BYTE MARKS
Humor fills search for meaning of life

By Burt Lum

I contemplated things like what is God, what is nature, what's my purpose and all those things that little kids think about while listening to the sermon of the morning.

All I can remember of those days in church was how high the ceiling was and how hard those benches were. I am still trying to find the answers to those questions.

It's almost three years to the day that I wrote about H. Doug Matsuoka in this column. In 2001, I wrote about his eBook about a 900-year old Taoist priest looking for his student, "The Immortal Khan." He has since come out with his second eBook titled "Living Midnight."

But just as interesting are the vanity writings on his Web site, home.hawaii.rr.com/dougwords. There are quips and rants that will keep you entertained during the television commercial breaks.

These anecdotes on life have the effect of keeping me in the now. I read Doug's words like they are the last words I am reading.

Maybe it has something to do with his Taoist-monk appearance. But Doug would call it his faux-Taoist look, with his white beard and mustache (see bytemarks.buzznet.com).

With a Zen twist, Doug also will tell you he's a "Japanee appearing as something typically Chinee."

A Japanese Taoist is so Zen.

It tugs on my sense of order. When I Google Zen, I come up with a site about the Kodaiji Temple in Kyoto developed by Dentsu, one of Japan's largest advertising agencies. The site, www.do-not-zzz.com, immediately puts you into their Shockwave Flash rendition of what it is to experience Zen.

It starts off with a Zen monk sitting in meditation as a fly buzzes around his head, enters his nose and exits his ear. The entire sequence of animations is quite entertaining, and I am led to think it was done for all us Westerners.

As timing would have it, Doug then e-mails me a perfect site for the moment, one on how to tie shoelaces: www.fieggen.com/shoelace/knots.htm.

;-)

Burt Lum is one click away at www.roughtake.com.