Well, today was Buddha's 2546th birthday celebration at the Zen Temple, and a good time was had by all. I officially "took the precepts" and became a buddhist -- along with this I received my own meditation beads, and the Korean Buddhist name "Nahan" (Arhat in Sanskrit) -- which everyone at the Temple will now call me.

Historically, an Arhat was an enlightened disciple of the Buddha. In fact, the name literally translates to "holy person" or "saint". While Master Sunim gave lengthy reasons for giving other people their names, with deep existential meaning and all that, he gave me me this name because apparently, to him, I simply look like an Arhat :)Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, I suppose ;) I kind of like it too, cause I tend not to read into things anyway, so in a way, calling it as he sees it is perhaps the most zen name I could have received :)

Anywhooo... attached is an image of an Arhat that I found online...

fun day!