shoulders and feeling sorry for himself.
The next day the old sailor rushes in and asks the professor if he has every studied “swimology.”
The professor gruffly tells him he’s never even heard of it. The old sailor asks more simply: “Can you swim, sir?”
When the professor regrets to admit that he can't, the old sailor informs him that in that case, he has wasted his whole life, because the ship is sinking. Only those who can swim to shore will survive.
What to make of the story? Someone watching the animated version without benefit of having taken a 10-day insight meditation course may misunderstand it as merely a humorous anecdote, told for laughs.
But others hearing it in context may understand. In the context of a Buddhist meditation retreat can begin to see its underlying message.
It becomes clear: The story highlights the value of what Goenka often refers to as “the practical aspect of Dhamma,” the Buddha's Dharma or Doctrine (Training).
It is inspiration to practice Dhamma seriously and starting today, not tomorrow when troubles are upon us.
There are likely many lessons to take from the story. We can apply it to the role of practice in daily life.
For some, it emphasizes the importance of time on the meditation cushion actually putting into practice what the Buddha taught over intellectual learning and academic pursuits, while for others it illustrates the importance of practicing Dhamma over everything else in life.
In either case, the story reinforces motivation in Goenka’s mission that prioritizes formal meditation practice.
This focus is not Goenka’s perspective, nor is it only Theravada training and the lineage. It is the Buddha's key message.
We can count other people's cows or mind our own. What makes a better shepherd?
Interest in Buddhist insight meditation in the U.S. from the 1960s onwards, particularly the ancient Theravada tradition in Burma (Myanmar) and Thailand (Siam) is growing among Western students, who were mostly young hippies and are now seasoned practitioners.
The focus was largely on on-the-cushion meditative calm and insight. So Goenka is in good company to emphasize sitting practice. The precious Dhamma, the Buddha's Teaching preserved in the Pali language canon, that Goenka brought to the world has been one of the greatest catalysts for the spread of beneficial practice in non-Buddhist countries by non-Buddhists.
Buddhism may not even be a religion (depending on how we define "religion") because it is a practice anyone can do and benefit from, benefiting all the more by adhering to one's own religion/identity. Dhamma is like learning to breathe, to be calm, to develop insight, to be mindful of one’s karma. Everyone benefits. This is as the Buddha wanted it to be: a benefit for ALL.
This is not to say that he and his organization are faultless, perfect, or the best that could have been. Both were a success, however, and they survive and are growing.
His swimology story is a springboard that can also illustrate how we might take this focus on practice to an extreme and go too far. Is there room for intellect, explanation, study, questioning? (This is the route of jnana yoga or wisdom-over-faith activities in a world that is all about blind faith).
If we could not question and study and think over, if instead we suppressed theoretical study and critical thought, we'd be doomed. Do we have such good teachers that we can trust completely to know better than us and guide us/tell us what's best? No.
The West is meant to question, meant to think, meant to follow the Kalama Sutra on independent thinking and contemplation.
Who can teach the Dhamma?
It’s refreshing to see a generous organization that teaches this ancient path of liberation. Ten day meditation courses are free.
Goenka endeavored to reach a wider audience by using modern technology. As with any video production, a shift opens us up to an analysis of its imagery. Animators are required to make certain choices with a visual medium that does not arise in oral storytelling. CONT'D BELOW
How do I find a free course?
Vipassana, which means to see things as they really are, is one of India's most ancient techniques of meditation (cultivation). It was taught in India more than 2,500 years ago as a universal remedy for universal ills (i.e., an Art of Living).
For those who are unfamiliar with Insight Meditation, an Introduction to Vipassana by Mr. Goenka, related videos, and Questions & Answers about Vipassana are available.
Courses
The technique is taught at 10-day residential courses, during which participants learn the basics of the method and practice sufficiently to experience its beneficial results.
There are no charges for the courses -- not even to cover the basic costs of food and accommodation. All expenses are met by donations from ("old students") people who, having completed a course and experienced the benefits, wish to give others the opportunity to also benefit. More: Vipassana Meditation
Complaining (continued)
In this particular case, there are some glaring issues in the animators’ choices. Foremost is the disappointing decision to make the erudite, apparently well-to-do professor pale-skinned, whereas the poor, uneducated sailor is dark-skinned.
