‘Be a Buddha behind the wheel,’ say brothers

Press, 10 February 1989, Page 29

‘Be a Buddha behind the wheel,’ say brothers

By

BRUCE BUURSMA

of the “Chicago Tribune” (through NZPA) San Francisco In California, where car culture has been developed to a higher plane and traffic congestion taxes the good nature of even the mildestmannered, two brothers are offering a philosophical road map to lift motorists to a state of cool-blooded consciousness. “Be a Buddha behind the wheel,” they implore drivers who are tempted to behave like a road Rambo.. ~ The sage advice is a central tenet of “Zen driving,” a new-age approach to motoring that employs meditation techniques in an attempt to allay the anxiety of negotiating increasingly crowded thoroughfares. “It’s not about lighting incense on the dashboard and sitting cross-legged behind the. steering wheel with your palm upraised and only your third eye open,” said a San Francisco psychotherapist, Todd Berger, co-author with his brother, Kevin, of the “Zen Driving Guidebook.” “It’s about relieving stress and making yourself more mindful, more aware, more centred, more truly present” The Bergers’ book, derided by some critics, has nevertheless begun hitting on all cylinders in the marketplace, selling nearly 40,000 copies since its release in" mid-1088. Rights for foreign editions in five languages also have been acquired. ■ Not surprisingly, the biggest stir over the book has been in California, where motor vehicles are an obsession, personalised licence plates are a vanity and traffic tie-ups are maddeningly commonplace in urban centres. In Los Angeles County alone, there are more than six million cars registered with the State Department of Motor whjch -sac*<.. counts, for a rush hour" that seems to never end and longdistance commuting that bring new meaning to internal combustion. Into this land a little Zen has fallen and, according t 0.... its admirers, created an oasis of clear-headed composure amid the chaos. “This is not a cure-all to the transportation problem,” said Todd Berger. “It doesn’t even mean you’ll be a better driver, technically. But it will help you go. with ' the flow and get to your destination

without becoming uptight” The book has its disciples among drivers of the average sedan, but it also has made inroads into traditional and upscale professional circles. A literary agent Robert Stricker, who sold “Zen Driving” to Ballantine Books, said, “We’re hitting the BMW > crowd here, the people." whose car really is second home and, . who want to make it a comfortable, living mode. ’ >■ “It has struck a chord with the harried, - crazed, metropolitan driver who’s stuck in it every day and needs some sort of calming word.” The becalming message of the book is, like much of Zen Buddhism Itself, at once simple and inscrutable. “Driving is an extension of our natural > -self,” the . Bergers contend. “It .-'ls certainly no mystic Zen secret” But explaining , precisely what Zen driving . is, the Bergers concede, is• often more difficult than defining what it is not “It’s not a magical transformation,” said Kevin Berger, aged 32, an editor of a music industry magazine in nearby Redwood City. “It’s literally meditation, but it’s not an elaborate form of sleep. It’s being fully, incredibly there.” ' The book counsels drivers to embrace for themselves a “moving meditation,” but there is no “mantra” for the motorist to chant. In fact, said Todd- Berger, there 1s t nothing for the driver tbt.ddv other than to clearhisorher.. mind so "that “you,are driving your car, not riding ypwr./ thoughts.” -'■‘•t t i '■>'* The Bergers concede fhat driving; often is regarded M “a dreaded, boring chore.” In spite of the obstacles of modern transportation, they contend, Zen can infuse the act of driving with mental and emotional restoration. “Driving in your car, ensconced inyourown-indlvl-dual sacred space, 1c golden •opportunity > to ..trite'i time out, turn' oft all worried erase all mind chatter,” theyS: assert. “There is clpa(fi? awareness in the tranquillity':;; of Zen driving, .as . theyJjaye " defined it, is adopting:' “an open mind for the open road,” a practice that is “effortless and spontaneous, the nondeliberate action of ‘nonaction’,” designed -to make the highway a place of radl- >. 'ant harmony.;"/ ; '-.sy/T.s;.-;