Avant moi, le déluge!

I thought we were freed from the rains, but last week turns out to have been only a respite - le déluge est revenu.

This last week saw me finally excused from jury duty late Monday afternoon. The California justice system is so wacked. The attorneys and the judge were asking us prospective jurors to put aside all these aspects of ourselves (i.e. speaking other languages, past experiences, values, etc.) Their request fits into the Western paradyme of separability, which runs counter to the Eastern paradyme of holism. How can I pretend that I have not had certain experiences? Can I really put them aside?

Modern physics tells us that holism is the actual way "dao" of nature, not separability.

Tuesday and Wednesday were all about the CAHSEE [California High School Exit Exam] that my 10th grade homeroom kids had to take. Administering it wasted a lot of school time thanks to the attorneys and their ilk in Sacramento and Washington, D.C.

Come to think of it, attorneys' thought paradymes pretty much wasted the first three days of this week!

I'll be glad next week when my activities will follow more the accustomed pattern.

Today I had my regular UC Extension Chinese class from 9:30am until 1:00pm. I really enjoyed it and am learning a lot: an excellent time investment. What I learn there will soon be crucial.

However, this week rather then going to the San Bao Temple Chinese class afterwards, as I normally do, this time I watched with a couple of the members of the Union of Students for Buddhahood a play based on the Lotus Sutra, , at Buddha's Universal Church. It was great with beautiful classical costumes from China performed bilingually in classical Chinese as well as in present-day colloquial American English. I also enjoyed watching the faux kung-fu matches enacted on stage.

After seeing the play, I headed out to the Haight on the 1-California bus to see Pat and Susan to give them the word about my future. I'd found a very San Francisco place to break the news to them: the Rockin´Java on Haight Street near Golden Gate Park. When I entered, Beatles' songs were playing over the loudspeaker. I really enjoyed the atmosphere and highly recommend it.

Sunday we didn't have our regular San Bao Temple English Sutra study class. because of the Great Compassion Repentance Ceremony that began at 9:30. In the afternoon, the English group watched Bicenntential Man, a film about a "robot" whose intelligence is so complex that "he" "it" becomes sentient. We had a great discussion about the Dharmic implications of the film.

At 6:00pm Brandon and his mom, who's here from Chicago, picked me up to take me to dinner. We had Indian at a restaurant called "Bombay" on Market & Sanchez. The service was not the best, but the FOOD was DELICIOUS!!! Brandon, his mom and I had a great conversation over the Indian tasties. Whenever I'm overseas, I always try to send Brandon's mom a postcard; she appreciates it so.