"Come out into the universe of light. Everything in the universe is yours, stretch out your arms and embrace it with love."

~ Swami Vivekananda

I wish us all a new year of joy, grace and accomplishment.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Diwali is a two day affair. The first day is the pious one. That's when people get together, review things related to wealth, look at their gains and at their losses over the year, laugh a little, cry a little - and then shut their books on that year, forever. The End. No more looking back, now it's faces to the front and look at a clean slate.

Then each house, business premise, every neighbourhood is scrubbed clean, because someone really important is going to show up at sunset.

Fancy lights are strung up across buildings, homes, lamposts, residential gates, everything and candles are placed at the entry to homes that are eager to welcome Laxmi, the Goddess of Wealth. She is finicky. She wants things spic and span. Each home and business has a puja, a worship, to welcome her and to make sure that she does indeed visit. And if she likes the look of a place, who knows - maybe she'll hang around for at least some of the year and shower some goodies on those fortunate and pious people.

My wife Panda, is utterly Godless. There were dirty dishes in the sink. Lakshmi cannot bear dirty dishes, though I have never heard of her offering to do them herself. As a consequence, in all likelihood, we will be impecunious this year. Again.

After the puja is over, the gambling begins. Laxmi loves the game of chance. If she favors you at Diwali, you can be sure she'll be at your side throught the year. I'm usually lucky at Diwali, where you play something similar to poker.

So that's Day One of Diwali.

On Day Two, the fun and games continue, as people rush back and forth to each others' homes with sweets, fruit, and nuts, and presents. Usually the gifts are large tacky, plasticky corporate gift type objects - such as wall clocks - that have been rejected en masse and are offloaded for just this occasion. Cards are seldom attached to these gifts, so its always a bit of a puzzle trying to figure out who to thank for what. Although Thanks is not really neccesary. In fact, there is no word for "Thanks" in any Indian language, that I'm aware of. The roads are filled with carloads and buses full of people in a frenzy late until dusk.

At dusk, a more personal puja, or worship happens, and then, the show really gets on the road. The fireworks start now - every kind of explosive device is fired and the light show and thunderous sounds continue till 2 am, in every neighbourhood, across cities, towns and villages. Fireworks in India are not the sanitized type that you see over a serene Sydney Harbour, or near the Washington Monument on the Fourth of July. Fireworks here are entirely personalized, with each one bringing his or her own particular barrage of Darkness Busters to the show. The real players in the game wait till about midnight and then bring out an arsenal that would put the defence services of most countries to rout. I find the entire sound and light show utterly irrisistable and stay awake listening for the last little phut, bang and boom.

Once again, my godless Panda slinks off to her usual Diwali hiding place, under a warm quilt and closes doors and windows to blot out the awesome din and smog - something like rocket fire in Lebanon in the good old days (the '70's for young 'uns). For sure, Laxmi is going to blitz us sometime this year. What the heck. So, I'll get a little more practice dealing with difficult women. On the other hand, she and Panda can deal with it themselves. I love Hinduism. You can take personal issue with gods and goddesses who get unpleasant. Although there is no complaint book, you can always switch allegiance and find a good god or goddess without too much trouble - there are a few thousand here. Then again, who wants to be on the wrong side of the goddess of wealth? Umm. I'd better have a word with Panda. Sigh.

I buzzed off to the neighbourhood park just in time to watch old Mr. Whazzizname, hunched over like a comma, being chased around the park by a badly launched rocket that sprayed fiery embers all over the place. Finally, he flung himself face down in the grass and the rocket scorched past and slammed to a stop at a convenient and kindly tree. Not far from my nose. Mr. Whazzis then proceeded to go ballistic after the inept fellow who'd launched that Monster Blaster.

The night is young. Who knows what other treasures await in this New Year.

This is incredible, and it is hallmark Asia.

From some viewpoints, it is utter chaos, or alien craziness.

From another, perhaps it is a situation that these people need to be lifted out of.

I'm sure there is something to be said for these and other views.

My viewpoint? What's happening in this Bangkok market is simply world class management of life, and it goes far beyond circumstances. You can't learn it at any B-School in the world. Watch how impeccably the market comes up once the train goes by. Look at how no one resists and just gets on with business as usual. I marvel at the one-ness, the organic simplicity of the actions. There are no arguments or complaints from the people.

I like to run my life like that - live beyond circumstances, acknowledging that nothing is perfect, having made a choice in the direction. Being unstoppable.

What does it take to be people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world?


As a 9 year old, Severn Suzuki started the Environmental Children's Organization (ECO). By the age of 12, in 1992 Severn and ECO raised their own money and attended the UN's Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro.

Here is her viewpoint, presented to influentials at the Summit. It is 'unconscious' of all the justifications, rationales, and theses and excuses about why the world is in the state it is in. It is passionate and a straightforward demand to stop being cynical, resigned and to pretend that something is actually being done that will transform a truly urgent environmental situation.

Al Gore called it the best speech of the convention. It shook me up, and moved me.

Notes On Leadership: Abbess Zenkei Blanche Hartman

"The innocence of 'What is it?'"

                                                 *******

"Can we look at our lives in such a way? Can we look at all of the aspects of our lives with this mind, just open to see what there is to see? I don't know about you, but I have a hard time doing that. I have a lot of habits of mind—I think most of us do. Children begin to lose that innocent quality after a while, and soon they want to be "the one who knows." We all want to be the one who knows. But if we decide we "know" something, we are not open to other possibilities anymore. And that's a shame. We lose something very vital in our life when it's more important to us to be "one who knows" than it is to be awake to what's happening."

                                                 *******

"As Suzuki Roshi said in the prologue to Zen Mind Beginner's Mind, "In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, in the expert's there are few." As an expert, you've already got it figured out, so you don't need to pay attention to what's happening. Pity."

                                                 *******

"When he spoke of "beginner's mind," I think Suzuki Roshi was pointing to that kind of mind that's not already made up. The mind that's just investigating, open to whatever occurs, curious. Seeking, but not with expectation or grasping. Just being there and observing and seeing what occurs. Being ready for whatever experience arises in this moment."

                                                 *******

"In zazen, in just sitting, in sitting and noticing the busyness of our mind and all of the fixed views that we carry. Once we noticed the fixed views that we are carrying around with us, the preconceptions that we are carrying around with us, then it is possible for us to let them go and say, "Well, maybe so, maybe not." Suzuki Roshi once said, "The essence of Zen is 'Not Always So'." "Not always so." It's a good little phrase to carry around when you're sure. It gives you an opportunity to look again more carefully and see what other possibilities there might be in the situation."

                                                 *******

"Cultivate your beginner's mind. Be willing to not be an expert. Be willing to not know. Not knowing is nearest. Not knowing is most intimate. Fayan was going on pilgrimage. Dizang said, "Where are you going?" Fayan said, "Around on pilgrimage." Dizang said, "What is the purpose of pilgrimage?" Fayan said: "I don't know." Dizang said, "Not knowing is most intimate."

                                                 *******

"Uchiyama Roshi says, "open the hand of thought" and let the fixed view go. This is our effort. This is our work. Just to be here, ready to meet whatever is next without expectation or prejudice or preconceptions. Just "What is it?" "What is this, I wonder?"