Taoism and Surfing: Go with the flow. By Len Kelemoana Barrow

Zen, The Tao and, The Ocean


Zen Buddhism has bean historically a fusion of early Indian Buddhism and Chinese cultures. As Buddhism migrated to China it naturally took on Chinese characteristics. This being the indigenous tradition of Taoism. Hence the character of Zen is both Indian and Chinese in manifestation. It later migrates to Japan and takes on a Japanese natural sensibility.

Well what has this got to do with us? The ideas of Zen and Taoism are a treasure trove of understanding and happiness in and out of the surf. How can we adapt these ideas in the surf we may ask? How may we adapt these on land?

Taoism is partially based on flowing peacefully with the energies of the universe. This is called Wu-Wei. What this simply states that if you force things arrogantly, and depend on your ego you will ultimately fail miserably.

It quite simply can be observed in reality. Go with the way of Wu Wei. In this light please let me give you an example: I used to have a 78 year old Aikido teacher who could throw 10 competent attacking male students with the minimum of movement. It blew my mind! I mean he launched them! As I learned Aikido we were taught to meditate (my first experiences with meditation). We were also taught that sometimes four fingers carefully positioned with the proper utilization of your opponents movement and energy can make him fly upside down for six feet. This seems impossible yet I have seen it and honestly done it (not as well as the 78 year old). You see, If I fought a large man arrogantly as I am a small man...but 5'9, I would be beaten to a pulp. If I utilize his attacking energy to good effect I weave around his blows and catch him. Amazingly to throw him using not my weakling force but his tremendous strength. This is an example of using energy with the best defensive effect on land and in the martial arts. This has its parallel in the water!

Arrogance and ignorance in the water, in other words, not going with the energy of the ocean can be conducted by surfers and suppers on a daily basis. I have made these mistakes before. Firstly the worst mistake you can do is to show up at the beach and paddle out. This is the normal approach in a hurried modern world. Go, go, go. Time is money supposedly money in Western Culture.


When you do this you may often run afoul in to all types of energy that nature represents. I have seen surfers paddle out directly into coral heads and reef shelves that the water had “hidden”. This could have been avoided if if the individual just took some time to pay attention before surfing to the tide and how the ocean was flowing.

I sometimes surprise other surfers and suppers at the speed to which I get up in the line up. This is not because I am a strong paddler. It is because I utilize energy of the ocean in an observant way in the same way my Akido teacher used the minimum amount of energy to throw his opponents. We use a type of Wu Wei. All of the energy of a breaking wave moves toward the beach and has the tendency to find it way back to the ocean and its deeper water. If you are fighting this concept you are fighting the energy of the universe. Again watch the water. Which way is the water moving. Time and time again, I see surfers that try to paddle through the middle of the break. This is like fighting a 300 pound boxer. You will usually loose. Side step this energy like an Akido teacher. Find the channel. As the energy of the wave is moving back out to see, jump in it, side step the energy coming in and catch the current the energy current coming out. The channel. Sometimes the channel looks like the long-way out, but again, go with energy of the universe in a Taoistic manner.


When you get drilled the worst thing to do is fight it. After all you cannot defeat the ocean. I was once taught by Mel Kinney how to flow with a pounding. I thought that he was kidding when he told me what to do as it was completely opposite to how I would try to escape a drilling. As 20 foot wave would break in front of me I used to dive for the bottom. My thinking was that this was the safest thing to do. I used to fight the wave. Unfortunately the opposite happened. Instead of flowing with nature in a Taoist manner the inevitable would happened. I would be beaten violently underwater as I did multiple cartwheels.

This was unfortunate in that I would often break my board in half. Mel Kinney taught me something that was very Taoistic in manner. These were his instructions. He told me to just lay the board to my side and go 1 foot underwater with my hand pointed above my head. Imagine superman going strait up! Well that was what he told me to do. I call this a reverse superman. How this works is that when the wave grabs your board you get pulled back towards the shore at high velocity in
that you are shaped like a streamlined pencil. This has two functions. Firstly you are pulled rapidly out of the impact Zone using the waves force. I mean this is very Taoistic in practice. When you pop out of the water you literally can end up 30 yards in. The second function is a little less subtle. If you become an anchor by diving for the bottomYour board will often break as it has nowhere to move one the leash is taught. By doing the reverse superman you and the board become a single flowing unit thus preventing board breakage.


