THERE IS NO GOD AND HE IS ALWAYS WITH YOU: A Search for God in Odd Places by Brad Warner

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 between fundamentalists and skeptics, Warner offers a profoundly engaging and idiosyncratic take on the ineffable power of the “ground of all being.

About the Author
Brad Warner, a Soto Zen monk and teacher, is also a punk bassist, filmmaker, and popular blogger. He is the author of Hardcore Zen, Sit Down and Shut Up, Zen Wrapped in Karma Dipped in Chocolate, and Sex, Sin, and Zen. A documentary about him is forthcoming from Pirooz Kalayeh, the director of Shoplifting from American Apparel. Warner lives in Los Angeles.

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Brad Warner: Atheism and Buddhism

Brad Warner, author of “Zen Wrapped in Karma Dipped in Chocolate” talks about the difference between atheism and Buddhism in Saskatoon.

Brad Warner: Zen And Bliss

Brad Warner, author of “Zen Wrapped in Karma Dipped in Chocolate” talks about the relationship between Zen practice and so-called “states of bliss.” Many meditation practices focus on attaining extraordinary states of bliss, but Zen does not. There’s a good reason for that…

What More Do You Want?: Zen Questions, Zen Answers by Albert Low

We’ve all had moments in our lives when we’ve thought, “Something is missing. There must be more to life than this.” It is this sense that often brings people to the practice of Zen. By turning to Zen, they acknowledge that this “something” lies not in externals, but rather in seeking to transcend desire and attachment. The journey toward that transcendence begins with questioning, and questions will be part of the path until awakening is attained.

In What More do You Want? a fascinating new book by renowned Zen master Albert Low, he addresses some of the questions students have posed about the practice of Zen: Why do we practice? Why should we seek to understand our reasons for practicing? How can we distinguish between true and false practice? What is awakening? In addition, Low shares with his readers four teishos—talks that comment on a text or koan in order to enhance meditation practice—on zazen or seated meditation, on pain and suffering, and on the very nature of practice itself. Finally, Low shares with readers an experience of satori, a glimpse into Buddha nature.

All readers, both novice and longtime practitioners, will encounter in this book new answers, and new questions, to the what, why and how of Zen practice.

Albert Low is an internationally recognized Zen master and author. Among his many works are Zen and the Sutras, To Know Yourself, and Zen Meditation Plain and Simple. He has been teacher and director of Montreal Zen Centre for over thirty years.

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What More Do You Want? Zen Questions, Zen Answers by Albert Low

Transcendence or Immanence? Balancing Heaven and Earth ~ David Loy

At the heart of Buddhist teachings is a crucial ambiguity that has become increasingly problematic as Buddhism has globalized. Today it’s clear that this ambivalence needs to be resolved if the Buddhist tradition is to help us address most effectively the challenges that now confront us.

In early Buddhism the “end of suffering” is nirvana, literally “blown out” or “cooled off.” Yet it’s not clear what that metaphor means, because the Buddha described nirvana mostly with negatives (the end of craving, ignorance, etc.) and other metaphors (the Shelter, Harbor, Refuge, etc.). His reticence leaves the important question whether nirvana refers to something that transcends this world — some other dimension or reality — or whether it describes an experience that is immanent in this world — a state of being that could perhaps be understood more psychologically, as the end of greed, ill will and delusion in our lives right here and now.

Theravada Buddhism, which bases itself on what it believes to be the original teachings of the Buddha, understands nirvana as an Unconditioned realm that transcends samsara, this world of suffering, craving and ignorance. The ultimate goal is to escape the unsatisfactory world we now live in, by avoiding rebirth into samsara.

Whether or not the duality between this world and some otherworldly goal accurately reflects the original views of the historical Buddha, it is similar to what is found in most of the other spiritual traditions that developed around the same time, during the Axial Age (roughly 800-200 B.C.E.) that gave rise to Vedanta, Jainism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism and Judaism, as well as Pre-Socratic Greek philosophy and Platonism.

The Axial worldview was quite different from that of older empires such as Mesopotamia and Egypt, which believed that the gods related to humanity mainly through a king or emperor at the top of the social pyramid. The authority of such rulers was as much sacred as secular, because they were the only ones directly in touch with the divine realms. The Axial revolution brought about a new relationship between the transcendent and each individual. In fact, this relationship created the individual. Instead of connecting to the divine through a priest-king, now everyone has his or her own personal relationship with God, Brahman, or the Tao. In Buddhist terms, each of us has the possibility of awakening and attaining nirvana. This also implied a circle of empathy and compassion that incorporated everyone else who has a relationship with the sacred.

