The God and the Devil

I had always wanted to be a Buddhist Monk. Ever since I was a young boy growing up in Queens, I knew that the city life was not for me. I needed peace and calm. I needed to be on a higher plain. Much further above the rest. Plus, Buddhism was coming into fashion around this time, and I found that telling women that you were into Buddhism often allowed you to enter their higher plain.


Since I was a little kid I wanted to be a Buddhist monk. I remember once, going home from school, sucking on an icy, when I saw an old bald man walking down the street with a silken red robe. He seemed so peaceful, so calm, so happy. All around him there was a crazy life -- taxis speeding by, age and death, dirt, gangs, whatever -- and he had this simple almost dumb look on his face. I was enchanted, I wanted to be like him.

Later I found out that he wasn't a Buddhist monk, but the mentally ill neighbor Jose Pardosa.. But still, I think you get my point.

I wanted to be at peace, and all around me nobody else wanted it. Everyone on my block was either Catholic, or Jewish, or Methodist, or something like that. I was the only nineteen year old who was telling everyone that I was a Buddhist. I thought that I was the only one who wanted to sit for hours and mediditate, to sit delve hard into the rose of eternity's bliss.

At around this time Buddhism was coming into fashion around this time, and I found that telling young women that you were a Buddhist often allowed you to delve hard into their rose as well.

But after all the fun and games, I finally decided to abandon my rent controlled apartment in Queens, and do something sane -- move to Tibet where I can medidate with the Dalai Lama.

Little did I know that the Dalai Lama had been exiled from Tibet since he was a little kid. Apparently it was common knowledge.