I hope this little article can help you flow with the ocean. After all the ocean is a manifestation of the Tao itself. Why fight it. Move with it. Until next time! Aloha from Hawaii

Dr. Len Kelemoana Barrow

Zen For Surfers and Water-People. How Do We Utilize Zen Ideas Honestly in Life and the Ocean: PART 1

Part 1

By Dr. Len Barrow (Asian/Polynesian Religion Specialist)

As a Doctor in Anthropology I have academically studied Zen Buddhism extensively. Zen Buddhism is hard to explain namely because it is very stereo typed and clichéd in western culture. Zen monks staring at walls or “navel staring” are common misconceptions of what Zen folks do in general . As surfers and water people I think we have a slight advantage in understanding Zen ideas due to the fact that we are constantly running around in the water and engaging other humans in natures ocean arena as opposed to being completely submerged in urban oriented centers (where “the bottom line” is gospel) and all of the aggression that goes with it. As surfers and water-people we chose to escape this in some way. Zen can be vastly helpful in making sense of this fast paced materialistic western world that we were born into.


The worst thing you could do in Zen is to try to describe it as I am doing now. If this is true , the question arises, where do we begin in an honest manner? Well I believe an honest place to begin in our understanding of Zen is through Zens view of the self. Zen folks assert that the self cannot be found in a natural system. More specifically Zen people refute the existence of a soul or “self -substance” (the idea is called “Anatta” or “No Self” to Zen folk). In Zen the idea of a self as a nominal referent is the basis of much suffering and ignorance. To be free of misconceptions of the self is a component in ultimate freedom termed Nirvana.


Well lets for the time being accept “No Self or anatta” is a logical fact, whether it is true or not. What if there were No Self as the Zen Buddhists posit in their analysis. What are the logical consequences if there existed “No Self?”


1. There would be no other (!) ; as the idea of “others” logically requires the existence of other selves. As there are no others we would exist in a type of harmony alluded by Zen. This harmony is called “Playful Smhadi”. To Zen folk this is a type of “freedom from ignorance inspiring freedom and playfulness in life”. I like this idea as a lifelong surfer. Would that not be nice?


2. If there were no self we would live with a great sense of inter-connection with the sea, nature and other humans. This great interconnection is called Inter-being (By the great Vietnamese Zen Monk Thin Nhat Han who is still alive today) or emptiness by others. Western scientists have discovered it also, amusingly 3,000 years after the Buddhists. They are called ecosystems! They are called cultural systems to Anthropologists and social scientists like me!


This great sense of interconnection with all beings and humans would generate a great compassion and love for all things if you really “got it”. You would think twice about snaking a wave from someone or driving overly aggressively or having harsh words with someone in the water. You would think twice about being a DICK. You would think twice about ignoring the homeless person as you are he and he is you. I am truly not a saint nor claim to be one, in fact my behavior can be quite unruly at times. Yet I actually take interbeing to heart as the Zen concept of interbeing shapes my behavior. I am not bragging but I have Senatorial Civil awards for helping the homeless (I am a homeless advocate) and coach high school surf teams without pay (As I love the Keiki as they are me and I am them in Inter-being). I drive around in a dilapidated VW van. Friends and collogues are perplexed by my lifestyle but I suppose it is somewhat logical within the Zen framework . Zen is completely useless if it is not integrated into ones daily life consistently. In many ways Zen is fashionable today but is being utilized in a completely degraded manner as a buzz word, or worse as a personal “front or façade”. This is a perversion of the Zen tradition that I truly wish to avoid.



3. This great compassion that is developed through knowledge of inter-being is called Bhodhichitta to Buddhist folks. If one realizes that we are heavily connected and interpenetrate each other and other things, we will see other people as ourselves, despite their outward differences. If we recognize this interpenetration we begin to realize that the trees of the worlds our lungs, and the oceans, our blood. In fact all of nature would be our body. We would only defend it, not rape it as modern western society is guilty off in some manners. This develops a wonderful sense of intimacy with all. In fact the Chinese character for Zen is “intimacy!” Stay tuned for Part 2 in a few days. I have split this article in two peices as some people may find the ideas a bit confusing and suprising. Stay Tuned All!!

