Saltwater Buddha: A Surfer's Quest to Find Zen on the Sea [Paperback]

Jaimal Yogis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2009

Fed up with suburban teenage life, Jaimal Yogis ran off to Hawaii with little more than a copy of Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha and enough cash for a surfboard. His journey is a coming-of-age saga that takes him from communes to monasteries and the icy New York shore. Equal parts spiritual memoir and surfer's tale, this is a chronicle of finding meditative focus in the barrel of a wave and eternal truth in the great salty blue.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A journalist, photographer, surfer and Zen Master, Yogis began the life of a roving seeker his junior year of high school, when he ran away from his Sacramento, Calif. home to learn how to surf in Hawaii. His subsequent travels include a handful of prime surfing spots, but Yogis's more arresting journey is spiritual, taking him to monasteries in France and Berkley, Calif., and deep into the living tradition of Zen Buddhism. Captured here in short chapters and wonderful, visual prose, Yogis's coming-of-age odyssey also takes readers into the culture of indigenous Hawaiians, who believe the gods were surfers. Yogis's long-time surfing mentor Rom provides insight into the science of surfing, ocean swells, the bathymetry of the continental shelf, deep water canyons and sea mounts. Even land lovers will find Yogis's lessons resonant and entertaining, but surfers will find this a quick, surprisingly deep tribute to the quest for surf and serenity.
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Review

"Jaimal's story is, in part, an adventure story in which the sea is a powerful antagonist, at once the siren and the ogre, irresistible and terrifying in its sheer, monstrous power. For this author, it's a voracious and demanding lover, and he is skilled at summoning its ever-changing presence."--The Huffington Post


"A journalist, photographer, and surfer, Yogis began the life of a roving seeker his junior year of high school, when he ran away from his Sacramento, Calif. home to learn how to surf in Hawaii. His subsequent travels include a handful of prime surfing spots, but Yogis's more arresting journey is spiritual, taking him to monasteries in France and Berkley, Calif., and deep into the living tradition of Zen Buddhism. Captured here in short chapters and wonderful, visual prose, Yogis's coming-of-age odyssey also takes readers into the culture of indigenous Hawaiians, who believe the gods were surfers. Yogis's long-time surfing mentor Rom provides insight into the science of surfing, ocean swells, the bathymetry of the continental shelf, deep water canyons and sea mounts. Even land lovers will find Yogis's lessons resonant and entertaining, but surfers will find this a quick, surprisingly deep tribute to the quest for surf and serenity."--Publishers Weekly

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Wisdom Publications (May 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0861715357
• ISBN-13: 978-0861715350
• Product Dimensions: 5 x 0.7 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (94 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #15,716 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #2 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( B ) > Buddha
  • #6 in Books > Sports & Outdoors > Outdoor Recreation > Surfing
  • #28 in Books > Sports & Outdoors > Water Sports

More About the Author

Jaimal Yogis is an author, journalist, and outdoors-man. His first book, a coming-of-age memoir called Saltwater Buddha, was praised by The Times of London, The Age, Publishers Weekly, The San Francisco Chronicle, and is currently being made into a film. Jaimal's second book, The Fear Project, is a personal and journalistic investigation into our most primal emotion. To report the story, Jaimal plunged into the water with great white sharks, surfed waves as tall four-story buildings, traveled to some of the world's most cutting edge neuroscience labs, and interviewed some of the top extreme athletes and psychologists in the country.

A graduate of Columbia Journalism School, Jaimal's magazine reporting has won awards like the 2005 Leslie Rachel Sanders Award for Social Justice Reporting, a 2007 Maggie Award for "Best Magazine Feature," and two Scripps Howard reporting scholarships. In 2010, The Common Wealth Club voted him "The New Face of San Francisco Media" for his popular writing in San Francisco Magazine. His stories have also been published in ESPN Magazine, AFAR, Runner's World, The Surfers Journal, The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, and many others. He has been a guest-lecturer at UC Berkeley, Columbia University, and San Francisco State.

Jaimal lives near San Francisco's Ocean Beach with his wife Amy and son Kaifas.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 38 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful and insightful book May 1, 2009

By David

Format:Paperback

I started surfing about 3 months ago. That was also around the same time I started seriously looking at Buddhism. It is amazing that I discovered Jamail Yogis's book while going through a vaguely parallel experience.

Coming from this perspective, Saltwater Buddha is an amazing book that blends personal memoir with spiritual insight. It is thoughtful, well-written, and an entertaining read. The last point is worth emphasizing - a spiritual journey may be very interesting to the person going through it, but it will not necessarily resonate with others. Yogis has accomplished the task of translating his inner journey into a narrative that holds the reader's attention and can speak to people from varied spiritual backgrounds.