The most revolutionary aspect of this new relationship was a sacred demand that we transform ourselves. It was no longer enough to fulfill one’s social function by supporting the ruler’s sacrosanct role: now the transcendent expected each individual to take responsibility for his or her own life. In the Abrahamic traditions this was mainly an ethical requirement that we live according to God’s commandments. To risk a further generalization, the emphasis in India was more on liberation from this world of maya, usually translated as illusion. To awaken is to realize the really Real, which is something other than its appearances.

“Give me a place to stand and I shall move the Earth,” Archimedes said. Culturally, that leverage has been provided by (our belief in) transcendence, which offered the reflective distance — the alternative perspective — necessary to evaluate and try to improve oneself. To paraphrase something Renan wrote, the transcendent is the way that the ideal has made its appearance in human history. The world we live in today — including our concern for democracy, human rights and social justice — became possible because of that “other world.”

Nevertheless, such cosmological dualism has also been problematic. It became a split within us, between the “higher” part (the soul, rationality) that yearns for escape from this vale of sorrow and the “lower” part that is of the earth (physical bodies and emotions). As the Buddha emphasized, this world is a place of suffering and death. Much of the attraction of the Axial religions, including Buddhism, is that they seem to offer an escape from mortality. Dread of death also explains our degradation of the material world, nature, animals, our bodies, sex and women (who remind us that we are conceived and born like other mammals). We don’t want to perish: We want to be immortal souls that can qualify for heaven! Or no-selves that might attain nirvana. All the Axial spiritual traditions were or became patriarchal: the hierarchy between higher and lower worlds became reproduced in the hierarchy of men over women.

The problem with those approaches today, of course, is that science has not discovered anything that supports such cosmological dualisms, which may have outlived their role.

Largely in reaction, a this-worldly alternative has become widespread in contemporary Buddhism: understanding the path as a program of psychological development to help us deal with personal problems, especially one’s “monkey mind” and afflictive emotions. The aim is to gain insight into how our minds work, in order to make our lives less stressful.

Although this is a beneficial development in many ways, what we might call the “psychologization” of Buddhism tends to de-emphasize its ethical precepts, community life and awakening itself, all of which are central aspects of Buddhism in its Asian context. This is especially true of the mindfulness movement, which extracts one technique from a tradition that has so much more to offer, including a deeper transformative insight into one’s true nature.

Without denigrating such practices, we need to ask: Do psychological and mindfulness approaches help to develop an awakened society that pursues social and ecological justice? How do they address the challenge of growth-oriented corporations that are damaging the sustainability of life on Earth? Is Western Buddhism being commodified into a self-help and stress-reduction program that does not raise questions about consumerism and our dysfunctional economic system, but helps us adapt to them?

Beyond Transcendence and Immanence

If transcendence encourages dis-identifying from our lives here, because focused on escaping this world, psychological appropriations of Buddhism (including the mindfulness movement) tend to accept this world as it is — to presuppose the prevalent, Western-derived worldview about who we are, what the world really is, and our role within it.

Do both miss the point? Buddhist awakening is a profoundly transformative realization that this world as we usually experience it, including the way that I usually experience myself, is neither real nor unreal, but a psychological/social/linguistic construction that can be deconstructed and reconstructed, which is what the spiritual path is about.

The most problematical aspect of this construct is the sense of myself as a being separate from the rest of the world. Because it has no substantiality or reality of its own, the sense of an “I” that feels separate from others is inherently insecure and anxious.

Awakening, from this perspective, is not an escape from this suffering world, nor a grudging acceptance of its existential and social realities, but letting-go of oneself (Dogen calls it “forgetting yourself”) and “falling into” the world, to realize one’s nonduality with it. Meditation enables this process, because we let-go of the mostly habitual ways of thinking, feeling, etc., that normally work together to sustain one’s sense of self.

As Nisargadatta put it:

When I look inside and see that I am nothing, that’s wisdom. When I look outside and see that I am everything, that’s love. Between these two my life turns.

If there is no inside (my mind), the outside (external world) is not outside! Wisdom and compassion: the two wings of the dharma.

This way of understanding enlightenment has important implications. If awakening involves transcending this suffering world, we can ignore its problems. If the Buddhist path is psychological therapy, we can focus on our own problems. But both of those approaches reinforce the illusion — the basic problem — that I am separate from others, and therefore can be indifferent to what they are experiencing.

Then the bodhisattva path is simply a more developed stage of personal practice. One learns to live in a way that embodies what has been realized. There is no individual salvation from the ecological and social crises that confront us today. They are just as much spiritual crises, because they challenge us to wake up and realize that our own well-being cannot be separated from the well-being of others, or from the health of the whole Earth.