Surfing and SUP are Not a Fast Food Experiences

By Len Barrow

A few days ago I was watching a surfer.  The man zoomed into the parking lot at the surf break.  He literally ripped his board off the surf racks in his haste to get to the surf.  Oddly enough he was wearing a type of “sling”.  To my surprise he inserted a cell phone in to the water proof sling and rushed off to surf.  I watched him notice and ignore some garbage on the beach as he ran across the beach.

In the water the, this man was aggressive, paddling under people to get position.  He would not wait his turn.  It seemed that the man thought that the world revolved around him and his rushed schedule.  The locals at the break were getting a bit irritated but the man was tolerated.  Everyone almost felt sorry for him.  He completely missed the point of surfing.  He was not paying attention and by doing this he degraded his surfing experience.

Surfing is sport that should be regarded as sacred from my point of view.  How do you treat the activity of surfing as being sacred?  You pay attention and make surfing a type of ritual, not a fast food experience.   Here are a few tips on how to pay attention to the whole surfing experience; and not be limited to parts of it.

When you arrive at the beach make it a habit to slow down.  Stop and study the conditions.   This act is actually very soothing and calm.  You can ask yourself:  ‘what is the tide like?; where is the swell focusing or defocusing?; how are the winds affecting the surf?”  By doing this, you slow your mind down and  turn surfing into a type of focused meditation.  This is the joy and magic of the surfing experience.   To just enjoy the moment by paying attention to it!

Engage in activities at your local beach.  It is so important to give compassion to the beach which brings you so much happiness.  If you see a piece of garbage, pick it up and throw it away.  I know locals who routinely pick up garbage.  Duane Desoto has a little rake and dustbin!  If you see a piece of garbage floating in the water, pick it up and stick it in your shorts to throw away later.  If your beach has a ”clean up” day, participate.  By treating the beach and ocean with respect, you turn your surf-spot into a place which helps to purify your thoughts and soul.    

Respecting other people is key to enjoying the whole surfing experience.  Smile and take the time to say hello to other surfers.  Pay attention to who has not been getting waves.  When a set comes, let this person have it.   Take care of the little kid surfers at the break.  They will become older and one day and take care of you.  Be that person that people want to see.   I go to the beach every-day and just see genuine smiles as people want to talk to me.  This is a wonderful feeling.   Don’t be a “DICK”.  Keep the karma flow positive in regards to other humans!

Don’t multitask!  Multitasking is the opposite of single pointed attention.  As a trend, more and more people are bringing cell phones out into the water.  It is still rare, but it is an alarming development from my point of view.   People are forgetting that surfing is a sacred experience and turning our wonderful sport into a fast-food experience.  How can you enjoy something if you cannot pour your whole soul and attention into it single pointedly?

The above ideas may seem a bit idealistic.  Despite this, you need to remember why you started surfing in the first place.  Most “old-school” surfers that I know, believed that surfing was a type of magical, if not sacred experience.  It was something that you cared about and even worshipped.   When you treat the sport and everything around it like any other ”rushed”  modern day activity, you lose the point of surfing and turn it into a fast food experience.    Let’s re-enchant ourselves and slow down and pay attention.  I guarantee that this will enhance your surfing experience tenfold and you will remember why you started in the first place!

On Paying Attention As The Way of the Waterman: Part 1 - by Len Barrow

I have two heroes that have helped bring great happiness to my life. They come from two seemingly divergent backgrounds. What stuck me was their ideas about their arts came to the exact same endpoint: You must pay attention.


The first role model is and was the great surfer/shaper Ben Aipa. The other individual is my Roshi or Zen teacher Robert Aitken. He is currently 94 and still as sharp in wit and way, true to his Zen study. It would help a little to talk of his background. Aitken Roshi was imprisoned in a Japanese camp for Westerners during World War Two. He could have had the option of hating the Japanese (as most of us would), yet instead he embarked on the study of Zen in the prison camp itself. After the war he continued his study and was ordained a Zen master in an eponymous line of Japanese Rinzai Zen sect, the first Westerner to do so. He came to Hawaii and taught and established the Daimond Sangha Zen Buddhist center. He is considered as one of the primary founders of Zen in the west along with Daisetsu Suzuki and even my father, T. Barrow.

