Letters to a Dead Friend about Zen

Letters to a Dead Friend about Zen
Author: Brad Warner
Publisher: New World Library
Total Pages: 258
Release: 2019-10-08
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1608686027

The night Brad Warner learns that his childhood friend Marky has died, Warner is about to speak to a group of Zen students in Hamburg, Germany. It’s the last thing he feels like doing. What he wants to do instead is tell his friend everything he never said, to explain Zen and what he does for a living and why he spends his time “Sitting. Sitting. Sitting. Meditating my life away as it all passes by. Lighting candles and incense. Bowing to nothing.” So, as he continues his teaching tour through Europe, he writes to his friend all the things he wishes he had said. Simply and humorously, he reflects on why Zen provided him a lifeline in a difficult world. He explores grief, attachment, and the afterlife. He writes to Marky, “I’m not all that interested in Buddhism. I’m much more interested in what is true,” and then proceeds to poke and prod at that truth. The result for readers is a singular and winning meditation on Zen — and a unique tribute to both a life lost and the one Warner has found.

Letters to a Dead Friend about Zen

Letters to a Dead Friend about Zen
Author: Brad Warner
Publisher: New World Library
Total Pages: 258
Release: 2019-10-08
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1608686019

The night Brad Warner learns that his childhood friend Marky has died, Warner is about to speak to a group of Zen students in Hamburg, Germany. It's the last thing he feels like doing. What he wants to do instead is tell his friend everything he never said, to explain Zen and what he does for a living and why he spends his time "Sitting. Sitting. Sitting. Meditating my life away as it all passes by. Lighting candles and incense. Bowing to nothing." So, as he continues his teaching tour through Europe, he writes to his friend all the things he wishes he had said. Simply and humorously, he reflects on why Zen provided him a lifeline in a difficult world. He explores grief, attachment, and the afterlife. He writes to Marky, "I'm not all that interested in Buddhism. I'm much more interested in what is true," and then proceeds to poke and prod at that truth. The result for readers is a singular and winning meditation on Zen — and a unique tribute to both a life lost and the one Warner has found.

Hardcore Zen

Hardcore Zen
Author: Brad Warner
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 233
Release: 2015-12
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1614293163

Zen, plain and simple, with no BS. This is not your typical Zen book. Brad Warner, a young punk who grew up to be a Zen master, spares no one. This bold new approach to the "Why?" of Zen Buddhism is as strongly grounded in the tradition of Zen as it is utterly revolutionary. Warner's voice is hilarious, and he calls on the wisdom of everyone from punk and pop culture icons to the Buddha himself to make sure his points come through loud and clear. As it prods readers to question everything, Hardcore Zen is both an approach and a departure, leaving behind the soft and lyrical for the gritty and stark perspective of a new generation. This new edition will feature an afterword from the author.

Zen Wrapped in Karma Dipped in Chocolate

Zen Wrapped in Karma Dipped in Chocolate
Author: Brad Warner
Publisher: New World Library
Total Pages: 242
Release: 2010-06-23
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1577318439

How does a real-life Zen master — not the preternaturally calm, cartoonish Zen masters depicted by mainstream culture — help others through hard times when he’s dealing with pain of his own? How does he meditate when the world is crumbling around him? Is meditation a valid response or just another form of escapism? These are the questions Brad Warner ponders in Zen Wrapped in Karma Dipped in Chocolate. During a year that Warner spent giving talks and leading retreats across North America, his mother and grandmother died, he lost his dream job, and his marriage fell apart. In writing about how he applied the Buddha’s teachings to his own real-life suffering, Warner shatters expectations, revealing that Buddhism isn’t some esoteric pie-in-the-sky ultimate solution but an exceptionally practical way to deal with whatever life dishes out.