David Loy advises the Ecobuddhism project.

David R. Loy is a professor, writer, and Zen teacher in the Sanbo Kyodan tradition of Japanese Zen Buddhism. His essays and books have been translated into many languages. He lectures & leads workshops nationally and internationally on various topics, focusing primarily on the encounter between Buddhism and modernity, social and ecological issues.

Moon in a Dewdrop: Writings of Zen Master Dogen edited by Kazuaki Tanahashi. Translated by Robert Aitken, Philip Whalen, et al.

Eihei Dogen (1200-1253), among the first to transmit Zen Buddhism from China to Japan and founder of the important Soto School, was not only a profoundly influential and provocative Zen philosopher but also one of the most stimulating figures in Japanese letters.

Kazuaki Tanahashi, collaborating with several other Zen authorities, has produced sensitive and accurate translations of Dogen’s most important texts. Moon in a Dewdrop contains the key essays of the great master, as well as extensive background materials that will help Western readers to approach this significant work. There is also a selection of Dogen’s poetry, most of which has not appeared in English translation before.

Dogen’s thought runs counter to conventional logic, employing paradoxical language and startling imagery. It illuminates such fundamental concerns as the nature of time, existence, life, death, the self, and what is beyond self.
Kazuaki Tanahashi, born and trained in Japan and active in the United States since 1977, has had solo exhibitions of his calligraphic paintings internationally. He has taught East Asian calligraphy at eight international conferences of calligraphy and lettering arts. Also a peace and environmental worker for decades, he is a Fellow of the World Academy of Art and Science.

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Interview Kazuaki Tanahashi

Nancy James interviews Dr. Annie Weisbrod Abbot Cincinnati Zen Center and Kazuaki Tanahashi world famous calligrapher http://www.brushmind.net/

Circle Circle Circle by Kazuaki Tanahashi

Kazuaki Tanahashi presents “Circle, Circle, Circle” an exhibit of his one stroke circle paintings at the Institute of Noetic Sciences in Petaluma, California.

Dolano -1.The play of Lila 2. How Can I be sure? 3. Who is afraid to Die? (Part1 & 2)- Enlightenment series

Enlightenment series – Dolano speaks of life as play, the Play of Leela, versus life as a “game”, the win and lose game of Samsara, which is suffering…
Dolano offers a month long Intensive Satsang which is “The Last Satsang” where one can wake up and free the mind from the wrong vision forever.

Dolano Open Satsang | How can I be Sure? Enlightenment series

Enlightenment series – Dolano is responding to the question asked: “In this understanding of who I am (who am I), how can I be sure it is coming from my true nature and not from my mind?”

Dolano open Satsang – What is afraid to Die (part 1) Enlightenment series

Enlightenment series. Dolano answer question regarding spiritual healing, what are the fundamental aspects of it? …healing in the level of the soul – profound healing. (Part One)
Dolano points out: “You need first to come to know who you are, your very nature, which is pure intelligence and health and does not need any healing.” And she speaks rather of freeing – liberating the mind which is still deluded with the appearance and is in the duality – boundary vision and suffers because of that.
Dolano: “You need to take care from the very root. You can’t just cut and cut the branches, they will grow again and you can go on endlessly with that.”

Dolano Open Satsang | What is Afraid to Die (Part 2) Enlightenment series

Enlightenment series. Dolano answer a question regarding spiritual healing, what are the fundamental aspects of it? …healing in the level of the soul – profound healing.
in this part Two of the video Dolano speaks about: Mind is busy with healing the illusion …And shocking situation like Japan earthquake – when mind stops – when everything stops -
A Wake Up Call!

Satori – Metamorphosis of an Awakening – Trailer

Rare footage of an awakening, traditionally called Satori, which can be a subtle shift or powerful and dramatic.

Premananda

Through this film we want to address this seemingly increasing phenomenon where people suddenly and without cause, experience Spiritual Awakening.

Lakshmi, living around spiritual teacher Premananda in a community, experienced this powerful energy phenomenon while typing an email in the community office. In this film they dialogue about Lakshmi’s experience of that moment and what has happened since.

Satori comes upon one unawares,
as something utterly unexpected.
It implies an insight into the nature of Self.
Satori is the most intimate individual experience.
Carl Gustav Jung

Being In the World Without Misery – Part 1A & B (03-20-2013)

Published on Mar 26, 2013

Being In the World Without Misery

Claude AnShin Thomas served in the Vietnam War from 1966-67. In 1995 he was ordained as a Zen Buddhist monk and currently speaks in religious and secular communities about cultures of violence and how they can become transformed. He visits war-torn countries, places of past and current suffering, hospitals, schools, and prisons. He facilitates mindfulness meditation retreats, long distance pilgrimages, street retreats and practice days in former concentration camps. He is also the founder of the Zaltho Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization that promotes nonviolence and transformation and the author of At Hell’s Gate — A Soldier’s Journey from War to Peace.