At a time when our awareness (consciousness) of implicit bias, discrimination, stereotyping, and the inadvertent perpetuation of racism has been raised not only in the U.S. but around the world, moving some meditation traditions — though not all — to examine bias and privilege within their communities, the decision to assign skin color according to race is both oblivious and disheartening, to say the least.
Goenka, we want our money back! But the courses were free, and you could not even donate until you became an "old student" by completing one. (Oh, yeah, huh?)
Another questionable decision by the animators concerns the literal death of the academic, which is only inferred in the oral telling. But the animators chose to depict the water climbing up and engulfing the professor, drowning him as the sailor swims away. The macabre scene of a human, even a cartoonish one, realizing he will soon die — and then actually drowning — is disturbing to say the least. It doesn’t help that the sound dubbed in is of students laughing, as if they were watching.
It’s in the background and seems downright creepy. At this point, those sympathetic to Goenka’s message might agree that the moral of the story (which, yes, includes death for those who do not learn and practice) could and should be achieved less morbidly. It’s a cartoon after all.
There’s the minor issue of misspelling “meteorology” as “meterology” in large letters on one of the plaques highlighting each of the professor’s “-ologies.” Though Goenka’s non-native English [which sounds Transylvanian during the course to our ears] makes pronunciation sounds like “meterology,” is that any reason to misspell? So few words go on an animation screen, allowing a simple spelling error to create an unnecessarily amateurish impression, whether it was due to an oversight or overzealous fealty to a teacher.
Finally, there is another issue to consider. When the sailor informs the professor about the sinking ship, in the oral version, Goenka gives no explicit indication of the sailor’s state of mind. Yet, he does say, “The next day, it was the turn of the old man,” which suggest some payback for the put-downs.
Was the old sailor feeling smug that the professor was finally going to get his after bearing with humility his insults (perhaps suggesting the working out of karma)?
Or was the old sailor genuinely concerned about the professor’s wellbeing? Maybe he was innocently (even humorously) informing him about a basic field of study he had missed in spite of the dire situation?
Goenka does not give any indication in the oral version, so assigning the old sailor a one-sided facial expression in this video version fleshes out the story’s meaning — especially since the animators had already gratuitously gone one step further than Goenka’s original by showing the actual death of the professor. (Do better, animators!) Or maybe we're overthinking it.
Maybe we should treat Blacks better, right, Queen Bey? Some are music Illuminati
But some are treated as if we were in the Deep South on Slave Patrol in the Jim Crow Era
Verna Deckard Lewis (later Williams) and Arthur Lewis in front of the Casa del Mar beach club fence, Santa Monica, California, Aug. 2, 1924 (courtesy of Arthur and Elizabeth Lewis/LAist.com)
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World's richest man was Black Musa not white Musk
By the mid 20th century, the clothing, accessories, and look of people enjoying Southern California beach culture was beamed across the country and around the world through photos and films. But the vast majority of those images did not include African Americans.
But behind many of those smiles were experiences of racist taunts and dirty looks. “African Americans contested any kinds of activities that were attempting to inhibit them from using public beaches here in Southern California,” said Allison Rose Jefferson, the curator of the exhibit.
The exhibit joins historical photos, pamphlets, and films with contemporary portrayals of African Americans at leisure. And in doing so, it paints a broad picture of African Americans’ efforts to have access to leisure activities and spaces that most non-African Americans take for granted.
Nearly a decade ago, Kayiita Johansson was in his mid '20s living in New York. During the summers he loved heading to the beach on Long Island to surf and hang out.
“Everyone in the water was super friendly. The waves were small, but they were fun,” Johansson said.
He’s Black and the group of friends who went to the beach included other African Americans as well as white, Chinese, and Indian friends. He says he never experienced a racist incident on the beach there.
Hey, we can swim. We swim just fine. We love swimming. Caps keep the hair good.
The most beautiful Black man in the media, handsome criminal with white fan babymama
Euro Beauty Queen: My Brother has gone urban and tribal. It's jungle fever. Go Anglo, Bro!
Love is colorblind. Love is blind period. We love whom we love, Sister. Deal with it.
