Brad Warner's Blog, page 22

The Anti Wisdom Manual

One of the coolest things I got to do in France happened right at the very ass end of my trip. My host, Arnaud, arranged a meeting for me with Gilles Farcet, author of the book The Anti Wisdom Manual. In fact, the meeting very nearly made me miss my flight to Karkow. But even if I had, it would've been worth it.

A lot of times when someone recommends some spiritual book by some spiritual teacher that he thinks is "saying exactly the same things as you," I take one look and go, "Oh shit! People...

Sister Europe

I come to you today writing inside a train bound for Paris. We were supposed to take a plane. But the Icelandic ash cloud messed that up. Right now we've reached the suburbs and I'm being distracted by all the crazy graffiti and ancient stone churches with their flying buttresses.

The first four days of my European tour of 2010 were spent in London at the home of Andrew Deakin. Andrew is a student of Mike Leutchford, a fellow dharma heir of Nishijima Roshi. I didn't do much Zen stuff in the UK...

In France

I'm in France! Yay!

But I messed up. I announced the talks here would begin at 8pm. They begin at 7. Here's the info:

May 7, 2010 7:00pm - Limoges, Bibliothèque Francophone Multimédias 2 rue Louis-Longequeue 87032 Limoges
May 8, 2010 7:00pm - Toulouse, Salle Terres de Rencontres 47 route de Blagnac 31200 Toulouse.

Here's a song about France:

MAD Non-Conformists and More Bitching About Internet Zen

There are a lot of people out there who enjoy adopting the pose of being "freaky" and "alternative." And they do some very superficial things that make them look a little weird. They'll buy some funny clothes, maybe get a couple of body parts pierced or tattooed. All of this shocks those who are easily shocked.

But internally these same people are often extraordinarily conservative and judgmental. Sometimes they're even more conservative and judgmental that more "normal" people. Now that punk...

Panic On the Streets of London

I've arrived and to prove it I'm here! Here in London, England! Woo-hoo!

This is a brief stop before I go on to do talks in France, Poland, Germany, Finland, Holland, Ireland and Israel. Crazy, huh? But it's fun.

As a result of all this traveling, I haven't had much time to look at the nearly 300 comments posted on the last entry. But thank you for posting.

And before I go further, yet another Dimentia 13 record is now available as an MP3 download! So go get Mirror Mind! It's a trippy record, le...

Big Mind™ Sucks (Part A Million)

I got an email the other day that I think really shows what is wrong with Genpo Roshi's Big Mind™ scam. With the writer's permission I'd like to share it with you:

Hello Brad,

Just wanted to say its nice to read your stuff and it was nice to read about opposing opinions on the issues of Big Mind™, whether it is right or wrong.

I have experienced Big Mind™ on two occasions, once in a small setting with close friends, and I must admit I enjoyed it and I agree I did have a wow kind of experience...

CHEESE, PARENTING, HORNINESS AND OTHER DELIGHTS

In response to the last post Stephanie said, "I find this kind of motivational cheese off-putting because it's great for those of us who have had the luck and ability to pursue and realize our dreams, but not so great for the people who did not. A lot of it is out of our control and I think the notion that people who don't realize their dreams simply did not believe in themselves enough is feel-good yuppie fluff that isn't true. Life is hard and some people do the right thing and still suffer...

GUTS IT BABY

First off I have updated my book tour page again. Some of the specific locations for European gigs that have lacked them are now filled in, particularly in France.

I have also added info about the annual Dogen Sangha Zen retreat in Shizuoka. Since my new book is coming out in September, the organizers have moved the retreat to July. In past years people from overseas have been attending the retreats in Shizuoka. You're always welcome to attend. It's a good retreat. But contact the folks in Do...

FAME! I WANNA LIVE FOREVER!

I told the story of this in Hardcore Zen. Now you can see the video of me filming my bit in Ultraman Tiga episode 51 in 1997. I originally taped this on a VHS camcorder (remember those?). I transferred it to DVD later. Then I used the clip as a way to test out a software program that rips video from DVDs. Which is why it's watermarked. Now I don't know where the DVD is. I'm sure it's still somewhere in all my stuff, packed away.

Well, today I officially turned in the final edits of both Sin...

EUROPE and POSTURE

The German edition of Hardcore Zen is out now. I think. Or at least it's very close to being available. And I have updated my European tour schedule. There are still a lot of dates where the specific location is pending. But at least the cities in which I'll be talking are mostly set. So you can plan your European vacations accordingly. Follow me around like a Deadhead or a Phish-phan.

Down at the bottom of the page is the cover for the Polish edition of Hardcore Zen. It took me a while to fig...