"Journey to the East"

In pursuit of knowledge,
every day something is added.
In the practice of the Tao,
every day something is dropped.

- Dao De Jing, Ch. 48

For the past seven years, I have been on a "Journey to the West", in pursuit of knowledge -- Reason, Science, Modernity, and Progress. At 17, I headed West from China to Germany. At 18, I went across the Atlantic to college on the East Coast of the US. Four years after that, I moved further West to the San Francisco Bay Area to live and work.

The Journey to the West is not over, nor will it ever. But as this pilgrim of knowledge heads further and further West, he has encountered more and more of the perils and contradictions of this path. At the edge of its logical limit, West turns into East; the "pursuit of knowledge" turns into "the practice of the Tao", into the longing for wisdom, for embodiment, for returning home, for rediscovering what he has left behind at the beginning of the Journey.

Pilgrimage Prep: Gift Ecology and Financial Transparency

Of all that I have learned over the past two years, one of the most important is Gift Ecology. Thus, a key intention of the upcoming pilgrimage (of bicycling around the globe, hereafter referred to as "Pilgrimage") is to deepen into the experiments of Gift Ecology.

Our dear friend and teacher, Nipun, has courageously lived and thoroughly reflected on Gift Ecology for decades. As a toddler on this path, I will just quote that Gift Ecology is "a shift from consumption to contribution, transaction to trust, scarcity to abundance, and isolation to community." Gift Ecology recognizes that there are many forms of "capital", beyond the familiar financial value.

Below, I would like to follow a particular line of inquiry around "financial transparency", within the vast and unfolding world of Gift Ecology, in order the lay the foundation for further living that truth.

Pilgrimage Vows: A First Draft

What makes a journey a pilgrimage? Many things, of course, but a journey without vows could hardly qualify as a pilgrimage. Vows, not as an end in themselves, or as dogmas to obsess with, but as sincere intention, proper protection, necessary boundaries, and wise choices.

Below is the first draft of the vows that I am taking for the upcoming pilgrimage. A work in progress, and feedback are always appreciated.