“Hey, we’re visiting from Pennsylvania. Can you tell me where there are buddhist temples here?”

“Yeah, there’s one in Hayes Valley. Are you buddhist?”

“I’m Sikh.”

“What are the tenents of being a Sikh?”

“They’re the same as another religion. It’s above love, compassion, kindness. The ways we practice are different but the core is the same.”

“What’s unique about your practice?”

“We don’t cut our hair, or alter our body in any way. In our view the body is sacred. It’s a gift from God. And God is not a man in the sky. It’s a level of consciousness. It’s an energy you take in when you eat food, a fragrance you take it when you smell a flower, an energy you breathe in and out when you are true harmony. I don’t know what happens when you achieve that level of harmony, but that’s the goal.”