Dimensions
140 x 210 x 24mm
In this humorous, meditative memoir-a fusion of Barbarian Days and the journals of Thomas Merton-the author of Saltwater Buddha reflects on “stumbling toward enlightenment,” his continued search to find meaning in the world's oceans as well as in the highs and lows of everyday life.For Jaimal Yogis, the path to enlightenment is surfing. Whether riding grisly waves in the Pacific or navigating the waves of the heart and the mind, Yogis discovers that it is between water and air, between control and surrender, between the tangible and the intangible, where grace can be found.Born to a family of seekers, he left home at sixteen to surf in Hawaii and join a monastery-an adventure he chronicled in Saltwater Buddha. Now he's in his early twenties, his heart is broken, and he's lost his way. Hitting the road again, he lands in a monastery in Dharamsala, where he meets Sonam, a displaced Tibetan. To help his friend, Jaimal makes a cockamamie attempt to reunite him with his family in Tibet by way of America. Though he does not succeed, witnessing Sonam's indomitable spirit in the face of failure offers Jaimal a deeper understanding of faith. When the two friends part, he cannot fathom the unlikely circumstances that will reunite them. All Our Waves Are Water follows Jaimal's trek from the Himalayas to Indonesia; from a Franciscan friary in New York City to the dusty streets of Jerusalem; and finally to San Francisco's Ocean Beach. Along the way, Jaimal prays and surfs while trying to stay afloat through grad school and journalism jobs, mourning a lost love and seeking something that keeps eluding him, until he ultimately finds what he's been looking for-that the perfect ride may well be the one we are on right now.