Saltwater Buddha (Paperback)

A Surfer's Quest to Find Zen on the Sea.

I first met author Jaimal Yogis on a spectacular San Francisco day out at Ocean Beach. It was the kind of golden coast day that rolls around maybe a handful of times all year in San Francisco: Weather in the high 70s, head high plus waves, with nary a lick of wind in a place infamous for nasty springtime weather. It was the kind of day that had even the saltiest of outer Sunset locals feeling good and smiling. Jaimal and I were both kicking it in a cafe a block from the sand, sitting at separate tables, and we struck up some easy conversation, with Jaimal's energy matching the golden energy of the day. Seeing as how he was an author and surf journo, I stoked him on a copy of Surf Stronger, and he in turn promised me a copy of his then in-progress book about surfing and zen. Seven months later, Saltwater Buddha showed up on my door. I threw it in my backpack and took it with me on a six week sojourn to eastern Panama. I read the book there in the rainforest during my first couple weeks.

Saltwater Buddha is that rare book that you just don't want to put down, but don't want to finish either. I cherished every chapter and every character I met along the way in his book. Tales of surfing Ocean Beach (my own home break), escaping to Maui, and his time in New York and various monasteries, all contribute to a colorful and interesting look at both surfing and zen through the eyes of a twenty-something searcher. Saltwater Buddha is a wonderful read, right up there with the other surf classics, House Inside the Waves, Caught Inside and Tapping the Source.

Product description: 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.

$14.95
saltwater buddha