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I can already hear everyone's responses to the title as I'm writing this:

"Oh my god, did he just say I should study Buddhism and give up my beliefs in God? That's BS. I'll never visit this site again!"

Okay, maybe that is slightly exaggerated, but anybody that sticks around long enough to read this will realize that is not what I'm trying to say at all. I just want to explain to you how my knowledge of Zen* increased my productivity, my freedom, my self-confidence, my happiness, and overall wellbeing.
I believe that everybody can benefit by knowing (at least a little) about Zen, regardless of one's religious faith (I'm not a Buddhist, and I don't necessarily think you should become one either).

To emphasize:
This is not an informational guide about Zen Buddhism, rather an explanation of how I implemented some zen practices and principles and improved my life.

While there are 16 precepts of Zen Buddhism, Zen--as it relates to Life With No Borders--is much simpler.

The Life With No Borders Zen Precepts are:

1. Embrace simplicity
2. Maintain consciousness
3. Take action

The important thing the remember in implementing the three precepts above is that they are not mutually exclusive--You will not be able to effectively embrace simplicity if you cannot maintain consciousness and take action. You will not be able to maintain consciousness if you don't take action to do so, and your actions will likely not follow the correct course if you don't maintain consciousness and embrace simplicity. Please keep that in mind as you continue reading.

Life With No Borders Zen Precept Number 1: Embrace Simplicity

Simplicity is the highest form of sophistication
--Leonardo da Vinci

In the hustle and bustle of the world today, the general tendency is for almost everything to seem (and be) complicated. Most people have just accepted that life is complicated and nothing they can do (short of moving to a cabin in the woods) will make it any less so--(It may have something to do with the Law of Entropy that we all learned in school). However, after taking various actions (outlined below) to embrace simplicity, things "magically" began to calm down in my life.

There are two sides to implementing simplicity as a rule to live by: the physical side and the mental side.

The physical (and actionable) application of this precept is found in my rule of limiting physical baggage. However, I don't see it as an "end goal" of having fewer physical possessions; simplicity is not a goal to be reached à la cabin in the woods example above, but rather a rule to live by (which just happens to result in the ownership of fewer possessions). Another physical application of embracing simplicity is to reduce the amount of clutter in one's environment. Princeton published a study in the Journal of Neuroscience (the link broke, but I believe it was in January of 2011) which demonstrated that reducing physical clutter (easily actionable--maybe it could be a starting place for you to take action on implementing these precepts in your life!) will greatly improve one's ability to concentrate, focus, and be productive.

On the mental side, it is important to maintain consciousness which will allow you to ignore the noise and stay focused on any one task. Don't over-complicate by attempting multiple things at once. When you have something that you need to get done, I find it simplifies my life to get it down on paper (or into a task management system) RIGHT AWAY. Don't tell yourself that you will put it into your system later, because then you are adding to your mental complexity by telling yourself to remember something. By putting it on paper, you are reducing the hodgepodge (yes, I did just use that word) of things that may be going through your mind by at least one. Turn this into a habit, and eventually you wont have the "hodgepodge" anymore. Of course, the paper/task management system is only necessary if you can't just do the task right away. If that is an option, I recommend that you just finish the task now and be done with it. There is no room for procrastination in the LWNB Zen Precepts.

Some potential criticism:

"But Kyle, I know you have a smart phone. Don't you think that is more complex than a regular phone, and therefore adds complexity to your life and breaks your first precept?"

Of course a smartphone is more complex than a regular phone, but I don't care about the complexity of the device, it's whether or not complexity is added to my life that is important. I have a smart phone because it decreases the complexity in my life. Rather than having a digital camera, an mp3 player, a video camera, and a net-book computer to carry around with me everywhere, I can carry one thing that is barely larger than a deck of cards and replaces all the aforementioned items and then some. Now instead of having 4 things that I need to worry about breaking/getting stolen/carrying around, I can have just one. Plus, it increases my PNP by enough that it would be worth a little added complexity anyway.

"But do you really need all those things? Isn't that adding unnecessary complexity to your life?"

No, I don't NEED them in the sense that I could survive without them. But it sure is convenient to have them when I do want them, rather than needing to search out an internet cafe, or miss taking a cool picture/video to show you guys. It all comes down to whether or not it increases my PNP (Positive Net Pleasure), which brings us to number two.

Life With No Borders Zen Precept Number 2: Maintain Consciousness

You cannot control what happens to you, but you can control your attitude toward what happens to you, and in that, you will be mastering change rather than allowing it to master you.
--Brian Tracy

Most powerful is he who has himself in his own power.
--Seneca

This is the part that will have the most obvious influence on Zen Buddhism, and I will start with a little explanation of what Zen is. The word Zen is derived from a word which means "meditation," and the path (towards enlightenment) of Zen is through meditation. One of the main characteristics that separates Zen from other sects of Buddhism is its belief that enlightenment can be attained without relying on the "words and letters" of scripture, but rather by becoming conscious of one's own mind and awakening to one's own true nature. The most common form of Zen meditation focuses on controlling one's thoughts in order to empty one's mind, allowing one to live completely in the present, not the past or future. By doing so, one becomes conscious of the enlightened nature inside us all and the oneness of everything, therefore attaining nirvana.

