So, I was in Shinjuku station the other day (I live nearby and pass through all the time) and, as is usually the case at the west exit (one at street level and one on the lower level near the koban), there was a monk ringing his bell. I liked the juxtaposition of the iPod/iTunes ad and the monk, so I got my camera out as I approached. I was off to the side and kind of behind him (i.e., not being very obtrusive or aggressive) when he suddenly turned and looked at me with a scowl on his face and started waving his arms, shooing me away in a don’t-take-my-picture kind of flapping of his arms. I don’t know, I guess he missed the bulk of the lessons on “detachment” from the world of false felicity (as Chaucer called it) at Ye Olde Buddhist Zen Monastery. I mean, isn’t “detachment” the raison d’etre of zen buddhism? Isn’t that what you spend your time learning to do when you join the monastery? Not sure the zen thing’s working for this guy in the anger management department…