© 1989 LUCASFILM ltd.
It was 1989 and I was 6 years old. I can still remember my mother hanging up the phone and shaking her head. Although I was incredibly stubborn, the logic that seeing any movie rather than no movie at all must have appealed to me. That is why I picked myself up off the red and blue tiled kitchen floor and agreed to see Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade rather than a possibly more popular movie among my age bracket, which starred a professional wrestler named Hulk Hogan. I dried my eyes as my mother picked up the phone again.
I can remember standing in line, having completely forgotten all about the battle from earlier in the day. The velvet meniscus of the queue ropes passed below my eyes, and I tried to decipher a pictorial representation of the movie rating system; which included a giraffe in the G section and a man with a mustache and sunglasses in the X section. I asked my Aunt what "Rated X" meant, she asked me if I wanted any popcorn. I did.
If there is anyway a six year old could be completely enthralled by something that was completely over his head, George Lucas seemed to have found it. I was so clueless about many of the details of the movie at the time, that now I recall an afternoon in my Grandmother's back yard where I explained to family members how Indiana had to spell Insect in Latin, rather than Jehovah. Fortunately, all of that is not so important. The movie struck a spiritual chord within me that has resonated throughout my childhood to the present. The quest for the holy grail as depicted in the movie represented much more to me than just that, it was a mysterious connection to something supernatural, something that I had not been able to put my finger on until recently. Looking back I've come to realize that most of my life, whether I've known it or not, has been devoted to finding the answers to the deep spiritual questions that pervade human existence. In fact most of the time I did not know it, most of the time I tried my hardest to reject it.
For nearly three years, my study of Buddhism has brought meaning and clarity to my life. It is time now to make my own quest to a land of antiquity, much like the archaeologist hero from my childhood. A chance to experience what I deeply try to embody, and to cultivate the motivation for practice known as Pasada which keeps the unsatisfactoriness of life from turning to despair.
The final challenge Indiana faces before reaching the holy grail is a "leap from the lion's head," a leap of faith. My leap will take place with faith in myself; knowing that I'm making the right decisions for the right reasons, a confidence that I don't normally have. As many of you know this wasn't easy for me, so I would like to thank my family, teachers, friends and all others from George Lucas on down who have supported me and are the reason for where I am today. I will take you all with me in my travels, which I mean as an endearment and literally; because we are all interconnected and can never be separated, that is the beauty of all things.
Right now dave the cat is curled up on my raincoat on the floor, I'd like to think it means that he doesn't want me to leave.
A Dedication: May the merits of this trip be spread to all sentient beings, so that they may be happy, healthy, free from stress and pain, and live with ease.