From a purely descriptive perspective, the book is about a man's intellectual, emotional, and spiritual maturation. Yogis lived a life that many of us dream of. Several times during his life he followed his impulses and went to Hawai'i to pursue his passion for surfing. However, these excursions to Hawai'i were bracketed by emotional growth and learning to take responsibility. As easy as it would be to lose oneself in a tropical paradise, Yogis realized that he needed to balance his passion with the more mundane aspects of life. The book traces his journey back and forth between these twin forces.

At the same time, Yogis is going through significant spiritual growth. Whether it is through private meditation or a stint in a monastery, his spiritual education moved through both formal and informal channels. More significantly, much of his spiritual growth came out of his movement between passion and responsibility. Life is often the greatest spiritual guide. For him, it was surfing that had one of the largest impacts on his journey. Not only did it serve as a metaphor for many of the formal principles in Buddhism, but it also served as spiritual practice.

Most of the surfers that I know acknowledge the spiritual impact surfing has. While they may not recognize it inside a specific dogmatic framework, they are certainly aware of the connection between surfing and some larger cosmic mystery. One reason that Yogis's book is so fascinating is that he looks at surfing through the lens of a particular spirituality. This helps to give structure to thoughts about how surfing impacts people.

Looking at surfing through the lens of Buddhism is not, obviously, just a literary device used by Yogis. However, this particular perspective is what makes Saltwater Buddha unique and engaging. Buddhism is capable of embracing so many different paths of spirituality and surfing was one of the paths for Yogis. The structure of the book reflects this interconnection - spiritual insight is interwoven with the narrative of his life. Each piece serves to illuminate the other.

This is, of course, how life is actually experienced. We do not experience inner and outer experience as separate things. Instead, our spiritual/emotional/intellectual life is completely intertwined with our experiences in the world. We find meaning in the events of our lives and those same events give validation (or challenge) our worldview. It is difficult to capture this in an effective way and even more difficult to convey this to another person in a structured and coherent way. Again, this is a task that Yogis has admirably accomplished.

I have purchased several copies of the book because I plan to give them to friends; to both surfers and nonsurfers. I have found that Saltwater Buddha gives expression to many of the experiences I am having myself. I have found it so difficult to explain my experiences to people that don't surf - which makes Saltwater Buddha even more impressive. Yogis has found an effective way to give voice to the deeply emotional and spiritual aspects of an activity that many dismiss as idle fancy. We should all be thankful for this gift.

I am confident that this book will open your eyes to a different world; even if you have no interest in surfing or Buddhism.

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly Recommended June 10, 2009

By Nicholas Ross

Format:Paperback

If you are a new surfer, read this book.
If you are a master surfer, read this book.
Read it like you were a kid again and like you are discovering all this for the first time.
Give it to your non-surfer friends.
Give it to your buddies who have yet to realize the real gift of surfing despite their pro status on the waves.
Give it to your comrades who could have written it themselves.
Give it to your landlocked nephew in Montana.
Translating the wisdom of water and of Zen in his own life, Jaimal Yogis shares lessons that reach far beyond surfing.
Romantic and real, simple and deep, Saltwater Buddha reminds each of us that living with compassion and zeal each moment
is what makes a meaningful life.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars WAY outside my comfort zone, but I liked this book! January 29, 2011

By Pamela S.

Format:Paperback

Saltwater Buddha by Jaimal Yogis is an autobiography of his life's journey, as well as homage to his Buddhist beliefs and his love of surfing. Jaimal Yogis was a troubled teen, with a wandering spirit that was drawn to adventure. Leaving home his junior year of high school, Yogis learned to surf and fend for himself on the shores of Hawaii. Once his parents tracked him down, Yogis' path lead him physically to several diverse places such as France, Northern California and Long Island. Spiritually, Yogis' path lead him to Zen Buddhism.

To say that Saltwater Buddha is outside of my comfort zone, is an understatement. This book is all about surfing, a young person's quest to find himself and Buddhism. I am a scrapbooking middle-aged suburban mom. Even so, I did like this book. Yogis' descriptions of the perfect waves were lyrical. His honesty about the struggles to find himself was inspiring. Yogis' openness to the many adventures of life was engaging, especially his stories about caring for an ailing Christian man and his adventures surfing of Long Island. Yogis is a gifted writer.

Saltwater Buddha is a very quick read. The writing in Saltwater Buddha is more stream of consciousness, rather than long developed chapters. For example, on Page 80, the entire page consists of one sentence, "It was awful." As dramatic writing, these short bursts of thoughts are effective, but they really do shorten the book and give it a jumpy feel. In contrast, Saltwater Buddha drones on at times about Buddhist history and philosophy. To be honest, I did skim several chapters where Yogis explained the intricacies of Buddhism.