[AnattaBlog] Three Recommended Readings for the Prospective Rebel Buddhist (Part 2)

If you followed our advice last time around you’ve got a new found understanding of Buddhist basics. So now what? Like a fine restaurant, AnattaPunk is offering you a wide selection of gourmet dishes for your second course. In other words, I can’t make up my mind. I’ve got three titles in my hat but I’ll leave it up to you to decide which one sounds most likely to stimulate your own interests. Secular Buddhism is about taking responsibility for your own life and making the most of it, so take your pick: The Miracle of Mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hanh, Sit Down and Shut Up by Brad Warner, or The Heart of the Revolution by Noah Levine.

Thich Nhat Hanh

The Miracle of Mindfulness: An Introduction to the Practice of Meditation. There are a variety of styles and traditions when it comes to meditation. I think basic mindfulness is the easiest to understand in concept and to start practicing. Mindfulness has made its way into the science of psychology as well as pop culture, including January 2014’s Time Magazine cover. Or [this]. It’s practical in the sense that you can learn to practice while doing things you normally do anyway. For example, Hanh discusses mindfulness practices while eating or doing the dishes. One note of caution–AnattaPunk always recommends a skeptical approach when considering new information, and that is especially true with this book. Hanh makes some pretty wild assertions, some downright irresponsible. I’m pretty sure that at one point he says certain breathing practices can cure cancer (?!). But if your B.S. meter is working properly this book is still a quick easy intro to a potentially life-altering practice. Plus you can read this book for free [here]. You don’t need to believe any woo to benefit from mindfulness. When you come across anything that offends your logic and common sense in Hanh’s commentary, just remember what Stephen Batchelor said (more where this came from in Part 3):

“[Mindfulness] is not concerned with anything transcendent or divine. It serves as an antidote to theism, a cure for sentimental piety, a scalpel for excising the tumor of metaphysical belief.”

Brad Warner

Sit Down and Shut Up: Punk Rock Commentaries on Buddha, God, Truth, Sex, Death, and Dogen’s Treasury of  the Right Dharma Eye. Brad Warner comes from a Japanese Zen background, not terribly unlike Hanh’s Vietnamese Zen. That doesn’t mean they always agree. Warner is a punk musician turned monster-movie-maker turned Zen priest. This book is both a memoir of these experiences and commentary on the teachings of the 13th century Zen master Dogen. This book will give you insight into Zen-style meditation; i.e. zazen. Zazen is probably what you think of when you hear the word meditation, when you see an image of someone sitting quietly with their legs all pretzeled underneath them. Warner discusses how to do this and why. The “why” is very nuanced and presents a fascinating intellectual puzzle to tinker on. Sit Down and Shut Up was Warner’s second book and my personal favorite, but Hardcore Zen, Zen Wrapped in Karma Dipped in Chocolate, and Sex, Sin, and Zen are also worthwhile reads. Warner would probably not describe himself as a secular Buddhist (or maybe he would based on the title of 2013’s There is No God and He is Always With You. I’m looking forward to reading this one) but his approach is very no-nonsense. In his books and blog posts he often debunks supernatural claims, and his discussions of a very practical, non-supernatural approach to enlightenment should be considered mandatory reading.

Noah Levine

The Heart of the Revolution: The Buddha’s Radical Teachings on Forgiveness, Compassion, and Kindness. Did all these guys get together and mandate that all the books on Buddhism in the last few years have to have long subtitles? No matter. Noah Levine is a fascinating dude. One of his previous books, Dharma Punx, is a very frank account of his life as a drugged-up self-destructing nihilistic gutter punk and how meditation practices saved his life. The Heart of the Revolution, however, is more of an instruction manual for meditation techniques on–you guessed it–forgiveness, compassion, and kindness. As a person who readily admits that he’s lied, stolen, committed violence on himself and others, and generally fucked up in every possible way, Levine reminds us all that finding forgiveness and compassion for others is often easier than finding it for ourselves. It’s difficult to write about loving oneself without reeking of cheesy self-help cliche. Levine succeeds for the most part. His other books including Against the Stream are also recommended.

EXTRA CREDIT: Check out The Dhamma Brothers, a documentary film on the effects of Vipassana practice on a group of convicted criminals in an Alabama prison. Vipassana is sort of an intensive mindfulness practice. You may be surprised at what happens to these prisoners, and even more surprised at the prison system’s reaction to the Vipassana program. No spoilers here!

