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
The sex-positive movement is a social and philosophical movement that seeks to change cultural attitudes and norms around sexuality, promoting the recognition of sexuality (in the countless forms of expression) as a natural and healthy part of the human experience and emphasizing the importance of personal sovereignty, safer sex practices, and consensual sex (and sex workfree of violence or coercion).
I'm straight. Don't want sex? Become a monk.
It is based on the idea that "sexuality is an important part of the human experience and it deserves respect" [1]. Although the definition of the term greatly varies among those involved in the movement, its central notion is "openness to a variety of sexual orientations, interests (or lack thereof), identities and expressions" [2].
I regret all that science and math. I really wanted to be a Hedonist with Jeffrey Epstein & Co!
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The sex-positive movement also advocates for comprehensive sex education and safe sex as part of its campaign.[3] The movement generally makes no moral distinctions among types of sexual activities, regarding these choices as matters of personal preference [4]. More
Suffering Sandpapery Sex? Three Secrets to Juicier Lovemaking
What makes someone sexually attractive?
(AARP) We’ve all been there before: We’re about to get it on and — *album scratch* — our girl isn’t giving what she’s supposed to. Knowhatimsayin? Like that filthy/racy Cardi B song featuring Megan Thee Stallion. What’s up with my natural lube being a no-show? Why is this happening?
Estrogen helps keep the vagina well lubricated and aids in sexual intercourse, she says. So declining estrogen levels can mean vaginal dryness that causes rough discomfort or sandy pain during sex. Some women also experience a chafed or burning feeling during day-to-day activities.
Menopause isn’t the only reason for vaginal dryness. Some other causes are medications, including antidepressants, antihistamines, and hormonal birth control pills; childbirth or breastfeeding; vaginal infections; stress. Whatever the circumstances, we’re not stuck with sandpaper-like sex. Here’s how to add more slip and slide to the ride. More: sisters.aarp.org
(BeachLife Festival) Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, May 1-3, 2026, is time for the annual BeachLife Festival. This is BeachLife 2026 (tickets at BeachLife Festival | Live Music Festival | Redondo Beach, CA, USA). Here's a weekend playlist built the old way—listening together, dropping the needle, and letting the music choose itself. It's three days by the ocean in sunny Southern California. Here is music meant to be shared with the people we come with and meet on site. In memory of Greg Browning, whose spirit is always part of the room. 📍 Redondo Beach, Cali 📅 May 1–3, 2026 🎟️. Suzanne Hoffs blew it up last year. Will The Chainsmokers or Sheryl Crow do the same this year?
FEATURING: The Chainsmokers, Duran Duran, Grouplove, Flipturn, Fitz and the Tantrums, The Offspring, Slightly Stoopid, Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Sugar Ray, SwitchFoot, Bad Suns... James Taylor and his All-Star Band, My Morning Jacket, Sheryl Crow, Peach Pit, Poolside, Mike Watt...
Wheel of Time is a documentary film about Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism by German Director Werner Herzog. The title refers to the Kalachakrasand mandala that provides a recurring image for the film [1].
CONTENT
The film documents the two Kalachakra initiations of 2002, presided over by the 14th Dalai Lama. The first, in Bodhgaya ("Enlightenment Grove"), India, was disrupted by the Dalai Lama's illness. Later that same year, the event was held again, this time without disruption, in Graz, Austria.
The film's first location is the Bodhgaya, the site of the Mahabodhi ("Great Enlightenment") Temple and the Bodhi ("Enlightenment") tree.
Director Herzog then turns to the pilgrimage at [synthetic] Mount Kailash, after which the film focuses on the second gathering in Graz.
Row, row, row your board gently on the plane/Merrily, merrily, merrily, life moves to the drain
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Can non-Indians enjoy it, too?
Seasons change, Anicca reigns; it is the way of Samsara. That will be our new saying. What does it mean? "Weather alters, impermanence in all things; that's how it goes in this incessant Cycle." But at least on the Island of California, it's not so bad. We get a reprieve before fall starts in earnest. And it's called "Indian summer." Berkeley, one of the greatest places on the planet, got hit by an earthquake to wake everyone up and keep them agitating for positive change. We know things are changing because Christmas Tree Lane lights are going up in post-Eaton Fire Altadena, a Los Angeles custom.
Berkeley gets a wakeup call
Indian summer
Native Americans enter a Quaker Friends meeting and find them quite nice and peaceful.
An Indian summer is a period of unseasonably warm and dry weather that sometimes occurs in autumn in temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. Several sources describe a true Indian summer as not occurring until after the first frost, or more specifically the first "killing frost" [1][2][3].
The late 19th-century lexicographer Albert Matthews made an exhaustive search of early American literature in an attempt to discover who coined the expression [4]. The earliest reference he found dated to 1851. He also found the phrase in a letter written in England in 1778 but discounted that as a coincidental use of the phrase.
Later research showed that the earliest known reference to "Indian summer" in its current sense occurs in an essay written in the United States around 1778 by J. Hector St. John de Crevecœur, describing the character of autumn and implying the common usage of the expression:
Great rains at last replenish the springs, the brooks, the swamp and impregnate the earth. Then a severe frost succeeds which prepares it to receive the voluminous coat of snow which is soon to follow; though it is often preceded by a short interval of smoke and mildness, called the Indian Summer. This is in general the invariable rule: winter is not said properly to begin until those few moderate days & the raising of the water has announced it to Man.
