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 Dogens enigmatic teachings in plain language Brad intertwines musings on sex meditation death God sin and happiness with an exploration of the punk rock et...

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 lov...

A Radical but Reverent Paraphrasing of Dogen’s Treasury of the True Dharma EyeEven if the whole universe is nothing but a bunch of jerks doing all kinds of jerk-type things, there is still liberation in simply not being a jerk.” - Eihei Dogen (12001253 CE)The Shobogenzo (The Treasury of the True Dharma Eye) is a revered eight-hundred-year-old Zen Buddhism classic written by the Japanese monk Eihei Dogen. Despite the timeless wisd...

Can you be an atheist and still believe in God? Can you be a true believer and still doubt? Can Zen give us a way past our constant fighting about God? Brad Warner was initially interested in Buddhism because he wanted to find God, but Buddhism is usually thought of as godless. In the three decades since Warner began studying Zen, he has grappled with paradoxical questions about God and managed to come up with some answers. In this fascinating search for a way beyond the usual arguments be...

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...

A reader-friendly guide to Zen Buddhist ethics for modern timesIn the West, Zen Buddhism has a reputation for paradoxes that defy logic. In particular, the Buddhist concept of nonduality — the realization that everything in the universe forms a single, integrated whole — is especially difficult to grasp. In The Other Side of Nothing, Zen teacher Brad Warner untangles the mystery and explains nonduality in plain English. To Warner, this is not just a philos...

Vol. 2 of Brad Warner’s Radical but Reverent Paraphrasing of Dogen’s Treasury of the True Dharma EyeIn 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 ...

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 a...

What happens when a liberal, free-spirited, modern American girl goes on a spiritual quest into structured, disciplined, traditional Japanese Zen life?Gesshin Claire Greenwood was a liberal, free-spirited American girl who found meaning and freedom in disciplined, traditional Japanese Zen life. However, she came to question not only contemporary American values but also traditional monastic ones.This book is about becoming an adult—about sexuality, religion...

The greater the doubt, the greater the awakening.“In this brief but remarkably thorough book, Boshan puts into words what it means to truly doubt. Not just to be skeptical—but to push all the way to the very foundations. Anyone interested in Zen can learn a whole lot from this little book.”—from the foreword by Brad Warner, author of Hardcore Zen“Great doubt and great faith are foundations of Zen practice. This great gift of a book provides ...

The author of Hardcore Zen reveals how Godzilla is the ideal initiation to spiritual practice.There have been books about the Tao of Pooh (as in Winnie-the) and the Dharma of Star Wars. Those connections are easier to make. It’s clear, for instance, that George Lucas was influenced by Buddhist philosophy when he created Star Wars. Yoda was supposedly modeled after a well-known Japanese Zen master who lived in California; and the Jedi philosophy often sound...

Abandon your treasured delusions and hit the road with one of the most important Zen masters of twentieth-century Japan.Eschewing the entrapments of vanity, power, and money, "Homeless" Kodo Sawaki Roshi refused to accept a permanent position as a temple abbot, despite repeated offers. Instead, he lived a traveling, "homeless" life, going from temple to temple, student to student, teaching and instructing and never allowing himself to stray from his chosen path. He...