Could Black women start ruling the beach and bikini contests?
A gallery at the California African American Museum (Elon Schoenholz/CAAM/LAist.com)
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Even Ginger Vikings have a Black [sand] Beach
But that changed when he moved to California for graduate school at Stanford University. He remembers surfing in Santa Cruz when a surfer, who was Asian, cut him off.
“He paddles towards me… he says, 'Why were you on my wave?' And I'm like, ‘What are you talking about?’ I was in the spot for priority.’ And he calls me a monkey,” Johansson said. More:
DANGER: Bikinis are a magnetic distraction to men, who are mysteriously drawn in by them.
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Clumsy man goes overboard for a red bikini.
Since July 5, 1946, females have been hitting the beaches and pool sides scantily clad in "bikinis" (floss and patches).
National Bikini Day marks the anniversary of the invention of the revealing two-piece bathing suit.
Named after the Bikini Atoll, where the United States military annihilated indigenous land by conducting atomic and nuclear bomb tests, the two-piece bathing suit made its debut in Paris in 1946.
[This was possibly to distract US soldiers with pin up girls while they traveled the world, met new people, and killed them; after all, up until then the Marilyn Monroe and Jane Mansfield posters had too much on].
French designer Jaques Heim wanted to name revealing bits of fabric "atom" [as in atomic bombs falling on Bikini Atoll?], but designer Louis Réard named his piece, revealed on this day (July 5th) in 1946, with the name "bikini" and the word stuck.
By World War II [because war and carnage have an odd way of wearing away at a nation's morals], sunbathers cast aside the chaste one-piece bathing costumes for simple two-piece bathing suits.
Is that Atom Atoll, Mom? - No, it's Bikini Atoll, Honey. - I'd like to wear one. - Me, too.
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Should I come out, Claudia? - Why, Bil?
However, nothing prepared the United States for the revealing bikini when it hit the beaches on July 5, 1946.
[It wasn't even the Fifties yet, and eyes were bulging out of boy's and men's heads. Then the hippies in the Sixties went from two-piece down to no-piece in their efforts to help the USA wage peace.]
The skimpy strips of fabric were seen as less than a women's unmentionables [britches, panties, undergarments, lingerie].
We prefer modern Jain nuns
While Europe [which is cool with toplessness and has always had nude beaches] enthusiastically donned the bikini after a long and arduous world war, American's sense of [Puritanical] "decency" kept them from accepting the bikini until the 1960s.
[Hippies saved the day again because tooth floss bottoms and eye patch tops were seen as an improvement over pure nudity. Ah, hypocrisy, we're all for violence on TV but T&A? No way! Sex on the silver screen? Maybe, but only with an R, NC-17, X, or XXX rating, but carnage, slasher flicks, gore, sadistic violence? Sure, it's good for the kids. It makes them better soldiers, drinkers, and gun owners when they grow up.]
The model above is stripping off this inappropriate "Buddha kimono" from Buddha Beach.
Well, that's not so bad.
Please avoid Buddha Bikinis, as they are very offensive to the spiritual lives of more than a billion Buddhists in the world today. There are more than a billion uncounted Buddhism in communist China alone, so the true number of Buddhists worldwide is unknown but could be two billion.
And also please avoid places that call themselves Buddha Bar because it is an oxymoron given that the Buddha spelled out Five Precepts, things to abstain from doing:
Okay, now we're offended.
killing
stealing
sexual misconduct
lying
alcohol.
And while, no doubt, some Buddhists drink, it is not in keeping with the rudiments of the religion or the advice of the Enlightened One.
And while we're on the topic of things best avoided, the American habit of standing in front of a Buddha statue to take a picture is in bad form and very offensive to the locals, all the more so if you sit on his lap, put your arms around him, or heaven forbid kiss him.
Tibetan goddess in very revealing outfit
We in the West know what you mean and would love to go dry hump Dionysus in Greece or play grab@$$ with Aphrodite or get super friendly with Bacchus, but the Mediterranean Antiquities Department (MAD) would get really mad if we did. They won't even let tourists graffiti the Colosseum or deface ancient petroglyphs or take home souvenirs of ancient archeological digs like Gobekkli and Karahan Tepe. Go figure.]
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