Lone Ranger and Tonto Meet Buddha : Masks, Meditation, and Improvised Play to Induce Liberated States (9781644113578) by Coyote Peter

Author:Coyote, Peter
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Spirituality/Self-Help
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published: 2021-09-22T00:00:00+00:00

A PARABLE

Two more months raced by, and the house was assuming its final shape. The biggest boulders had been fitted as foundation stones and chipped away to accommodate the eccentric rock shapes of the next course. The Lone Ranger had to admit being impressed by the Buddha’s ability to chip here and chip there and fit the stones together so snugly he could not fit a knife blade between them. “My gosh,” he thought, “a white man could live in this house.”

It was a limpid, cool evening after a long day, and the Lone Ranger, Tonto, and the Buddha were relaxing. Buddha was washing their dishes, and the Lone Ranger was shocked when he noticed a folded stack of his clothes—all expertly cleaned and repaired. “They’re like new,” he’d whispered to Tonto. “These Orientals—it’s a natural ability.”

“French weave,” the Buddha said, as he handed Tonto his cleaned and repaired shirt.

When their tobacco ran out, Tonto taught the Lone Ranger how to pick, dry, and smoke kinnikinnick, the Indian tobacco. That night’s dinner had been a brace of quail he’d trapped with a clever twig snare. “By God, he is really pulling his weight,” the Lone Ranger thought. He tried to remember if Tonto had exhibited these skills in any episodes they’d done together and reflected how interesting they might have been, especially to kids. This occurred to him with a twinge of regret.

Tonto had constructed a little sweat lodge, making a frame of bent willows and covering it with many layers of dried grass. The Lone Ranger had to admit that when he stepped out of it, he felt clean from the pores out, though the lodge used almost no water. The Buddha had joined them and said he was extremely impressed by it. Tonto had also created a little corn, beans, and squash garden patch, which was doing well, the beans growing upward using the corn stalks for support and the squash, rolling down the mounds of earth that had been raised for the corn. “This is the life,” the Lone Ranger thought, surveying the camp as if it were his plantation.

The Buddha wiped his hands and asked the Lone Ranger, “What’s that mask made of?”

The Ranger replied, “The finest pima cotton.”

The Buddha asked, “Do you ever take it off?”

“I can’t,” he responded.

“What do you mean?” Buddha asked.

“I’ve worn it so many years that it’s kind of stuck to my face. A doctor thought it might be a kind of fungus. But I’m totally fine with it. I told you once, I know who the Lone Ranger is so it’s easy for me to be him all the time.

Turning to Tonto, the Buddha inquired, “Have you ever seen his face?”

“Not in many years,” Tonto replied diffidently. “When he washed the mask, he used to put a bag over his head while it was drying in case his face fell off.”

“You’re kidding me.” The Buddha laughed and, turning to the Lone Ranger, asked, “Why did you do that?”

“Because when the mask was off, things could get confusing.

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