“Catching the Lizard by the Tail” by Nissim Amon

This morning, after meditating, I perused a magazine called Watkins Mind Body Spirit and read an inspiring article on Buddhist meditation. The article tells the story of a monk named Potila who lived at the time of the Buddha. The Buddha encouraged the well-respected monk to seek guidance on meditating from a younger monk, who provided the following sage advice on how to be attentive to one’s thoughts:

The young monk then gave the following example: “Suppose you want to catch a lizard hiding in an anthill that has six entrances. The lizard can escape through any of them. The best way to catch the lizard is to block off five holes and wait patiently outside the sixth. The five blocked holes are the five senses. When we sit motionless in meditation with our back straight, we are not engrossed in sight, sound, smell, taste, or touch. Generally consciousness escapes through these openings.

“When the five openings are blocked, silence diffuses inside and it’s possible to hear the lizard running around. Then, when it tries to escape, we can catch it immediately.”

I love this analogy, and I can completely relate to the image of consciousness escaping through my senses. One of my biggest challenges when meditating is turning off the mind chatter, but during those rare moments when I do, and my senses are silenced, the experiences are profound.

The X-Files Mystery Magazine #1: “Year Zero”

I have a cool thing set up at my local comic store. I provide the owner with a list of comics that I am reading and each time a new issue comes out, he drops one in a folder for me. Then I can just pick them up at my convenience. On my last trip, I found a copy of a new X-Files offshoot, which the purveyor of graphic literature thankfully figured I’d be interested in.

In this issue, Mulder and Scully are investigating a case regarding a large black leopard that is loose. Mulder is convinced it is a cat person, someone who can shape-shift between human and feline form. Mulder points out that there are similarities between this case and the first x-file from 1946. The comic then flashes back to 1946 and begins the tale of two outcast agents, one male and one female, investigating a case involving a mysterious Mr. Xero.

The comic is really well done and draws on the style of film noir detective stories. I really love the old detective stories. As a kid, I read detective magazines and would watch old mysteries. I imagined myself being a detective one day. I confess that I read every single Hardy Boys mystery before I reached junior high school.

I’m very excited about this new series. I love the X-Files and I love 1940’s detective stories, so a combination of the two bodes well. Anyway, the plot is set, and now I wait for the next issue to see how the mystery unfolds. I’ll be reviewing the next issue as soon as it comes out. Cheers!