 The hardcore Surfers path which crosses roads with the Zen path, as I shall explain, stands in a dichotomy to our modern “worlds” of hyperactivity, cell phones, texts, Facebook, the internet and 60 hour weeks. Sadly, in everyday life, many of us move around like automatons. I know people whose lives are devoid of passion and interest. They drive to work from a suburb every day in grueling traffic. This is then followed by a job that they dread and another hour drive home in a moving parking lot. They then go home to their three bedroom home (that looks exactly like the next) in a planned suburb subdivision which sits on rezoned public land. It is as if we are taught to be Lemming competitors in a suicidal race to the nearest cliff or black whole. If this is the American Dream then I am terrified of it. This is not a dream, This is a hallucination.

 This may be an overly grim depiction of our culture yet I am not alone in my sentiments. Many surfers and water people are what psychologists call “non-normative” (not normal) and rapidly figure out what is happening is “lame” and decide on another course of living that they see as more sane. Many surfers are also attracted to different patterns of thinking (as opposed to Occidental or Western models) which include Asian philosophy and even Zen Buddhism in its scope. In these models surfers are more “normal” and actually quite sensible in their views.

 In my early twenties I was bombarded by society with criticisms of my lifestyle as an avid surfer. You see, surfing is seen to be cute when you are in high school and the girls love you, yet surfing loses its mystique to others as a person gets older. One may ask why? In Anglo-American culture one is taught to shed his childhood “habits” of play (such as avid surfing and other fun things) and get on to the Protestant work ethic. As a Religious Scholar , I have studied this phenomena anthropologically. This work ethic (as Described by Jon Calvin and Martin Luther) is directly related to ones goodness. Jon Calvin believed in predestination. In other words you are predestined to go to Heaven or Hell. It has been decided by god before you were born. Yet, there is a twist to this. A sign that you are going to heaven is seen to the degree too which you are hard working and well off. A sign that you may be going to hell is if you are poor and supposedly not working hard. When I studied these ideas as an Anthropologist I understood why I was maligned by so many. The people that criticized me were not doing so consciously. They were doing this because it was part of the Protestant, Anglo-American narrative or Mythology which was drilled into everyone from a young age hence when they saw a person who was “not with the program” they reflexively criticized or marginalized the person. Some how, I missed out on the message of this narrative.

In the past my mother had routinely called me “Lose money” or “Beach Dum” (not a typo). I watched in horror as many of my childhood hardcore surfer friends were sucked up by society. They quit surfing, sometimes at the urging of their wives, got full time jobs that they hated and rapidly became mechanical, uncreative and depressed. One of my good friends told me that his wife should allow him to surf as it was better than a psychiatrist’s bill. I still have the common experience of being given the “stink eye” by strangers as I drive to the North Shore in my dilapidated 71 VW van with board in tow, God forbid, on a workday. I was even told semi-jokingly by an economist friend that I was part of a “superfluous population” that included the very poor that were not factored into his economic models that he learned in school due to the fact that we barely spend any money on products hence cannot be profited off of in the “Free Market”.

In my twenties, I was both perplexed and angry at Anglo-American society. I was being accused of being lazy hence going to Hell for pursuing surfing. My friends followed the protestant work ethic to the “T”; hence were on a strait shot to Heaven. If this were the case, why were they miserable, depressed beings in life!? Surely there existed something amiss in this situation.

Please don’t get me wrong. Hard work is good, in fact I spent a full fourteen years to attain a Ph.D., but to go overboard by working maniacally to myself sounds strange.

My frustration about being a frenzied surfer in Anglo-American society was relived by forays in to Asian philosophy which my father urged that I take. In fact he arranged for myself a meeting with the esteemed Roshi who was described earlier in this paper.

My first meeting with Zen Master Aitken Roshi was wonderful. For the first time in my whole life, I felt justified in my decision to be a surfer. I was interviewed by the Roshi in the normal ritualistic manner. He sat in a tiny room and out of protocol, one had to crawl in, bow over the threshold and then make a 45 degree turn and bow toward him. I totally screwed up the process and was rather embarrassed. Surprisingly, the Roshi gestured to me and told me not to worry about it. There the Roshi sat, in his full Zen regalia and staff. It totally blew me away, as it was the first time that I was participating in a culture other than my own.

The conversation that ensued altered my life forever. I had come to him as I had been struck by an idea while surfing and staring at the ocean. I will let the ideas unfold in a question and answer format as this was the format that was required when one is engaged with a Zen master of Aitken’s standing. The conversation went something like this:

Len: How are You?

