listening to Bodhi talk about the dharma. Jimmy aggravated the other students by repeatedly interrupting and asking what, exactly, was
the dharma.
Although she had given him a long and complicated answer as far as he could tell it boiled down to what Buddhists call the Four Noble Truths.
1. Life is suffering.
2. There is a cause for that suffering.
3. There is an end to it.
4. There is a means to that end.
Instructing her on-line novitiates, Bodhi Colletti talked about how to process the negative thoughts that inevitably arise in the course of sitting on the meditation cushion and remain in the mindâs eye like bad weather. She talked about watching a thought rise, resisting the temptation to label it good or bad, then placing the thought in a pink bubble and watching it float away. She pointed out that the pink bubble, while not originating in Buddhist texts, was something her students often found helpful.
At first Jimmy thought the whole thing ridiculous, particularly the part about the pink bubble. How did people come up with this shit? But when he actually tried to do it he was astonished by the efficacy of the technique. The next time a thought about his ex-wife Darleen aroseâhe was remembering the time at the end of their marriage when she drunkenly told him about an affair with her colleague at the hotel restaurant where she worked as a hostessâhe conjured the pink bubble. FolÂlowing Bodhi Collettiâs instructions, Jimmy imagined his ex-wife Darleen encased in it. Then the pink bubble began to float away. Jimmy resisted the urge to imagine dousing the pink bubble with gasoline and lighting it on fire. That first time, however, he did manage to wish Darleen well as she soared skyward and disappeared into the clouds. The method worked a little better the next time a thought about his former spouse occurred to him, and still better the time after that. He knows he can never tell anyone about this techniqueâ
You put your ex-wife in a pink bubble and wish her well?
Anyone would laugh
â
but he does not argue with the way it eases his vexation.
There is a palpable awareness in him that this easing of vexation will involve more effort than Jimmy wants to exert. But he knows he will to have to find some motivation if heâs going to meet new people. Cali Pasco, newly minted Desert Hot Springs P.D. distaff detective, isnât exactly new
per se
, but she was off limits as long as they were on the force together. Now, though, heâs got nothing to lose. She answers on the third ring, sounds happy to hear from him. Hi, Jimmy, how you doing? Fine, you? Iâm good, whatâs up? Well, I was wondering . . . and they make what neither calls a date but involves them having dinner together tonight.
Â
The apartment is an improvement over the cell in which Dale has spent the previous three years even if itâs in Mecca. A bright one bedroom with handicapped access on the first floor of a building with walls and a roof, as a place to resume a free life Dale knows he could do a lot worse. The building is not due to open for another month and Dale is the only tenant. He spends his first hour alone watching a TV show about cars, plotting how he might get his life back on track, and not the one where heâs hustling recreational vehicles to retirees. Yes, Randall has bought him a new wheelchair, arranged for a place to live, and got him a job, but it wasnât like Dale Duke could ever go completely straight. Whatever he does this time, he vows it will be better planned than the scheme that resulted in the three-year stretch at Calipatria. That was a home invasion in Rancho Mirage. Being paraplegic limited his utility if not his desire in the home invasion field. So Dale was the lookout and the wheelman. A lot of Los Angelenos own weekend houses in the desert. Dale and his partner Gorman, a guy he knew from high school, were working the second home circuit and doing good business.
the dharma.
Although she had given him a long and complicated answer as far as he could tell it boiled down to what Buddhists call the Four Noble Truths.
1. Life is suffering.
2. There is a cause for that suffering.
3. There is an end to it.
4. There is a means to that end.
Instructing her on-line novitiates, Bodhi Colletti talked about how to process the negative thoughts that inevitably arise in the course of sitting on the meditation cushion and remain in the mindâs eye like bad weather. She talked about watching a thought rise, resisting the temptation to label it good or bad, then placing the thought in a pink bubble and watching it float away. She pointed out that the pink bubble, while not originating in Buddhist texts, was something her students often found helpful.
At first Jimmy thought the whole thing ridiculous, particularly the part about the pink bubble. How did people come up with this shit? But when he actually tried to do it he was astonished by the efficacy of the technique. The next time a thought about his ex-wife Darleen aroseâhe was remembering the time at the end of their marriage when she drunkenly told him about an affair with her colleague at the hotel restaurant where she worked as a hostessâhe conjured the pink bubble. FolÂlowing Bodhi Collettiâs instructions, Jimmy imagined his ex-wife Darleen encased in it. Then the pink bubble began to float away. Jimmy resisted the urge to imagine dousing the pink bubble with gasoline and lighting it on fire. That first time, however, he did manage to wish Darleen well as she soared skyward and disappeared into the clouds. The method worked a little better the next time a thought about his former spouse occurred to him, and still better the time after that. He knows he can never tell anyone about this techniqueâ
You put your ex-wife in a pink bubble and wish her well?
Anyone would laugh
â
but he does not argue with the way it eases his vexation.
There is a palpable awareness in him that this easing of vexation will involve more effort than Jimmy wants to exert. But he knows he will to have to find some motivation if heâs going to meet new people. Cali Pasco, newly minted Desert Hot Springs P.D. distaff detective, isnât exactly new
per se
, but she was off limits as long as they were on the force together. Now, though, heâs got nothing to lose. She answers on the third ring, sounds happy to hear from him. Hi, Jimmy, how you doing? Fine, you? Iâm good, whatâs up? Well, I was wondering . . . and they make what neither calls a date but involves them having dinner together tonight.
Â
The apartment is an improvement over the cell in which Dale has spent the previous three years even if itâs in Mecca. A bright one bedroom with handicapped access on the first floor of a building with walls and a roof, as a place to resume a free life Dale knows he could do a lot worse. The building is not due to open for another month and Dale is the only tenant. He spends his first hour alone watching a TV show about cars, plotting how he might get his life back on track, and not the one where heâs hustling recreational vehicles to retirees. Yes, Randall has bought him a new wheelchair, arranged for a place to live, and got him a job, but it wasnât like Dale Duke could ever go completely straight. Whatever he does this time, he vows it will be better planned than the scheme that resulted in the three-year stretch at Calipatria. That was a home invasion in Rancho Mirage. Being paraplegic limited his utility if not his desire in the home invasion field. So Dale was the lookout and the wheelman. A lot of Los Angelenos own weekend houses in the desert. Dale and his partner Gorman, a guy he knew from high school, were working the second home circuit and doing good business.
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