at Barnes & Noble. I was there trying to find party favor gifts that a seven year old might actually enjoy and that their parents wouldn't want to throw away immediately. After I found the Ninja Mad Libs, I was walking to the register and found the paperback "Zen Confidential: Confessions of a Wayward Monk." I grabbed it and a review by Leonard Cohen on the back called the author "a punk of a monk." And with that I took it to the register.

I have let my own sitting practice lapse for far too long. There are fits and starts, and I remember why it is so necessary, and then life gets in the way. But life will always get in the way. That is why sitting helps. Right inside the cover is a quote by Dogen that gives me hope...."A Zen master's life is one continuous mistake." I'm no Zen master, and if he can't get it right, why do I have to try so hard?