Being In the World Without Misery – Part 1B (03-20-2013)

A GUIDE TO ZEN : Lessons from a Modern Master

Katsuki Sekida was both a great writer and a great Zen master, and his books on Zen are among the most comprehensive ever written in English. In these pages, his former student Marc Allen culls the finest pieces from the original works to create a beautifully readable, brilliantly illuminating guide to Zen meditation. It begins with a summary of Zen, continues with a complete course in Zen meditation, and ends with comments on a Zen classic, In Search of the Missing Ox. Specific practices are featured throughout, such as “One-Minute Zazen” and other gems that are the result of a lifetime of study. For students of Zen both new and old, Sekida’s teachings are an endless source of insight and wisdom.

Katsuki Sekida (1903—1987) was both a great writer and a great Zen master, and his books on Zen are among the most comprehensive ever written in English. In these pages, his former student Marc Allen culls the finest pieces from the original works to create a beautifully readable, brilliantly illuminating guide to Zen meditation.

It begins with a summary of Zen, continues with a complete course in Zen meditation, and ends with comments on a Zen classic, In Search of the Missing Ox. Specific practices are featured throughout, such as “One-Minute Zazen” and other gems that are the result of a lifetime of study. For students of Zen both new and old, Sekida’s teachings are an endless source of insight and wisdom.

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Zen Biology Lesson for Enlightenment

A higher spiritual awareness of the biology of the brain & mind can significantly advance one towards Enlightenment and Zen. The science of biology says that the brain’s thoughts are just the result of cells doing work, and teachings on spirituality talk about having a silent mind of Zen. Biology + Buddhism = Enlightenment.

KNOW YOURSELF, FORGET YOURSELF Five Truths to Transform Your Work, Relationships, and Everyday Life ~ Marc Lesser

We all yearn for clear-cut answers to life’s problems, yet we rarely get them. Formulas fail and contradictions mount. In Know Yourself, Forget Yourself, executive coach and mindfulness teacher Marc Lesser shows that understanding and embracing the points where life feels most confusing, most contradictory can lead us to more satisfaction and joy.

Lesser provides clear guidance and simple practices for embracing five central paradoxes in life and navigating them to increase our effectiveness and happiness. Influenced by the revolutionary mindfulness and emotional intelligence trainings he helped develop at Google, Know Yourself, Forget Yourself is a profound book about cultivating the emotional skills to understand the right path through difficulties and challenges.

Marc Lesser is the CEO, founder and serves on the board of Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute (SIYLI). Marc is a long term Zen student and teacher. He is the author of Know Yourself, Forget Yourself, Less: Accomplishing More By Doing Less, and Z.B.A. Zen of Business Administration; How Zen Practice Can Transform Your Work and Your Life.

He was the founder and former CEO of Brush Dance, a publisher of greeting cards, calendars and gift items, with spiritual themes and artwork. He spent 15 years taking Brush Dance from an idea in his garage to a multi-million dollar publishing company, with distribution throughout the U.S. and the world.

He facilitates retreats for CEO’s, business leaders, and management teams. Has been co-leading Company Time retreats for business leaders for the past 10 years.

He was a resident of the San Francisco Zen Center for 10 years and was former director of Tassajara Zen Mountain Center. He received his M.B.A. degree from New York University and his Undergraduate degree in psychology from Rutgers University. He is currently a board member of the Social Venture Network.

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Coaching Series: Accomplishing More By Doing Less

Being creative and successful in business and your personal lives requires that you be responsive and flexible as you move beyond your comfort zones.

Though it may seem paradoxical, all real change and creativity begins by facing and understanding the reality of your current situation.

Learning to see and respond with greater clarity is where the path toward change and growth begins.

What is that you are really doing? What are you doing that is extraneous? How can you bring more ease to and at the same time enliven your work and personal activities?

Learn how slowing down and looking deeply can lead to greater business success and personal satisfaction. Learn key practices that can help you:

Be flexible and responsive in the midst of change
Act with calm in the midst of intense activity
Relax in the midst of exertion
Gain clarity and insight in the midst of difficulty and competing demands
Increase creativity and problem-solving skills
Improve listening and communication skills
Improve focus and concentration
Increase work satisfaction
Lead and build teams

A Talk with Marc Lesser author of KNOW YOURSELF, FORGET YOURSELF
By Marc Lesser

What was your motivation for writing about practical ways to work with paradox?