While that may seem heavy to you (in the '80s sense of the word), its application as a LWNB Zen Precept is simple: Become conscious of your thoughts, and realize that you can control them, they don't need to control you. This isn't something that can happen passively, you will need to take action to maintain a conscious state of mind. By controlling your thoughts, you will be able to greatly improve your concentration and focus, resulting in vastly improved productivity. Multitasking is more often than not the result of "lazy thinking". By not being conscious (and controlling) one's thoughts, one loses focus and concentration which greatly reduces productivity (according to many sites). Taking action to maintain consciousness is essential.

Next time you are about to get mad about something, just stop yourself--You do have the power. Think about what you have to gain (if anything) by getting mad, and your likelihood of achieving it. If you think (and be honest with yourself) that your (measured!) anger will result in a positive outcome, then BY-ALL-MEANS let yourself get reasonably angry! However, if you don't expect any positive outcome from your anger, then just don't get angry. Nobody nor anything can make you get angry--you just allow yourself to become angry about certain things. This applies to all emotions, not just anger. Wake up, and then maintain your consciousness. Only then can you take control.

Life With No Borders Zen Precept Number 3: Take Action

We cannot do everything at once, but we can do something at once.
--Calvin Coolidge

An idea not coupled with action will never get any bigger than the brain cell it occupied.
--Arnold Glasow

Many a false step was made by standing still.
--Unknown

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.
--George Bernard Shaw

Last, and certainly not least of the LWNB Zen Precepts is to actually do something! All the thoughts and plans in the world will never amount to anything if no action is taken to realize them. Procrastination, and putting things off until a "better time" are the enemies here. If you are putting something off until a "better time" then you are most likely just kidding yourself (don't forget LWNB Zen Precept Number 2) that there will be a better time. Unless you can state a specific date and/or very specific rational (again, don't kid yourself) reasons why another time will be a better time to take that action, if you are able to take it now, then do it. Don't waste your time, focus, and energy wishing for something without making any attempt to make it happen. Some common examples:

"I've always wanted to travel through south east Asia, but I can't right now. I'm just too busy."

• Stop kidding yourself. If you are "too busy" now, then can you clearly state when you will no longer be "too busy"? If so, then take action and buy your ticket for that time! If not, then, stop kidding yourself and either:
  1) give up your dream, (not recommended) or
  2) Take action to MAKE IT HAPPEN! (schedule a vacation from work at a time that works for you, or re-arrange your commitments to no longer be "too busy"). If you actually care about it, then stop waiting and DO SOMETHING.

"I'm already in my late thirties and married. We both want a child but we are too busy with work right now, so we are waiting until the timing is better."

• Can you tell yourself when you will be ready? What will change between now and then? If you think you just don't know enough, then take action by buying an informational book! Though I have no parenting experience, my guess is that almost NO parents can feel completely ready before they have their first child (and those that feel they are probably find out quite soon that they in fact weren't). Of course I can't say with certainty, but maybe now is as good a time as any.

"I really want to quit my job that I've been working at for 10 years because it makes me hate my life. But the timing just isn't right."

• What is stopping you from doing it now? What makes you think the timing will be any better "someday in the future"? Probably nothing. Just figure out what you want to do, and then DO IT.

In summary, I'll leave you with a quote by Tim Ferriss that hits the nail on the head:

For all of the most important things, the timing always sucks. Waiting for a good time to quit your job? The stars will never align and the traffic lights of life will never all be green at the same time. The universe doesn't conspire against you, but it doesn't go out of its way to line up the pins either. Conditions are never perfect. 'Someday' is a disease that will take your dreams to the grave with you. Pro and con lists are just as bad. If it's important to you and you want to do it 'eventually,' just do it and correct course along the way.

 

If I have at all piqued your interest in Zen, here are some sources for you to get more information:

 

• Zen Guide
• YouTube - Eastern Wisdom - Modern Life w/ Alan Watts (1959)
• Books by Alan Watts
• The modern classic: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig
• The Way of the Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman
• Zen Habits an enlightening blog by Leo Babauta (click "Start Here" on the right side)

* For clarification, throughout this article, I'm primarily talking about the significantly less-structured "Occidental Zen" (my own term) that doesn't have any sort of focus on the three treasures, which *technically* makes it not Buddhism at all.