Roshi: How are You?

Len (perplexed): Pretty Good, I guess.

Roshi: What do you do?

Len (blandly): I surf, go to school, and I take care of a family in Kahala for rent.

Roshi: Then you are a caregiver.

Len (surprised): Yes, that's true

Roshi (attentively): How is your father?

Len: He is well and he collects books on Zen. In fact he has a huge collection that drives my mother nuts. She says the house will sink one day due to the weight of the books.

Roshi: Good. I must see it one day

Len (impatient): You know, I was struck by an idea. I had learned in my physics class that the equation E=MC² was that matter was an interplay of energy and energy was and interplay of matter. In fact they were different aspects of the same thing. I also learned that energy is conserved and that you could not destroy our create it. Well Roshi, I did a little bit of thinking and was blown way. If E=MC² applies to me, as it must due to the fact that I am an interplay of matter and energy (what the hell else could I be I thought) I am neither created nor destroyed, neither alive nor dead, in fact there cannot be coming or going. I was also surprised to find that Einstein called the notion of self as an “optical illusion of the mind”.

Roshi: You surf right?

Len (irritated: what kind stupid answer was that?): uhhhhh, Yea

Roshi: It is partially due to surfing that you have some insight of no coming, no going, no life, no death, no creation nor destruction. Roshi rang a little bell which means “now get out”. I did my bows and left excitedly.

I was utterly amazed. For my whole life, I was taught that my world view was not only incorrect but I was going to burn in hell for all eternity for it. Here was a little old man, who had nothing, sat in a little room and meditated extensively. He did not even surf yet he bizarrely came across as the most experienced surfer on the planet. How did he know my experience came in the surf or because of it? That he said I had a little insight, was a tiny nod to my E=MC² babble. I was so happy that I was not the only one to think like this and was even more thrilled to get a type of approval (albeit tiny)from a master of the Roshi’s caliber. It was a great affirmation for my self and for my choice of a surfing path. It was a turning point in my life and I have been on a happy path ever since in my study.

The Roshi suddenly “peered” out the door and stated with an amusing smile: “When you get thoughts like that just move on and by the way.........How can you practice if you don’t pay attention?

” I am not a Buddhist but this little Koan (Zen riddle) has taken me a long way. It is OK to be an avid surfer and pursue a path of peace and concentration rather than that of hyperactivity, inattention and conformity so engraved in parts of Anglo American culture.

Thanks Aitken Roshi

Altken Roshi recently passed away and this article is dedicated to him in the most humble and thankful form possible.

Aloha Nui Aitken Roshi

A Totally True Story From the Surfing Shores Of Hawaii by Len Barrow

It was a typical sunny morning at Daimond Head. I pulled up into the parking lot of the surf break named Lighthouse. The waves were good; a glassy head-high swell with a mixture of east and southwest swell pushing together to make perfect small A-Frame peaks. As I focused my eyesight on the break which is about 200 yards below the parking lot I noticed that it was unusually crowded and my initial optimism was dulled like a kid who goes to the toy-store but can’t find his “perfect” toy.

My thoughts shifted to the characters that inhabited the break (or shall we say Zoo) like territorial chimpanzees who were all hyped on being the Alpha Ape of Lighthouse. I knew the characters all to well. There was the “tapped “ dude with barbed wire tattoos on his neck and who’s body was cut like Bruce Lee. He had this truly frightening glare which he used to effectively intimidate those he perceived to be weak and feeble. Mr “Tapped” had the bizarre habit of taking off and going left strait into the rocks and he seemed to enjoy it. There was the “Bully”. He was large and muscular but could not surf. He caught many waves as no one complained about his greed due to his muscularity and his ability to induce fear in others. Once someone quietly grumbled and the Bully chased him around on his surfboard in almost perfect circles while simultaneously screaming at him. It was both hilarious and grim to watch.

My favorite guy to check out was a person who I called “Troubles” . Troubles was almost universally hated by everyone as he was intensely aggressive and greedy. He dropped in on all and seemed to regard myself as the lowest link in the feeding chain as he loved to drop in on me as I never retaliated. His behavior got him into numerous fist fights which remarkably took place barefoot on the reef while standing in two feet of water. They were amazing affairs as they lasted some minutes and invariably ended up in bloody faces and especially bloody feet. It made MMA cage fighting look like child’s-play. Troubles adapted to the situation of getting punched out too many times by learning Kung Fu. This hardly helped as the fights were just elongated and more violent not to mention most spectacular.

