Saltwater Buddha : A Surfer's Quest to Find Zen on the Sea

Fed up with suburban teenage life, Jaimal Yogis ran off to Hawaii with little more than a copy of Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha and enough cash for a surfboard. His journey is a coming-of-age saga that takes him from communes to monasteries and the icy New York shore. Equal parts spiritual memoir and surfer's tale, this is a chronicle of finding meditative focus in the barrel of a wave and eternal truth in the great salty blue. Publishers Weekly A journalist, photographer, surfer and Zen Master, Yogis began the life of a roving seeker his junior year of high school, when he ran away from his Sacramento, Calif. home to learn how to surf in Hawaii. His subsequent travels include a handful of prime surfing spots, but Yogis's more arresting journey is spiritual, taking him to monasteries in France and Berkley, Calif., and deep into the living tradition of Zen Buddhism. Captured here in short chapters and wonderful, visual prose, Yogis's coming-of-age odyssey also takes readers into the culture of indigenous Hawaiians, who believe the gods were surfers. Yogis's long-time surfing mentor Rom provides insight into the science of surfing, ocean swells, the bathymetry of the continental shelf, deep water canyons and sea mounts. Even land lovers will find Yogis's lessons resonant and entertaining, but surfers will find this a quick, surprisingly deep tribute to the quest for surf and serenity. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Zen and Buddhism have often found a resonance with surfing ideals and way of life and enjoyed a mystique in surfing lingo, graphics and in films. This book melds Zen insights with surf wisdom and stories in a clear, confiding, and frequently humerous voice. Fed up with his suburban teenage life, at age sixteen Jaimal Yogis ran off to Hawaii with little more than a copy of Hermann Hesse's book Siddhartha and enough cash for a surfboard. His wandering, searching journey is a coming-of-age tale that takes him from Hawaiian communes to French monasteries to the icy New York shore. Equal parts spiritual memoir and surfer's tale, this is his chronicle of finding meditative focus in the barrel of a wave. Trying to find Zen in the rhythmic crashing of waves, Jaimal eventually discovers something of eternal truth in the great salty blue. Fed up with teenage life in the suburbs, Jaimal Yogis ran off to Hawaii with little more than a copy of Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha and enough cash for a surfboard. His journey is a coming-of-age saga that takes him from communes to monasteries, from the warm Pacific to the icy New York shore. Equal parts spiritual memoir and surfer's tale, this is a chronicle of finding meditative focus in the barrel of a wave and eternal truth in the great salty blue. "Fed up with his suburban life, Jaimal Yogis ran off to Hawaii with little more than a copy of Herman Hesse's Siddhartha and enough cash for a surfboard. His journey is a coming-of-age saga that takes him from communes to monasteries, from the warm Pacific to the icy New York shore. Saltwater Buddha is a rousing chronicle of finding meditative focus in the barrel of a wave and eternal truth in the great salty blue."--Back cover Chronicles the author's teenage journey to Hawaii, where he applied the principles of Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha to his surfing adventures, an effort that eventually took him to the shores of New York and the monasteries of France in search of a better understanding of the spiritual nature of the sport. Original.