While I was on Koh Chang, I had the awesome opportunity to trek through the woods on an elephant, and then swim with her in a crystal clear mountain stream. It was awesome!

This is the process that it took to go from Koh Chang, Thailand to Siem Reap, Cambodia overland in one day. It was a really long day, but you'll be able to get a great view of the Thai countryside, but by the time I got to Cambodia, it was already too dark to see much there.

• 0600 - Wake up and pack
• 0630 - At reception, ready to check out. I asked the night before, and they said that it wouldn't be a problem to check out that early, but nobody showed up until
• 0730 - Checking out from the hostel on Lonely Beach
• 0800 - Taxi to Centerpoint ferry from Lonely Beach - 100 Baht/person
• 0900 - Arrive at the ferry and buy tickets to mainland - 70 Baht/person
• 0930 - The ferry leaves Koh Chang
• 1015 - The ferry arrives; disembark and catch a Songthaew to Trat bus station - 50 Baht/person
• 1115 - Arrive at the Trat bus station
• 1130 - Catch the slowest bus ever to Sa Kaeo - 185 Baht/person
• 1645 - Arrive in Sa Kaeo & buy bus ticket to Aranyapathet - 43 Baht/person
• 1745 - Bus to Aranyapathet departs
• 1830 - Arrival at Aranyapathet, catch a tuk-tuk to the Thai/Cambodian border - 80 Baht
• 1840 - Arrival at fake Cambodian visa office. Calmly argue that I know it's fake, until getting out of the tuk tuk to walk to the border.
• 1855 - Arrival at real border and go through all the entry processing. - 20 USD/person
• 1930 - Catch a shared association car with 4 people total from Poipet to Siem Reap - 400 Baht/person
• 2130 - Arrive in Siem Reap & argue with the driver about bringing us to our guesthouse rather than selling us to the tuk tuk drivers for them to take us wherever they want
• 2150 - Arrive at our guesthouse safely

In summary, the travel stated at 8am and lasted until 2130, making for 11.5 hours of straight travel time, and a cost of 928 Baht/person (plus the visa fee). This would have been further complicated (and more expensive) if I didn't do proper research about all the scams that can potentially happen when crossing the border from Thailand to Cambodia. That is my strongest recommendation for anybody going across the Poipet/Aranyapathet border--read about all the potential scams! I avoided losing money and time to at least 3 scams (1-Direct tours from Koh Chang to Siem Reap, 2-Fake Cambodian Visa office, 3-Getting sold to the tuk-tuks outside Siem Reap) during my 11.5 hour trip by knowing what they could be ahead of time. Just do 10 minutes of online research (I'll get you started here.)

If anybody has anything to add, or wants to share their experiences with this trip/the border crossing, please contribute in the comments!

I don't believe there is a better way to get around places in the Philippines than driving a motorcycle. Motorcycling is not only a much faster way to get places (lane-splitting is legal here so traffic isn't as much of a problem), but it is also significantly cheaper. This savings comes in the form of:

1. The up front cost of the motorcycle (I got mine for 15,000 Php)
2. Fuel efficiency (obviously), and
3. Parking costs (motorcycles can park almost anywhere, and even when it does cost money, it's cheaper than a car)

 

However, there is at least one drawback to motorcycles, and that is safety.

On September 12, while I was driving around the island of Negros Oriental (on the road between Siaton and Zamboanguita), I was in a 40-50kph motorcycle crash. The details of how the crash happened aren't important (it wasn't my fault), but what is important is that it gave me my first experience with the Philippines emergency healthcare system.

Within a few minutes of the crash, I was surrounded by about 10 people that were trying to help. They made sure that I was okay, and they also called the police. I was mostly okay, except for my shoulder which began to hurt more and more as the effects of adrenaline were wearing off. By the time the police showed up about 20 minutes later, I could barely lift my arm. The police showed up in a vehicle that was very similar to a Songthaew, but it had a back seat attached to the cab up front. The police helped me get into the back seat of the cab, and then (with the help of the bystanders) loaded the motorcycle into the back. They drove us to Zamboanguita, and dropped us off at the Zamboanguita Health Center. There, I was supposed to get cleaned up, and then walk to the police station (directly next-door). I can say that I was "cleaned up" only by the loosest of definitions, but after they were finished I went next-door to the police station to complete the incident report and wait while they called my friend to come from Dumaguete (the place that I was staying) and get me.

When my friend finally arrived, I found out that she came with her boyfriend on a motorcycle and there was no way that I would be able to ride with them (no, not because I was too scared, but there just wasn't enough room :P ). So I hired an ambulance to take me to the hospital in Dumaguete because I needed to get an x-ray of my shoulder.

On the way to one of the private hospitals in Dumaguete (Siliman University Medical Center--described to me as the "most private," which apparently equals the best), the ambulance had to stop somewhere to pick up another guy who had been hit by a motorcycle. They loaded him and his friends/relatives into the back with me and my companions, and then dropped them off at another hospital before bringing us to our destination.

