About BuVu
A few years ago I was privileged to meet and become friends with one of those bigger-than-life folks who have overcome their fear of life enough to have a helluva good time, in a way that transcends and doesn’t just make trouble for themselves and others.
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Photo of Niels Holm by Syndey Leitman Louchard
Niels Holm had begun attending an informal men’s meeting a doctor friend and I launched and kept afloat for about a decade. Every Saturday morning, unless Christmas fell on a Saturday, we gathered in the hospital cafeteria (i.e. cheap breakfasts, no room rental or maintenance required) and verbally sliced and diced each other mercilessly over a no-holds-barred spectrum of topics from Astrophysics to Zero Tolerance drug and alcohol policies in local high school athletic programs.
Niels was our first chance to argue with a practicing Zen Buddhist meditation teacher. He was as delighted as we were, except his delight had a thick Danish accent. Almost as delighted as we were: most of us were relative newcomers to our little historical Victorian seaport and artists’ hideout, but Niels had been here for almost 30 years, and his carpenter/sailor/artist’s hands had touched many homes, buildings, and hearts. I think we got the best of the bargain.
As it turned out, Niels and I happened to tire of the weekly wordfests about the same time, and he invited me to meet with him, at his quirky wonderful handbuilt house-and-zendo, instead. Besides this new Saturday morning habit, I was also invited to attend early morning zazen (sitting meditation) two or three times a week. I never did adapt to making a pretzel out of my legs and staring at a spot on the wall in front of my face for forty minutes, so the zazen faded. But the Saturday mornings continued for a couple of years, until I dropped out.
Before I dropped out, Niels gave me a wonderful gift. An idea. He was looking for something beyond zen, which he had begun to describe as a bit “high, cool, dry, and airy” as compared to a fascination with voudon (“voodoo”) that sprouted during a “walkabout” in Haiti. Niels had earlier been illumined about the way humans use shame to manipulate each other, especially parents with children. He saw voudon as the practice of turning curses into blessings, an especially wonderful power when it comes to cleansing shame.
… … Niels wanted to start a new religion, one that combined the best parts of 
(There’s a wonderful interview of Niels, by his friend, writer David Chadwick, that includes Niels talking about BuVu.)
In 2007, Niels smiled one last time and passed into whatever awaits us after life on earth, before he was able to create the public and theatrical adventure he had wanted to produce with The Church. At the time he passed he and I were only seeing each other at the Post Office or an infrequent lunch. Mea culpa. In his last year here, I was not the friend I should have been.
A few weeks before he passed, Niels suggested that since he had not been doing anything with The Church, perhaps I might want to do something with it on the Internet. Niels knew next-to-nothing about computers and the Internet, but he knew I had once been enthusiastic about the possibilites of a website.
I didn’t take him up on the offer, at the time, but after his passing his companion during his last years handed me a notice she found stating that BuVu’s State non-profit registration had lapsed. “You know what to do with this,” she said. I’m sure she meant that I knew how to tie up the loose ends and let The Church lapse for good.
But, I just couldn’t do it. After restoring it to active status, and confirming the current IRS tax-exempt status, The Church of BuVu lives on, and I like to imagine that Niels’ spirit lives in it.
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Before The Church lapsed, and Niels passed on, we had made progress at creating Precepts (Niels) and a Lexicon (me.) Not a lot of progress, but here’s what we have so far:
BuVu Precepts:
1. Be Truthful.
2. Be Kind.
BuVu Lexicon:
Bu: Buddhism.
BuBu: A sin.
BuFoon: A BuVu believer or a priest. (“The priesthood of all believers.”)
BuVow: A BuVu oath that can’t be broken. (But, if broken: just a bubu.)
Do-Goodery: BuFoons practicing the Precept of Kindness.
Vu: Vodoun; Vudu [alt. spelling, Dom.Rep., Benin, et al]
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A sense of humor, properly developed, is superior to any religion so far devised.
Tom Robbins
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It seems to me that The Church of BuVu is the perfect candidate to be the first Religion devised that can hold its own with the superior wisdom of Humor. Because it’s made out of humor.
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As we speak, the BuFoons are busy imagining new Precepts and Lexicon entries. Perhaps you’d care to join us.
BuFoon Steve
