Sodium-enriched Buddha

Life in suburbia sucks for most teenagers: no freedom, no money, surrounded by a sea of strip malls and cookie-cutter homes. It’s like being stuck in the desert on your way to the Promised Land surrounded by Jonas Brothers look-alikes. Most stick it out until the blessed day of adulthood, usually with the help of illegal substances; native Sacramento suburbanite Jaimal Yogis wasn’t one to hang in there. He escaped suburban prison and fled to Hawaii with only a copy of Hermann Hesse’s Siddhartha and enough cash to buy a surfboard. This journey eventually led him to communes and monasteries around the world, and now he’s a Zen master. Yeah, how’s that for a résumé builder? Yogis wrote about his coming-of-age story in Saltwater Buddha: A Surfer’s Quest to Find Zen on the Sea, and he’ll make an appearance in Sacramento this Wednesday. It kind of puts my road trip to Hollywood Squares and Disneyland to shame.