Everyone was out to greedily get as many waves as possible (myself included) in the “Free Market” of surfing. The general attitude was if you could not take the heat of lighthouse then you were a kook and should not be “out here“. Survival of the fittest seemed to be every-ones mantra.

Despite the characters aforementioned , lighthouse has a few wonderful people who make order of the whole mess not by being the oppressive violent alpha males but through the use of a more fraternal, caring attitude. “Mr K” can be counted as one of these people. This man was an excellent surfer. In our sport, surfers who become exceptionally good sometimes become very arrogant. Surprisingly, Mr “K” was the most humble guy you could meet. His explosive surfing was fascinating to me given his mellow personality. He was also a native Hawaiian from the East side of Oahu raised in the ways of old Polynesians. I knew this as his family name was an old Big Island name and he reminded me of the Kupuna or old Hawaiian aunties and uncles that I grew up with in Hawaii who were invariably filled with wisdom.

Mr K had an amazing ability at the surf break of Lighthouse. Before he paddled out Mr. Tapped, Troubles, the Bully and a host of others would be engaged in the most socially dysfunctional cultural vacuum of bad vibes, yelling and hatred. It seemed like the war in Afganistan had relocated to the waters of Hawaii.

In to this boiling cauldron, Mr K would paddle out, all five foot six inches of him. He would start off surfing the inside, doing strait ups, airs and smooth cutbacks. The “lower ranked’ people were assigned a position on the inside where they got the left over junk waves that the “high ranked “ people did not want. Interestingly Mr K would stay among this group and show Aloha to them.

In regards to Mr K, it is important to ask the question, what is Aloha?

Aloha is unmitigated love or compassion for anyone, despite their race, social rank, your relationship with them or your position in life. It is like pure compassion. When you show Aloha , you invite anyone into your “house” (whatever that may be, surf break, social space, etc) and treat them as if they were your brother or a long lost friend. Then you SHARE what you have. You do not just reserve love and sharing for your immediate family and closest friends. It goes to everyone. Aloha was what Mr K. did and was.

Mr K would often introduce himself to the “lower ranked people” and got their names. He always did this with a big genuine smile. What he then did was most unusual given our present culture model of free for all competition, instant gratification and bizarre video games . He would go to the outside of the break and greet the Bully, Troubles, and Tapped and a host of other alpha males. They all intensely respected Mr. K as he surfed ten times better than all of them and in addition to being very Hawaiian (no one could tell him “I was here first” as his Family had been here for 800 or more years) he had an amazing social ability with people based on his Aloha. He would paddle for waves then let the wave go so the lower ranked individuals could get waves. Mr K would then introduce the Lower ranked folk to the higher ranked folk as his personal friends!

As I work as a professional Anthropologist this social phenomena and its consequences were amazing to watch. After Mr. K did his thing the break would invariably become more calm. The vibe would turn peaceful and people began sharing waves. No one would yell or intimidate others as I truly think that they were afraid and embarrassed of being a jerk in front of Mr K. The surf break actually transformed from a dysfunctional oppressive social space to a functional setting based on one mans Aloha. Mr K became the Alpha Male via compassion and social consideration, not violence and intimidation.

I think he knew what he was doing. In Hawaiian culture, the natural outcome of Aloha is a state of Lokahi and this results in things being Pono. Lokahi is a type of balance of all things. When things become disordered and unjust in the Hawaiian worldview of old, the act of Aloha is one way to reset things into natures equilibrium. This results in relationships that are in their best position for all concerned hence they are Pono , or honorable and fair. It is a socially ingenious Polynesian system honed by hundreds of years of existing in a harsh island environment where there was no other alternative but to get along or perish.

I think this could be a lesson for all of us. Every time I see Mr K doing his thing, I am almost forced to reflect on my own behavior as I am often greedy in the waves and much to aggressive and selfish in life. As predicted in the Hawaiian model of thinking or philosophy this causes social problems for myself and sometimes constructs distorted relationships in my world; not to mention other peoples worlds that I disrupt.

