Russian Dynamite Trick
(for Dennis Hooper)

Meet me down at the speedway Sunday.
I will apologize.
If you don’t know I’m a changed man darlin’
then you’re in for a big surprise.
I will surely gain your attention.
I will give your karma a kick.
So please be on time.
I will blow your mind
with that Old Russian Dynamite Trick!

You put explosives out in a circle
and pray the laws of physics will apply.
You might say it’s a crazy way to live.
I say it’d be a messy way to die.
For I will sit down there in the middle
and I will light those candle sticks.
So please be on time.
I will blow your mind
with that Old Russian Dynamite Trick!

Woke up naked in Mazatlán
with psilocybin on my brain.
It’s just the kind of lifestyle
that seems to cause you so much pain.
Well that ain’t right,
but come Sunday night
you will see that I have done my time.
You’ll know I have reformed
as I perform
that Old Russian Dynamite Trick!

Meet me down at the speedway Sunday.
I will apologize.
If you don’t know I’m a changed man darlin’
then you’re in for a big surprise.
I will surely gain your attention.
I will give your karma a kick.
So please be on time.
I will blow your mind
with that Old Russian Dynamite Trick!
Be on time.
I will blow your mind
with that Old Russian Dynamite Trick!

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Zen Koans and Reality Television

You know, a lot of time was spent under the Bo-tree meditating. Anybody who has tried anything along these lines knows that the focus on enlightenment tends to be a transitory state. The mind tends to wander to some pretty strange areas.

I’m pretty sure that Siddhartha spent at least some time early on thinking about interior design. So, when I heard somebody on one of those home renovation television shows talking about wanting a “Zen” feel to their family/exercise room, all I could think was “why the hell not!”

In his Bodhisattva years, I don’t suppose that the Buddha talked a lot about enlightened interior design. But, I’m sure if and when any of his pupils asked about it, he had a pretty coherent answer at the ready.

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