Jaimal Yogis, the author and surfer behind the book Saltwater Buddha, on riding Buddhism's "three vehicles." When I was nineteen, I went to live in a Ch’an (Chinese Zen) Buddhist monastery, hoping to become a monk. I didn't. After about a year of the 3:30 AM wake-up bell and one meal per day, I took on another archetypal path of freedom: surf bum. To keep up my dharma [...]
That Time I Sobbed My Way Through a Himalayan Meditation Retreat
After soldiering through his grief, Jaimal Yogis sat down, looked at his mind, and let the floodgates open. There were a lot of tears — but who said that's a bad thing? Fear, sadness, grief, jealousy, and anger are like quicksand: resisting them in a sudden, knee-jerk way can make them much more troublesome. But investigating them patiently – embracing them, even — can [...]
What’s happened to Sonam? Jaimal Yogis follows up on the fortunes of a spiritual friend
In his article "So Sad, No Problem," Saltwater Buddha author Jaimal Yogis shared the story of Sonam, a Tibetan Buddhist monk – ordained by the Dalai Lama himself – who Jaimal met in India and would teach the author an unexpected lesson about coping with love and loss. Sonam expressed two dreams to Jaimal – to earn a US visa, and to use it to visit with his family back in Tibet. [...]
So Sad, No Problem
Roaming India after a painful breakup, Jaimal Yogis befriends a monk who teaches him an unexpected lesson about happiness. As a Tibetan Buddhist monk, Sonam had no experience with romantic strife, yet he ended up teaching me how to cope with love and loss. He was twenty-five, just a year older than I was, but he’d endured difficulty beyond his years. When Sonam was eleven, [...]
Riding a swell of “surf wisdom”
Jaimal Yogis and his book Saltwater Buddha: A Surfer's Quest to Find Zen on the Sea have been getting around lately. The venerable San Francisco Chronicle profiled Yogis on its front page recently and the author recently sat down for an interview with Jon Malkin on Radio Free Santa Cruz's "The Great Leap Forward." Saltwater Buddha is also one of eight books reviewed by Andrea [...]
“Saltwater Buddha: A Surfer’s Quest to Find Zen on the Sea” – An exclusive excerpt
With all that talk about "balance", it's tempting to make tenuous connections between the practice of Zen and the practice of paddling out, standing up, and riding a wave. There are real connections between the two—but it helps to be a surfer and a Zen-head if you want to know what you're talking about. Author Jaimal Yogis is both, as his book Saltwater Buddha: A Surfer's [...]
My Money’s Gone, But I Feel Oddly Free
Jaimal Yogis, author of Saltwater Buddha -- and subject of the documentary film of the same name, one of six featured in the Lion's Roar BuddhaFest Online Film Festival -- on the beauty of having nothing to lose. On a recent morning one of my good friends, a very successful options trader I’ll call John, called me around 10 a.m. The stock market had dropped another 600 points [...]
Losing Everything Can Mean Finally Beginning
Jaimal Yogis on how losing everything can be an opportunity for new beginnings. On a recent morning one of my good friends, a very successful options trader I’ll call John, called me around 10 a.m. The stock market had dropped another 600 points and I expected him to be calling with an investment idea as he often does. Options traders can do well in scary times because the [...]
