Buddha Flower

Along with the money Dante made as a member of the Travelers, he supported himself teaching English and eventually with translation jobs once his Chinese was good enough. One place Dante worked was the Easy Nature Language Center where, instead of formal English lessons, he was paid to attend social events with students. All Dante had to do was be available, chat and correct students when they made mistakes as they tried to speak to him in English. The owner of the language center was a practicing Buddhist. He occaisionally invited a shabby looking dharma master to Easy Nature for dharma talks. Dante went once to hear a lecture. The lectures made little sense to Dante. It was just arcane, existential craziness as far as he could tell.

Buddha Flower, a journalism student, was at the language center frequently. Dante thought she was very pretty. Unlike Jade, who he was bonking with frequency by that time, Buddha Flower was quiet, proper, and had a aura of purity surrounding her. Buddha Flower shared with Dante that she found Jade to be a bit uncouth. Buddha Flower took it upon herself to indoctrinate Dante in the subject of Zen Buddhism.

The language center organized frequent excursions around Taiwan. It was at the beach as the sun was setting where Buddha Flower introduced the topic of ego to Dante. Buddha Flower’s head was resting on Dante’s torso at the time.

“Buddhists try to let go of their egos. You are very attached to yours,” Buddha Flower commented as the waves lapped at the sand a few feet from them.