# Chapter 17: The Piedmont House The Piedmont House was an old bohemian mansion that had stood the tests of time since the early sixties, with little change, save for the transitory guests cycling in and out of the house. Large stacks of books scattered around the living room towered from the floors. Various makeshift shelving held boxes of board games and potted houseplants. Each sofa and armchair wore a weathered upholstery whose colors still managed to brighten up the room. --- ## Meditation in the Living Room I sat on one of the couches, crossed my legs in a half lotus and began to meditate with my eyes open. I was alone with all the bric-a-brac, the baby grand piano in the corner, and the tall ficus standing upright on the opposite side. It felt good to just sit in the silence of that room and blend in with my surroundings. That was the point of meditation anyway, wasn't it?—to be completely enveloped by the present moment, without any commentary of what was happening but being the very something that was happening! --- ## Meeting Allen Then someone else arrived—a tall Black man with dreadlocks. He wore a button-down shirt that was only buttoned from the belly down. A necklace of wooden beads covered his boney chest. He sat across from me and for a while didn't say anything. He just played on his tablet and would occasionally huff and puff at what he was doing. I sat still, focused on my breathing. It was natural for me not to budge. My whole body was vibrating at a very high level after the recitation. He laid on the couch now and seemed to enjoy my presence, being that he didn't disturb me for some time. Then he put his tablet away and rested with his eyes closed. After a few more restless minutes he asked me my name: "Not to bother you brother, but you seem to be in some pretty deep stuff. My name's Allen, how about you?" I tried to speak but the words didn't come. I did manage to nod my head. --- ## Allen's Philosophy He continued talking: "I like where your head's at. See this world is a funny place and we can't always be sure this physical reality isn't all just an illusion, right? You know all these geometrical forms—tables and chairs, plants and books, you and I—it's all just energy and matter. Man, this life is a trip." > [!reflection] Suspended in Stillness > I started concentrating on the spot between his eyes and the room started to appear like it was revolving in a spiral and him and I were suspended in stillness. He went on talking about Native American fire lodge ceremonies, clipping marijuana buds in a warehouse upstate, and the ongoing love saga of a woman he was seeing back in Toronto. I listened and said very few words, as my right leg was starting to burn from sitting in a half lotus posture for up to an hour by that time. It was as if his whole life was being transmitted into my consciousness during a brief one-hour conversation. Every now and then he'd flip his dreads over his right ear. --- ## The Five Precepts It was still only my first day back from The City of Ten Thousand Buddhas and I was seriously considering taking a vow to obey the five precepts, which in some traditions is a vow to become a formal Buddhist, along with taking the three refuges of Buddha, Dharma and Sangha—Enlightenment, The Teachings to enlightenment, the Community walking the path to enlightenment together. > [!note] The Five Precepts > The five precepts are meant to offer the liberation from one's own conscience that can easily become guilty when we feel we have strayed from our moral compass. By following the five precepts, there is never a reason to second-guess one's behaviors or be burdened with thoughts of guilt. Hence the mind is clean, and a clean mind can concentrate. A clean mind can go deeper into the wells of wisdom because it isn't doubting its own actions or producing further karmic entanglements. > > The five precepts are as follows: > 1. I shall abstain from killing any sentient or non-sentient beings > 2. I shall abstain from intoxicants > 3. I shall abstain from lying > 4. I shall abstain from sexual misconduct > 5. I shall abstain from stealing > > Through these abstentions, one can meditate with a clear conscience, for when we do engage in the above actions, our mind is afflicted and new karma is created to be dealt with at some future time. Yet I was still struggling with the intoxicant part. I loved my cannabis and I accredited it to awakening my mind to my cosmic belonging in the first place. It was uneasy to consider never partaking in another toke again. Yet I was feeling very committed to the path and the benefits I was receiving from meditation and the Buddhist teachings were real and evident. I was feeling waves of compassion for my fellow humans, my mind was sharp and clear, and I had a deep faith that my life was meaningful. --- ## The Walk A few more guests arrived in the living room, bursting the bubble of consciousness Allen and I were absorbed in. He looked at me. "Wanna take a walk?" When we got outside he offered me a joint. "This is some of that Afghan Kush I just clipped upstate. Wanna smoke some and walk up the hill?" > [!warning] The Test > Not even a day out of the City and I was being tested. I was feeling so free. The second half of my journey was just beginning and I was now on the street-level part of my spiritual ride through California. Allen and I had hit it off and I was curious to see where our walk would lead. "Sure," I said. --- ## Dancing Through Berkeley We smoked the kush and we walked through the Berkeley hills. The sun was setting and we could see it sinking just beyond the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance. The sky was a gorgeous purple gradient collapsing into an orange core. Allen and I were skipping between trees and fire hydrants—dancing to the invisible music we heard. > [!magic] Pure Feeling > No conversation could capture the pure feeling of life that we both felt. The city, the trees, the sky, were all our inheritance, our nourishment and our muse. We took a long walk before arriving back at the Piedmont House where the kitchen was alive and busy. --- ## Dumpster Diving Feast A girl who I hadn't met yet shouted at us as we entered: "Geoff and Dan came back with groceries from Berkeley Bowl. They went dumpster diving and scored a bunch of food for everyone. We're cooking it up now, just hang out in the living room and we'll ring the bell when it's all done!" "Dumpster diving?" I thought. Did that mean they pulled the groceries right from the trash? Yes, it did. Containers of greens that were expiring in a day, produce on the brink of passing its prime, broccoli that was slightly discolored—all perfectly edible food being disposed because it didn't meet the market's standards. Dumpster diving not only helps eliminate waste but it saves you a heck of a lot of money. --- ## The Community The Piedmont House was bustling now. Many new guests had arrived while Allen and I had gone for our walk. There was Madeleine, a beautiful blonde girl in her mid-twenties on her way to Antarctica to study fossils. Then there was Ray, an intellectual, political type who was studying Eastern Religions at Berkeley. Marionette was the chubby colorful brunette announcing the dinner plans when we first got back. She was girlfriend to both the dumpster divers, Geoff and Dan. Geoff was dark-skinned, tall and skinny, while Dan was short and plump. The three of them shared a single bed, which happened to be in the same room as mine that night. There were many interesting guests passing through on their journeys around the globe—professionals and vagabonds, musicians and athletes, elders and teens, all living out their story. And that night we shared a wonderfully cooked feast sourced right from our local dumpster. --- ## Whose House? At one point Marionette asked, "Whose house is this really?" And the old man who'd remained in my peripheral since I arrived, usually dusting and reorganizing books on the shelves, said: > [!wisdom] The Truth > "Don't you all see, it's all our house. It's whoever-is-here's house." And I knew in the moment, by 'house,' he also meant this planet and this reality. --- *End of Part One* --- > [!reflection] The Journey Continues > The pilgrimage that began with a cliff dive at Peace Rock had brought me here—to a bohemian house in Berkeley, surrounded by strangers who felt like family, eating food rescued from dumpsters, smoking kush in the hills, and understanding that we all belong to each other. > > I had traveled 3,000 miles to learn what the old man just taught me in a single sentence: This house—this earth—belongs to whoever is here. All of us. Together. > > The journey from Staten Island wasn't over. It was just beginning. --- *To be continued...*