So Yogi Mike's first encounter with the divine came when he was 18 and accidentally consumed LSD. He didn't realize it at first but quickly knew what it was when it came on he informed me. I didn't ask him how he came across it, I just let him talk...
He said he remembered looking at the L.A. Suburbs and observing the social construction of the neighborhood he was previously unconscious of. He said it was as if he was looking at it for the first time due to his heightened psychological perception from the acid (I paraphrase) , "I remember looking out my window and looking at each home in my suburban home and realized that...my god...these people are all slaves...They live in these big boxes, then they wake up and go to work in another box and then they come home and watch another box that tells them how they're free! That's their whole life! That's it. They're all slaves. The only break from that they get is the weekend. One day to rest and one day to make sure the box is clean. These are people who, given the chance, would never chose the jobs they have, these are people who never tried to live their dreams and maybe even people who never dreamed! They started out with aspirations when they were younger and they got twisted into this a long the way. I realized right then and there that I was not going to live like this. This wasn't a hallucination I could see it, it was so obvious and right in front of me! It was then that I decided I'm going to try and live out my dreams."
So he finds his way to Paris...
"I was living in Paris for 12 years and I was an artist and I had a great chance to be really successful. I was selling paintings and doing well for myself. But still I was looking at people, writers, artists, businessmen, you know, everyone. And I saw all the turmoil they went through and I though...just for this? Is this it? Is this it? This isn't it. This isn't worth it."
At this point...more or less...this wasn't the most linear story telling because we interjected philosophical discussion throughout the talk...he meets the enlightened master and experiences a taste of "truth" and realizes that enlightenment does in fact exist and is the only real thing worth pursuing. He breaks up with his wife, the two of them both in complete agreement that they needed to go separate ways (they had been on and off for quite sometime he said). He sold his paintings, enough of them to have enough cash to get around India for a couple years. He was 33.
He goes back home first to America to see his family. He goes to the "bodhi tree bookstore" in LA and sees a flyer for a retreat up in Northern California thats being led, low and behold, by the guru whom he met in Paris. He wasn't going to do it due to the price but then he felt a presence from somewhere beyond himself that seemed to suggest, "this is important, don't let this go" so he picks the flyer back up and manages to get the cash from the help of others. He does the retreat and it confirms his initial experience with the master..time, space, and his ego are temporarily exposed as lies in the guru's presence...
He goes to India with a list of names of saints. He searches looking for the "truth" he finds, "some crazies, some liberated, some with full buddhahood, some bad teachers, some power trippers, some great teachers, some fully liberated but who couldn't teach at all which i will never understand..."
He has this ego loss/death experience upon meeting multiple teachers, he said probably 20 or so...So he knows this is the path he wants to go on...
He said that he's gotten by economically using the combination of faith and sponsors. Money was there when he needed it thanks to the kindness of others and he found that letting go of the concern was enough in providing for himself.
He told me his greatest struggle when it comes to negative emotions is with anger. He said he's frustrated where he's at in his practice currently. He thought, when he was younger, he would have been enlightened by now but it continues to allude him...He also mentioned he is very tired of this world..sick of it is probably better more what he said, i remember he had a distinct negative tone when he said it..He doesn't look too highly on a lot of the monks and nuns that come though, he sees their practice more as conditioning rather than an attempt at realization and wisdom. I can see that, a lot of people, he pointed out, just fall asleep when they meditate in front of the tree.
a lot of people who come to bodh gaya do it as part of religious practice. not spiritual practice. if that makes sense. There are more cell phones around the bodhi tree than you would think...Yogi Mike is an interesting guy. He looks like a total guru but he's human underneath. He used the term bullshit when describing American society when on his acid trip ... However, he is an authentic practitioner for sure. He's been there for years and is devoted. He knows his stuff philosophically and sits under the tree at the same time every day for several hours and told me he works his meditation 24/7. Its a full time job it would seem.
I'm going to meet the Karmpa tomorrow, who is one of the leaders of the Tibetan monastic tradition and is said to be fully enlightened. Should be interesting. I may report back depending on how it goes. I'm in Bodh Gaya until the 3rd of December. I'm no longer taking a 48 train back because thats stupid. I have a 14 hour one or something so my sanity will be preserved a little while longer. I moved hotels to the cheaper and more serene "roots foundation" which is a semi-monastic community that is secluded and tucked away, its dead silent here, its a meditation retreat center. Its a beautiful place with its own dining hall, library, meditation rooms, and other facilities. They have a group meditation every day at 630 and 500 with free yoga at 11:30...I'll probably do one of those...maybe...I've been meditating at the mahabodhi temple before I talk with Yogi Mike each day...I'm going to write my paper in the library here because they have about 2,000 buddhist books, tapes, and films. Dead quiet too like I said.
I'm not posting song lyrics because they said no music is allowed...only with headphones...Here's a quote..
"Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one." ~ Albert Einstein
...he (einstein) suggested that time and space are a single network...a interlocked fabric where the two concepts cannot be separated...however, not only that, but also that the outside world cannot be separated from the observer who influences everything...so we live in this giant web interconnected together but we perceive separateness when the great teachers tell us otherwise...persistent illusion indeed...
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