The essay was first published in French around 1788 and remained unavailable in the United States until the 1920s [5].
Although the exact origins of the term are uncertain [6], it was perhaps so-called
because it was first noted in regions inhabited by Native Americans,
or because the natives first described it to Europeans [7],
or it had been based on the warm and hazy conditions in autumn when Native Americans hunted [6].
John James Audubon wrote about "The Indian Summer that extraordinary phenomenon of North America" in his journal on Nov. 20, 1820. He mentions the "constant Smoky atmosphere" and how the smoke irritates his eyes.
Audubon suspects that the condition of the air was caused by "Indians, firing the Prairies of the West." Audubon also mentions in many other places in his writings the reliance Native Americans had on fire. At no point does Audubon relate an Indian summer to warm temperatures during the cold seasons. More
Fall, of course, is a season; every fall is heralded by the autumnal equinox. But The Fall is something else. We can look at fascists in the White House, the Department of War, the Senate, Congress, and police departments across the nation for that sort of toppling or the coming down of the things we all loved and cherished as our birthright under a Constitution.
So long, Cruel Cruel Summer!
But the present administration, like administrations before it on both sides of the aisle, doesn't seem to care about the writing of the Forefathers at the birth of the nation. One is reminded of Hamilton, now out in a three-hour extravaganza of rap, choreographed dancing, and dueling. What is a good example of a Fall that falls upon us like an Indian summer, maybe driving along happily and without a care along PCH. Then BAM! Crash. Eyes covered with a sheet. Coroner's office...more Samsara.
There are many ways in which surfing, which seems to have been "invented" in the Pacific -- in Peru and Polynesia, with important contributions from Buddhist Japan (which at that time included a cultural hold on what is now part of Hawaii in the Imperial USA), tracks with the best elements of Eastern philosophy.
That philosophy, distinct from Western philosophy we are all generally familiar with, is a syncretic blend of Buddhism, Zen, the Vedas, Hinduism, Taoism, Shinto, and indigenous shamanism. (British Californian Alan Watts explained it very well to Westerners).
Mindfulness (fully absorbed in monotasking)
Absorption (undistracted doing temporarily freed of discursive thinking)
Letting go (non-clinging, as in "Let Go, Let God," with "God" understood to be Nature, the Universe, things just as they are at this moment, more Brahman than a brahma)
Going with the flow rather than struggling against it (entering flow states familiar to poets, rappers, artists, and persons able to enter trance states at will)
Skillful allowing and accepting rather than shoving, muscling, and efforting (radical acceptance as understood by Buddhist teacher and psychologist Tara Brach)
Riding the wave (internally of emotions, externally tolerating and skillfully adapting to the "Eight Worldly Winds"):
Practicing at home in the Deep South, USA
Theravada Buddhist teacher Sharon Salzberg elaborates on the Taoist idea of “the ten thousand joys and the ten thousand sorrows.” Our lives are constantly changing, sometimes in the space of a minute. The Buddha taught that the “Eight Worldly Winds” are:
They (and all things) are constantly arising and passing away, beyond our control. We suffer when we cling to pleasure, gain, praise, and fame or hold the expectation that they will always be present.
When instead we get pain, loss, blame, and disrepute, we feel that something is terribly wrong, or that we’ve done something wrong... More
Well, what should we do when everything sucks? Surf.
Whether that means ride the waves of life constantly coming at us like Eight Worldly Winds or vicissitudes or actually getting out on the water, waiting for the swells, and riding them back to sure with the practiced skills of balance, poise, allowing, persistence, and mindful awareness.
Lexus WSL Finals Fiji 2025 | World Surf League
Map shows Fiji cluster of islands in center
What to know: The paradise and power of Cloudbreak | Lexus WSL Finals Fiji. At the Lexus WSL Finals, the WSL Final 5 will face off at Cloudbreak, one of the most powerful lefts on Earth. It's a wave that demands total commitment and punishes hesitation. With a world title on the line, this is the ultimate test of talent, mental acumen, and pure surfing instinct. The stakes have never been higher, and there's no room for error. History will be ridden, and World Champions will be crowned: Paradise and power of Cloudbreak (WSL)
Where is Fiji?
Where in the world is Fiji? It is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean (between Hawaii and Australia). It rests about 1,300 miles (1,100 nautical miles or 2,000 kms) north-northeast of New Zealand.
Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about 110 are permanently inhabited—and more than 500 islets, amounting to a total land area of about 7,100 square miles (18,300 sq kms). The most outlying island group is Ono-i-Lau.
Mexico's Baja California in upper right, Fiji in center, Southeast Asia on left, Africa at far left
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About 87% of the total population live on the two major islands, Viti Levu and Vanua Levu. About three-quarters of Fijians live on Viti Levu's coasts, either in the capital city of Suva, or in smaller urban centers such as Nadi (where tourism is the major local industry) or Lautoka (where the sugar-cane industry is dominant). The interior of Viti Levu is sparsely inhabited because of its terrain [13]. More
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