Nearly everything about being a human involves paradox. One of my favorite quotes is, “If it’s not paradoxical, it’s not true!” I just did a Google search to see who said this, and what came up was…..Marc Lesser. How paradoxical! A paradox is something that appears impossible, but may, in fact be true. Isn’t everything in our lives like this? Especially things that really matter – like time, consciousness, birth and death, war and peace, how we came to be doing whatever we do, our most important relationships – anything we can say about these topics appears impossible.

I began to notice that a few core paradoxes were also core practices in my work and in my life outside of work. I noticed that more and more these paradoxes were becoming fundamental and important truths. I began writing initially to better understand how to work with these paradoxes – in the work that I do with my clients, who are leaders in business and non-profits companies, as well as in my own life.

The expression “know yourself, forget yourself” sounds familiar. Where does it come from?

Yes, thank you Dogen, the 13th century founder of Zen Buddhism in Japan, who famously said – To study the Way is to study the self; to study the self is to forget the self; to forget the self is to awaken with everything and everyone. I first encountered this statement when I was in my 20’s and have been working with it ever since.

Is there a way to practice – self-knowing and self-forgetting?

Yes, self-awareness practice and mindfulness practice are practices for both self-knowing and self-forgetting. Think of an athlete – a superior tennis play works diligently on all aspects of self-knowing – details of hitting a ball under multiple conditions, state of mind, strategy. Then when playing a match, these awareness practices have all been embodied and the focus is completely on being present, aware, with little or no focus on self. Self-awareness practices and mindfulness practice are ways to train ourselves to be more present, alive, skillful in our work lives and in all our relationships.

How can I fight for change and accept what is at the same time?

This is a core truth, a core paradox of being human – accepting ourselves completely and making an effort to become more aware and to help others. If we just accept what is, we can be lulled into indifference. If we are always fighting for change, without accepting ourselves and our situation, we can become both nearsighted and stressed. We can make an effort to practice and build our ability in both acceptance and in making changes, skillfully.

Help! My life is stressful. Too much to do and not enough time. What guidance can you offer to get off of this treadmill?

Many people are stressed and in search of an elusive sense of balance. Know Yourself, Forget Yourself presents another approach that addresses underlying issues and is more effective than conventional approaches. Instead of looking outside yourself for balance, find ways to take care of yourself, to take care of your mind. I notice that people looking for balance often try to add more things to an already overflowing life. Our cups are already too full. We don’t need to add more; instead we can change the way we see, broaden our perspective and not get caught by mistaken ideas about balance. And not be narrowed, and stressed, by mistaken beliefs about ourselves.

How can I be confident and question everything at the same time?

Confidence comes from knowing yourself – from accurate emotional awareness, deep listening to yourself and to others. The more confident you become the more you can engage with important questions. The practice of “not knowing” can be a powerful way to develop more confidence.

Marc Lesser, the CEO and cofounder of the nonprofit Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute, lived at the San Francisco Zen Center for ten years and is the former director of the Tassajara Zen Mountain Center. He lives in Mill Valley, CA.

Buddha’s Book of Sleep: Sleep Better in Seven Weeks with Mindfulness Meditation

Buddha’s Book of Sleep is the first book to address sleep disturbances with techniques from mindfulness meditation. Yet this is a natural choice—mindfulness meditation has proven effective for psychological problems such as stress, depression, and anxiety, and these very issues are what become sleep problems when your head hits the pillow.

Divided into two sections, the book approaches sleep deprivation with a combination of wisdom and practical meditation exercises. The first section explains why mindfulness meditation, with its basis in self-awareness, is appropriate for dealing with sleeping problems, and details the practices of this increasingly popular form of meditation. The second section features seven specific exercises to do at bedtime or in the wee hours of the morning, or whenever your sleeping trouble occurs.

Providing a new perspective on why you cannot fall asleep even when you feel exhausted, and arming you with easy-to-use mindfulness meditation exercises, Buddha’s Book of Sleep will help you calm your hurried thoughts, and go from feeling always sleepy to getting the rest you need.

Joseph Emet trained with the Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh at Plum Village, France. After some years, he was made a Dharma Teacher in Thich Nhat Hanh’s tradition. He has written articles for the Reality Therapy Journal, articles on health and nutrition for Healthy Living and Alive magazines, has a doctorate in music from Boston University, and has published A Basket of Plums, a boxed book with two CDs of songs. He has worked with the Mindfulness Meditation Center in Montreal for fifteen years, and lives in Point-Claire, Canada.

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