If there is anytime for reflection it would be now, given how short life is and considering the worlds generally poor social and environmental condition; in other words, a world that is out of balance or out of Lokahi and hence not Pono (the most beneficial order to all).

The following are not abstract or lofty questions. The world is in front of us and this century is arguably the make or break century for the human species and its survival. If this is not an important reason to rethink our relationship to others and the environment I don’t know what is.

Do I reserve kindness and Aloha for just for my immediate family and friends as is typically the case in our society? Is this a truly healthy thing to do in the long run (for it is easier)? Shall we shelter ourselves in our own “personal gated community” mentally cutting out the world or should we engage the world in different more socially and environmentally realistic terms? May we consider the well being of others that seemingly have no relationship to us or those who are of a different ethnicity and class even though it does not benefit us directly? Could we think and act on the health of the social and physical environment?

Maybe the real question is should we have Aloha?

Thanks Mr K………..

written by Len Barrow

An Occasional letter from a Surfer on Philosophy- by Len Barrow

An Occasional letter from a Surfer on Philosophy
By Len Barrow

Surfing has been a gift to me. Since I was a child I have been engaged in one type of ocean activity or another and I could not possibly conceive of a life away from the ocean. I sometimes ask myself why I am so enthralled by the ocean. The answer came to me quite suddenly one day. I found that I loved the Ocean and its surf because it has been my teacher since a very young age.

The ocean will sometimes give the surfer a sudden lesson. Sometimes you get cocky in the surf (and in life) and the Ocean laughs at you and destroys your ego with a fifteen foot wave. Sometimes the Ocean gives you a lesson in more subtle ways.

This little story is an incident of the “subtle” variety. This happened a number of years back, and has since had a huge impact on my world view. The lesson is as follows.

I was sitting and watching the waves at Daimond Head and was thinking about where the waves had been “born.” These waves had their birth thousands of miles away in the Tasman sea, west of New Zealand. As the wave came across the ocean and grew, it linked up with other waves in what Oceanographers call wave chains. As the wave approached the shallow shores of Hawaii, it reached the peak of its life. I watched as this wave A-framed and peeled off in both directions. The wave then moved on in its life to white water and then disappeared as in death or had it?

Where did the wave “die” and go “to” I thought to myself. I was struck by the obvious conclusion that the wave that seemed like such a distinctive form, seemingly on its own power, did not actually disappear. What then did it become I asked myself? The answer came to me in a flash as in a little Zen Satori (moment of understanding) of sorts. The wave became the ocean, as it always was, waiting to be reformed into another “form” or wave when causes and conditions were just right; a literal and logical form of reincarnation .

A thought rushed into my mind. Was “I “ in any way like this? When did “I “ begin and for that matter when do I end? Maybe I am like the wave and the universe is like the ocean. Like the wave, do I have an inception when the causes and conditions are right and the egg and sperm meet? Maybe we could even go further back than this. Do I begin at the point my mother or father eat (maybe cow meat) to form the proteins that form the egg and sperm? Or do we go back to the suns energy that allowed the grass to grow to feed the cow? This is not strange reasoning. The aforementioned are all literal causes and conditions that are needed for me to be here. Actually, we can go on in this manner infinitely. It is like the question, where does a whirlpool begin (or end); one cannot tell.

In continuing this argument, as a baby I grow to being a boy , to a teenager then to a strapping young man peaking just as the A frame wave that I discussed before at Daimond Head. I will invariably grow old just as a wave crumbles into white water and “die.”

Or do I……Is this really the logical case?

Let us shift our thinking a bit and look at an equation that Einstein created that relates to our discussion. The equation is his famous E=MC². In laymen terms this equation simply informs us that matter is neither created nor destroyed. As waves go through a wonderful play of life and death they constantly take knew forms. The wave cannot become nothing at its “death” because the wave is simultaneously the ocean. A human is logically of the same situation. It is impossible for you to become nothing (at death) because you have been and will be nature as the wave is, has been and will be the ocean. You are simultaneously “You” and “Nature” at the same time. As the ocean inevitably will bring back the wave, you inevitably will reform in one way or another in nature. It is a logically inescapable conclusion. “You” (or whatever we are) will keep reforming in the same way as the wave, as the wave will be brought forth by the ocean repeatedly you will be brought forward by nature repeatedly.