The Original Frontier

The Original Frontier
Author: Michael Elliston
Publisher: Schiffer + ORM
Total Pages: 354
Release: 2021-02-28
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1507302177

A manual for creatively integrating Zen practice into everyday life without disrupting your routine A unique approach to introduce Zen to new practitioners and to guide maturing students The ultimate in spiritual do-it-yourself, operating on the deepest levels of the mind

Sit Down and Shut Up

Sit Down and Shut Up
Author: Brad Warner
Publisher: New World Library
Total Pages: 274
Release: 2010-10-05
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1577317718

In 2003, Brad Warner blew the top off the Buddhist book world with his irreverent autobiography/manifesto, Hardcore Zen: Punk Rock, Monster Movies, and the Truth about Reality. Now in his second book, Sit Down and Shut Up, Brad tackles one of the great works of Zen literature, the Shobogenzo, by thirteenth-century Zen master Dogen. Illuminating Dogen’s enigmatic teachings in plain language, Brad intertwines musings on sex, meditation, death, God, sin, and happiness with an exploration of the punk rock ethos. In chapters such as “Evil Is Stupid,” “Kill Your Anger,” and “Enlightenment Is for Sissies,” Brad melds the antiauthoritarianism of punk with that of Zen, mixing in a travelogue of his triumphant return to Ohio to play in a reunion concert of Akron punk bands. For those drawn to Buddhist teachings but scared off by their stiff austerity, Brad writes with a sharp smack of truth, in teachings and stories that cut to the heart of reality.

Perfectly Ordinary

Perfectly Ordinary
Author: Alex Kakuyo
Publisher: Independently Published
Total Pages: 240
Release: 2020-03-02
Genre:
ISBN: 9781673769395

In this practical, easy to understand book Alex Kakuyo explains how the Four Noble Truths and Eightfold Path of Buddhism can help us in daily life. Drawing from personal experiences on farms, in temples, and in the U.S. Marines, Alex tells stories that show how the daily grind of work, traffic jams, and family drama is the source of our enlightenment.

It Came from Beyond Zen!

It Came from Beyond Zen!
Author: Brad Warner
Publisher: New World Library
Total Pages: 370
Release: 2017-09-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1608685128

Vol. 2 of Brad Warner’s Radical but Reverent Paraphrasing of Dogen’s Treasury of the True Dharma Eye In Japan in 1253, one of the great thinkers of his time died — and the world barely noticed. That man was the Zen monk Eihei Dogen. For centuries his main work, Shobogenzo, languished in obscurity, locked away in remote monasteries until scholars rediscovered it in the twentieth century. What took so long? In Brad Warner’s view, Dogen was too ahead of his time to find an appreciative audience. To bring Dogen’s work to a bigger readership, Warner began paraphrasing Shobogenzo, recasting it in simple, everyday language. The first part of this project resulted in Don’t Be a Jerk, and now Warner presents this second volume, It Came from Beyond Zen! Once again, Warner uses wry humor and incisive commentary to bridge the gap between past and present, making Dogen’s words clearer and more relevant than ever before.

Sex, Sin, and Zen

Sex, Sin, and Zen
Author: Brad Warner
Publisher: New World Library
Total Pages: 306
Release: 2010
Genre: Sex
ISBN: 1577319109

With his one-of-a kind blend of autobiography, pop culture, and plainspoken Buddhism, Brad Warner explores an A-to-Z of sexual topics — from masturbation to dating, gender identity to pornography. In addition to approaching sexuality from a Buddhist perspective, he looks at Buddhism — emptiness, compassion, karma — from a sexual vantage. Throughout, he stares down the tough questions: Can prostitution be a right livelihood? Can a good spiritual master also be really, really bad? And ultimately, what's love got to do with any of it? While no puritan when it comes to non-vanilla sexuality, Warner offers a conscious approach to sexual ethics and intimacy — real-world wisdom for our times.

Don't Be a Jerk

Don't Be a Jerk
Author: Brad Warner
Publisher: New World Library
Total Pages: 328
Release: 2016-02-15
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1608683893

The Shōbōgenzō (The Treasury of the True Dharma Eye) is a revered eight-hundred-year-old Zen Buddhism classic written by the Japanese monk Eihei Dōgen. Despite the timeless wisdom of his teachings, many consider the book difficult to understand and daunting to read. In Don’t Be a Jerk, Zen priest and bestselling author Brad Warner, through accessible paraphrasing and incisive commentary, applies Dōgen’s teachings to modern times. While entertaining and sometimes irreverent, Warner is also an astute scholar who sees in Dōgen very modern psychological concepts, as well as insights on such topics as feminism and reincarnation. Warner even shows that Dōgen offered a “Middle Way” in the currently raging debate between science and religion. For curious readers worried that Dōgen’s teachings are too philosophically opaque, Don’t Be a Jerk is hilarious, understandable, and wise.