"Life of a Buddhist" is a children's book reminiscent of "Where's Wally," exploring the entire journey of life. Each letter of Wally's name represents fundamental aspects of life and the Buddhist path. Wally, with his distinctive red-and-white striped shirt, embodies the multifaceted nature of existence. When we view Wally as a symbol for seeking, and children as seekers of consciousness, it makes perfect sense.

Finding Wally on a page might take an hour, while discovering our inner 'Wally' can take a lifetime. The quest for understanding involves clues about life's essence, character, and reality, which are often unknown, unseen, and indescribable.

To embark on this journey, we wake up early, speak less, drink green or decaffeinated teas, and bow down to seek on the floor. We read books to find direction, meditate in silence to catch glimpse, light butter lamps to see through darkness, and burn incense to create a sacred atmosphere. We make offerings to honored guests, play instruments to celebrate the holy, focus our gaze to concentrate, build stupas to enshrine what was lost, spend time with friends to find a clue, eat well to align within, and embrace new teachers for growth. We travel in ten directions to reset, circumambulate for miles, build and rebuild mandalas, climb mountains to attain spiritual climax, receive initiations to awaken the watcher within, and retreat for 1,001 hours. We attend blessings to connect with nature, set flowers to adorn the ordinary, turn malas for counting, recite mantras to surge, perform rites and mudras to delve deep, and roll dice to achieve goals—all in search of one simple wally. 

Centuries have shown how close we come before drifting apart completely. Reaching out to find "the one" is like placing a yoke around a blind turtle. In a single life, thousands of such opportunities may arise, but before we reach the peak, we often settle for something else. Many boxes are checked, yet there's always one missing. We are fragmented, like pieces of broken glass, seemingly impossible to piece together.

There are mixed feelings of the senses, of mind and body, of heart and intellect. All these emotions, thoughts, struggles, ideas, and opinions can take our breath away, distracting us from the joy of finding the Wally within. To find this spiritual Wally is like chasing a rainbow, bubbles, gestures, signals, signs, motion, ripples, swings, rushes, streams, and waves. It may be possible to catch up to them, but to seize, grab, snatch, or capture them is elusive. These elements are both singular and part of a larger motion. They form a perfect prank motif that awaits no one and perhaps hasn't even arisen in one's mind.

Everything starts as a joint effort but ends up being solitary. Singular we came, singularly we go, and in between, we remain single. Like a single clap or thunder. To find a perfect Wally, it's the work of the mind. It is always a two-way traffic at a busy junction.