The extraordinary man known as the Buddha wasn’t a made-up, fictional character in a story or a myth. Few individuals have ever lived who have had more influence than he has had in the lives of millions of people over the many centuries that have passed since he was born into the family of King Suddhodana and Queen Maya around the year 563 BCE in a region of the Indian subcontinent that is now a part of Southern Nepal. His clan name was Gautama and his given name was Siddhartha.

After his enlightenment, the man known as the Buddha started to wander around India. The historical record indicates that people who encountered him recognized him to be truly extraordinary. Many stories tell of his being asked what made him an obviously unusual, “different” being. He was often asked, “Are you a god?” He always answered, “No.” He was asked if he was the reincarnation of a god? “No.” “Are you a wizard?” 
“No.” “Then what are you?” Buddha answered, “I am awake.” Buddha means “the awakened one.” How to awaken was what the Buddha taught.

Since I was a young man I’ve been fascinated by the Buddha... by the accounts of his life... by his teachings. My interest was renewed recently when I read Karen Armstrong’s book, Buddha. I realized as I was reading Armstrong’s book, which I recommend to everyone, that when I gave a title to my BLOG (The Way I See It), I could easily have called it, “I Want to Be Awake... every day... every moment.”

Today I was concentrating on being awake as I rode my bicycle on the path that threads alongside the river. Midway between my house and the mouth of the San Diego River where it empties out into the Pacific Ocean, the early morning sunlight on a grove of palm trees got my attention. I took pictures; and when I got home to edit them, I left some of them in color (There’s not much color in the skin that encases the trunks of palm trees.), and some of them I changed to black and white. A few hundred yards on down the path, I saw some people digging for clams on a marshy spit that extends out into the river from the south side. Some small cranes were coming as close to the digging as they dared to take advantage of the temporary holes made in the muck. I was awake... and wanted to stay awake so I wouldn’t miss anything.