“Burning Man will change your life...You just do not know how yet. 

Everything you take to Burning Man including yourself will never be the same’' 

Anon and universal…

It was a bucket list item and on the 4th of February I had an epissany, which is the thought that comes to a 70 year old man when he gets up to take that early morning bathroom visit. The epissany that morning was to celebrate my 70th year celebration on the playa at Burning Man.

I was one of 40K people that lost the ticket lottery but I gave it another shot with a low income ticket application which was approved and suddenly a ticket and a long list of how to make my virgin burn happen.

My Bocas del Toro, Panama amigo, Larry Michael Robertson said the playa provides and he approached his colleagues of the Pinhole Project Collaborative to see if they would welcome a Buddhist monk, who devoted his life to service and wanted to celebrate his 70th on the playa, to their camp. The response was the start of the playa love they showered me with through the journey. These 25+ Pinhole people became my desert family and provided the gear of my survival on the player. I bought a dust proof {there is no such thing on the playa} and made my way to Reno, Nevada on the 25th of August to go to the staging site in Truckee California.

We made our way to Black Rock on the 27th and the start of the magic began by getting through the gate and the ten miles to the camp site in less than 2 1/2 hours.

Hustling to establish our site by midnight we tried to prepare for the weather of high winds and dust storm that was forecasted. I spent the next two days in the winds and dust whiteouts that became the windiest, dustiest, coldest nights in the last ten years of BM. Sunday I surrendered to the dust and for the next seven days was the dusty monk of Black Rock City.

Burning Man was everything I had heard, read and viewed on You Tube times 10+ a visual, audio extravagant experience. The ten thousand illuminated bikes, the art cars from glorified golf carts to roaming playa mega vessels, the endless installations and fire. Fire everywhere gave birth to my gashead self and the smell of propane and heat of flames fanned the fires in my soul. El Pulpo Mechanica, fire farting art cars and my favorite favorite Lucy’s Satan’s Calliope! Blame The Illumination Village if you catch me sniffing the tanks outside your doublewide now. Burning Man provided the visual paradise for this deaf dusty monk.

There is no need for money on the playa (unless you had to have mocha coffee at Center Camp to wash the dust and increase the heartbeat) as BM is the world of gifting. My gift to BRC were moments of meditative tranquillity with one on one meditation, early sunrise walking meditation to the Temple of Promise, short Dharma dribble talks on the back stage and protection threads for everyone that wanted or needed one. The playa one on one was limited by the dust winds and I was nearly run over by two phantom bicycles during one whiteout. The favorite moment of the Dharma dribble was when two twenty something topless girls sat in the front row and smiled at me during the talk. I mentioned that we take 227 vows and in the first three days in BRC I saw 145 ways of violating those vows!

The morning mindfulness based walking meditations to the Temple of Promise became the daily practice for me and I was happy to be in Sangha with those who joined this hour long meditation on life, impermanence and touching the earth. The Pinhole family joined me on this contemplative walk everyday and the Temple was a beautiful destination. I also had the opportunity to sit with random burners who after a few days understood that I was a monk and not just an old guy with an interesting costume. Next year I will bring an appropriate tutu to wear on Tuesday. 

I was not the only monk on the playa as a Vietnamese monk blessed and performed a fire consecration ceremony at my favorite Temple of Mazu dedicated to the Vietnamese goddess of those who do not return from the sea. There was also a Zen Buddhist monk standing alms rounds in front of the Temple of Promise one day and it surely must have seemed visually interesting to see both of us in robes in front of the Temple. On Saturday at Red Lightening there was a talk on Buddhism by the great David Kittay who carried the load in the absence of no show Robert Thurman. He was wonderful and  I enjoyed the visit after his talk as his first teacher was Chogyäm Trungpa Rinpoche in whose lineage I teach.

The Temple of Promise was my respite in the dust and I spent time there everyday feeling the love, grief and celebration of life and death as burners brought the remembrances of those who came in spirit. I brought along my grand daughter Havana Eve O’Flaherty, my brother Dr. Paul Anthony Vernaglia Jr., Bill Koch, Mike Jones, Mike Brant, and three of the best four legged friends a guy could have Bonehead, Maddie and Mariah. I watched the burn of the Temple with tears mixing with the dust, freedom in my heart, respect and the hope that there was peace for all who brought their love to the Temple. I even got to be interviewed for a documentary on healthy ways to grieve around the world. Pretty cool until the film dude said the audio was great but the video didn’t record. Did a retake but never as good as the initial talk from the heart. I said I would just move my lips and they could dub the audio but realized it would look like one of those kung fu movies with English dubbing.

I was physically challenged by an environment that they warn you can die in but I survived with determination and the watchful eyes of my Pinhole Project family and my great friend Otis Kunz who came to the playa to enjoy the burn with me. I survived not only the conditions but the great fall on Wednesday. While walking in Center Camp with Otis and grabbing a lemonade {too late for mocha} I tripped over a small step to the back stage that someone had moved out and that was the same color as the playa. I went down like a bag of stones and Otis said he had never seen anyone drop that quick. I did a massive face plant and had blood from both inside and outside my nose all over my face and lemonade/dust all over me. I’m grateful that I had Otis there to witness the “it wasn’t my fault” fall and to get me to EMS where he was volunteering to attend to my injuries and help me clean up as it was not a pretty sight. No, I do not have to wear a Fall Risk bracelet when on the playa as I never fell off my bike the whole week.

My heartfelt gratitude to the Pinhole Project family for being the portal to the joy of my first burn. You’re a family of amazing, diverse, talented, passionate, strong willed and creative artists who gild the word collaboration. To be able to observe the group dynamic for 17 days was a lesson in the essence of community.

That you welcomed this old monk into your midst, challenged, nurtured, taught and showered him with your playa love was an experience of life time. I am forever grateful for your presence in my life on the playa and going forward. Bless you all and we will burn again together in 357 days if life is good to us.

Yes, I will go back because the dust gets in your blood, the music in your ears, the experiences in your heart and like so many other burners to try and see way more than I did this year {and Sam Baron I promise to dance the night away with you next year.}

“I began to believe the fairy tales: You know, how we're all out there looking for our magical missing half.”

Michael Bergin