Do you know how much the x-ray cost?

 

450 Php. And no that isn't a typo.

 

What about the ambulance ride (a little over 1 hour long)?

 

100 Php. And no, that isn't a typo either.

 

My prescription drugs (antibiotics and mild anti-inflammatory painkillers) ended up costing more than 3 times as much as everything else at around 2,500 Php. But get this--the motorcycle's insurance covered all of my medical care, including the drugs and ambulance.
Cool, huh?

Overall, everything worked out fine. I can still barely lift my arm, but my road rash (on my right arm and leg) is almost entirely healed already. Now, I'm back in Manila, making the preparations for my next trip which is in just a few weeks. I'll keep you posted.

I bought this girl a meal while I was eating at a cafe in Siem Reap. She originally came over to try to sell me bracelets or books, but I offered to let her order off the menu instead. She was very thankful, and she wrote a note in my journal that I'll scan and post here sometime soon. While we ate we talked a lot about her country and her life. She was very friendly (a characteristic that was amazingly apparent throughout the entire Khmer population), and she even wanted to bring me skating and show me around the area. Regretfully, I couldn't accept because I needed to catch a bus.

Look at her smile.

Sorry that it's a little fuzzy and the coloration isn't the best. I like to travel light, so I took it with my phone.

As the title says, this is the western gate of Angkor Wat, in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

After staying in Bangkok for just a few days, I then traveled to Koh Chang. Koh Chang is an island just off the northeast coast of Thailand. Though it was slightly out of the way (our next destination was Siem Reap), it was one of my favorite parts of the trip.

To get there, I purchased a ticket at the Mo Chit bus terminal in Bangkok. Because I was late getting there (around noon), I ended up paying slightly more than the bus fare to take a 15 person van directly to the ferry, which got us there in time to take the second to last ferry to the island at 19:00. One thing that I found amusing in Thailand is that they made everybody get out of the van while they were filling it with gas due to the risk of explosion. I don't know if they are just hyper-paranoid about explosion risk, or if there is actually something different about their cars/gasoline/gas pumps that makes them more dangerous. (UPDATE: I googled it, and according to the first result, it is a gas station policy. Therefore getting out while you pump gas in Thailand = hyper-paranoia.) From the ferry port on the island, it was about a 30-45 minute songthaew ride to Lonely Beach.

And Lonely Beach was--as you might guess by its name--pretty lonely.

I spent two days and three nights in Bangkok during my visit, and I felt like this amount of time was perfect for seeing the city of Bangkok. I had just the right amount of time to walk around the city and see the temples during the day, and then relax and have great meals (and drinks!) at night.

During my time in Bangkok I went to:

• The National Museum
• Wat Phra Kaew (aka. Temple of the Emerald Buddha)
• Wat Arun (aka. Temple of the Dawn)
• The Grand Palace
• Khao San Road
• Siam Square (and surrounding) malls

These things were all worth seeing, especially Wat Phra Kaew and The Grand Palace. They were breathtakingly ornate and impressive--I felt like I understood more about thai culture after visiting those locations than I did after going to the National Museum. Words can't adequately describe them (nor can pictures for that matter, but at least pictures do a slightly better job), so make sure you look at the photos.

Khao San Road--Khaosanroad.com calls it "The Gateway to Southeast Asia"--is great if you like to be around a dense crowd of backpacking foreigners that love to party in the evening. They have everything from street vendors to restaurants and bars to ping-pong shows (Note: ping-pong is one of Thailand's most popular sports, but I wouldn't recommend you bring children to see a "ping-pong show" in that area). Visit the area for fun in the evenings (or stay at a cheap hostel there like I did), but don't expect to learn anything about Thailand or Thai culture. I felt like Khao San Road would be pretty much the same anywhere in Southeast Asia, it just happens to exist in Bangkok. It was definitely worth a visit for some evening fun, just make sure you know what to expect.

I don't think I missed anything too spectacular, but feel free to leave recommendations/let me know if I did in the comments. I'll get there next time ;)

On July 19, I will fly to Bangkok, Thailand. From there I will backpack through Cambodia to Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam where I will catch another plane to bring me back to Manila, Philippines. I have 15 days to do the trip. I am very excited, and many preparations are happening. It is my goal to write an entry (or at least an outline if I can't publish it) at least every other day while I'm traveling. I put that here for two reasons:

 

1. So that you all can hold me accountable if I don't (write comments or use my email from the "Contact Info" page).
2. So that you all know to check the back more frequently, as I will be updating more frequently than I have over the last few weeks.

So, wish me luck!

This is the front gate to my post office. I don't think I need to say anything about how much the government cares about maintaining its buildings.