We are necessarily infinite beings with the qualities of our mother; mother nature. We are all of this noble nature.

Let us leave this article with a Zen Koan (riddle). Please contemplate this.

WHAT WAS YOUR ORIGINAL FACE BEFORE YOU WERE BORN?

Good luck. This is a real mind bender, but keep working on it, especially when you are surfing.

Aloha,

Len Barrow - Hawaii, September 18, 2009.

Case of the Missing Self – by Len Barrow

Case of the Missing Self – Part One

By Len Barrow

Surfers and watermen routinely go through unusual experiences that they cannot describe to non surfers. They say “only a surfer knows the feeling” is a description of this phenomena. We literally cannot describe the wonderful experience to non-surfers.

Despite this let me try to describe the experience and the outcome as it is both exciting and it relates to our study of Zen and the waterman experience.

Sometimes when I surf everything comes together perfectly. You time the take off just right, launch into the lip effortlessly, do a floater in the sweet spot, or position yourself for a tube ride. In this moment you are at a high state of attention, a bit fearful, and the serotonin and adrenalin is rushing through your body.

I had a most unusual experience once at Mokuleia on the North West shore of Oahu. The day was semi large and the waves were hollow yet make-able. I took off on a set and heard my friends hoot. My next memory was kicking out 70 yards in at the end of the wave with a feeling of intense exhilaration. I did not know were I went nor what I did yet I felt content strangely intimate with nature. It was like a birthing experience. YET I COULD NOT REMEMBER ANYTHING ABOUT THE WAVE: IN EFFECT I DISSAPEARD YET WAS THERE AT THE SAME TIME.

I paddled out to where my friends were sitting to find that I had gotten a perfect stand up barrel. How could I have missed this experience? Also, how could I miss something like this and feel so good about it?

I thought about it and came up with this answer. In surfing, whenever you think about something while you are on the wave, you screw up you maneuver or barrel or what have you. In a way your mind and self has to be completely emptied out. When your mind is scrambled it is hard to enjoy the surfing experience. Perfect surfing comes when you are in tune with the wave , its timing and its sections that you forget the chatter in your head, you forget your ego and you literally blend in the wave and nature: something I would term as a type of background consciousness that we all have. For me, this “Falling away of the self” is one of the requirements of surfing in its top form.

Interestingly, this is similar to Zen meditation and its goals. In Zen meditation one is taught to watch ones breathing. As a breath comes in it is counted. As a breath comes out it is counted. This process goes up to ten and you start over again. If a thought comes in to your mind you just let it go or don’t grasp to it and begin your counting at one again. The goal is to calm the mind and let the self fall away. You get to a point of the ego diminishing and the self meshing with the background of nature; a similar feeling that I get deep in the barrel!

I find it wonderful to see that calm focused surfing is so similar to Zen meditation. I wish that the reader would try to apply the things I have discussed. Here is how to do it. Before paddling out don’t drink a tank of coffee. Have some water. Take your time waxing up and walk down to the break. Don’t be in a frenzied hurry. Begin focusing your mind on the conditions. What is the swell direction? Where are the channels? What is the tide and current doing? Then sit quietly on the beach. Keep your back strait and cross your legs while sitting down. You can do this without drawing too much attention to yourself. Here is where you count your breaths. Count the in breath as one and the out breath as two. Go up to ten. When a thought comes into your mind just recognize it and let it pass by as a cloud in the sky would pass a mountain (your mind being the still mountain , unmovable!) and start at one again. Don’t worry if you can barely get to three or four. It takes practice and you get better with time.

Take this calm mind and paddle out into the water, this time counting your paddling strokes in the same manner. You can take two strokes of the left and right arms as “one” count and so forth. When you get out to the break, don’t focus on the crowd but focus on the conditions and where the bowl is. When your mind wanders refocus it on the conditions just as you would refocus your mind on your breath while meditating. This is very important. Refocus on the conditions (it never gets boring because the conditions are always changing) just as you would refocus your breath in meditation. Use the breath and refocusing on the conditions “as the hook of the mind“ This is actual Zen terminology.

Then take this relaxed mind set to your wave and just flow with it. Have a go with this technique. It may do wonders for your surfing. If not, it will surely enhance your enjoyment of the surfing and waterman experience.

Stay tuned for my next article: Case of the missing Self Two