A threesome of brad warner

Hi.
This is partly an translation of an article i made for a swedish buddhist magazine and partly an new review

The article
Two books for the price of one

If you Mention Brad Warner, you always get emotional (and sometimes strong) words ...

The man has been called "the pornobuddhist", he writes articles for the Suicide Girls, a page might not be loaded if you have "notforchildrensetup" on your computer. But it is also possible to read them on his own website .

He was born in 1964, has been a bassist in a punk band, released a number of their own records, has become a zenpriest in "Dogen Sangha" and written two books,

Hardcore Zen: Punk Rock, Monster Movies & the Truth About Reality and Sit Down and Shut Up: Punk Rock Commentaries on Buddha, God, Truth, Sex, Death, and Dogen's Treasury of the Right Dharma Eye.

The first, hardcore zen, is about how he became involved in Buddhism, taking up some of its important parts. The second, sit down and shut up, take up Zen master Dogen's book Shobogenzo and with the help of it another deep step down into Buddhism.

He describes his approach as "no bullshit Buddhism", which largely mirrors his books and articles, they are straight, usually simple letters about things that may seem difficult.

In the first of the books Hardcore Zen, it shows that he has been with the punk scene, it is full of reference to punk songs and punkrelatreade occasions. Nevertheless, it is a very good book. Brad is quick in the turns, witty in its language and it's sometimes difficult to hold back a smile. In chapters such as "Gimme Some Truth" and "The Great Heart of Wisdom Sutra" he makes up with great Buddhist concepts such as truth and the heartsutra. One of the most referenced chapters in the book "Do not worry, it will come ... with enlightenment!" He talks about "Kensho" and raises an event that can only be described as a "kenshomoment".

The chapter "In my next life i want to come back as a pair of Lucy Liu's pants", he makes up with questions about reincarnation. He also points out the view that was emphasized by Kanja Odland sensei in Buddhism-now No. 2-2008 "we are all one", which also runs through parts of his second book, Sit Down and shut up.

In "Sit down and shut up", it was observed that he has gone further in his development, both as a writer and as a Buddhist. The language is much better and his present attitude of the various Buddhist concepts show a greater understanding of Buddhism. It may also be that he has another book to relate to that helps. The starting point of "Sit Down and Shut Up" is the Zen master Dogen's book "shobogenzo", a book of about 1200 pages on zenbuddhism.

In chapters such as "why Dogen matters" and "Genjo Koan" he explains the importance of the Dogen and his letters, both from a personal and other points of view.

In chapters such as "cleaning up your room" and "evil is stupid", he goes in to our own state and what we must do to improve our situation.

But he is not without controversy, in the chapter "The day they shot a hole in the jesus egg", he goes onto to speculate that the closest an Buddhist has to "God" is "Universe" itself, which has started a major uproar within the Buddhist circuits and also led to people leaving his sangha.

Even though he may be a controversial and sometimes provocative writer, he has a lot of points. I was going to close with a reference from the "sit down and shut up"'s chapter Zen and stress management: "If there's any single point i dont mind repeating until you're sick to death of it, it's that there are never any shortcuts. "

Thats the article and since then he's released a third book "zen wrapped in karma dipped in chocolate".
In this book we're allowed to follow brad warner during one of his, maybe, more turmoiled periods in his life.
He is unfaithful, breaks up with his wife, Mother and grandmother dies, receives laureates from all over for holding talks and retreats, becomes the head of Dogen sangha, gets into turmoil with some its members, all the while mixing it up with some zenbuddhism.
All of this get's worked into this, his third, book in a very elegant way.
Or at least some of it.
He's Brad Warner, after all...
The issues surrounding this book still echoe in the halls of amazon (if they have halls...). And temperatures run high even speaking of some of the things mentioned in the book.
One of these is the "gummoincident", in which "the nowadadys head of another sangha" was not so pleased that the "pornobuddhist" was appointed the head of Dogensangha.
Sidenote: he wasn't the only one of the former sangha who "disagreed", but the most "famous" and perhaps persistent of them.
This "feud" has since been on the tapestry a couple of times, with Gummo trying to make a mends and other people not so forthgoing...
Or make your own mind up, it's all out there...
The thing to remember though is that there is no "only one side to the story" and that we're all responsible for what happens around us.

In general the book is quite readable, and it has some really good bits in it.
And if you've read the other two you should pick it up, but in my opinion it's hard to beat the second of his books.
I mean, even the title says it all: sit down and shut up!

Mtfbwy
Fugen