Ok, fellow students. This concludes today’s discussion. Reading one of these in addition to your assignment from Part 1 should be good enough to advance to Part 3. You’ll benefit more from reading all three, but hey, I promised I’d only make you read 3 total. While the above books seem different in their approach or focus, at some point in your studies I think these ideas will all start pointing in the same direction. If they don’t, then take what’s useful for you and move on. More advanced students can feel free to share your own secular Buddhist punk rock reading lists (or playlists) on our Facebook page. Thanks for reading!

Confessions of a Terrible Buddhist: If You Want to Learn About Zen Don’t Read This Blog, a.k.a The Zennest Shit Ever

One of the best things about living in Portland is day trips to Powell’s City of Books. For the uninitiated, calling Powell’s a pretty-big-book-store is like calling “Confession of  Buddhist Atheist” a pretty good book; in other words, an utterly fail-tastic understatement. This biblio-behemoth spans an entire city block. It’s a veritable literary labyrinth, and practically impossible for a neophyte to navigate without a map and compass. But here’s a tip: If you walk in the front entrance, past the registers, down the hall, up a flight of stairs, and then take a hard left followed by a soft right, you might bump into me. This is the Buddhism aisle.

It seems fitting that this was where I learned an important lesson about Zen. It may be less than fitting, however, that the lesson didn’t come from one of the thousands of tomes of collected Buddhist knowledge throughout the centuries. Nah. My teacher in this instance was just some horned-rim-glassed hipster trying to impress his date.

The two of them casually pretended to look at books while I casually pretended not to be interested in their flirting.

“What do you think about Buddhism?” the girl asked. I nearly snapped my own neck jerking my head to hear the boy’s response. Portland is full of pretentious hipsters who have expert opinions on everything. This kid was about to spew some sophomoric bullshit to save face, rather than admit that he didn’t know the first thing about dharma, karma, anatman, and all the other fancy Sanskrit words I’ve memorized. I couldn’t wait to pounce on him, me a fierce Zen tiger, as he hung dangling from a proverbial vine. I purred. I growled. I listened.

The kid flashed a goofy smile. “I don’t really care for it,” he said.

Hm. Yes. If you can’t say you did it first, deny that it has any value. Go on, tell us more.

“One time I read this book on Zen. Well, I started to read it,” he said. Ah-ha! So he began his studies but just couldn’t wrap his tiny brain around such deep concepts. I patted myself on the back with my mighty tiger claws. He continued.

“One of the first sentences in the book said something like `If you want to learn about Zen then don’t read books about it.’”

Yes, yes… That checks out. I’ve read that. Now go ahead and spout your nonsense interpretation of this complex idea.

Chuck says “Fifty shades of what? Put down that sparkly vampire shit and read these AnattaPunk approved books if you want to live.”
• Confession of a Buddhist Atheist. Stephen Batchelor.
• Buddha For Beginners. Steven T. Asma.
• Sit Down and Shut Up. Brad Warner.
• Dharma Punx. Noah Levine.
• Rebel Buddha. Dzogchen Ponlop.

“The first chapter said if you want to learn about Zen don’t read about it. So I didn’t. I took the book back to the library the next day.”

My indignation burst through the roof. How dare this young dumb idiot deny the majesty of Buddhist ideas and just smugly return a book without even reading it? You think you know better than 2,000 years of evolving Buddhist wisdom, kid? Good luck with that. Why don’t you and your girl pants go pay $17 for a venti goat-milk-caramel-macchiato with nutritional yeast sprinkles and soy curls, and get the fuck out of my aisle.

The couple giggled and went on their way, leaving me behind to fume. I couldn’t even enjoy reading at this point. I went outside and stomped down the sidewalk. And then suddenly I realized…

…I wasn’t a tiger. I was a quivering mouse making a tiger shadow puppet and fooling no one.

Anger. Indignation. Pride. These are the things you learn to avoid on day one of Buddhist kindergarten. Fail. Epic fail.

I packed my mousey tiger tail between my legs and crept back home. I thought back on this guy at the bookstore over the next few days. His sentiment echoed back and forth in my skull until I was ready to bash it against the wall. “If you want to learn about Zen, don’t read about Zen. So I didn’t.” Why had this triggered so many harsh feelings in me? Why was I still torturing myself over it? Why am I currently writing about it?

If he was factually wrong in his interpretation or expressed lack of value in Buddhist teachings then it wouldn’t make sense for me to be offended. If I had overheard a child telling another child that two plus two equals five I wouldn’t have reacted with so much venom. I would have laughed it off. I wouldn’t have been upset and I certainly wouldn’t have praised myself for knowing that two plus two is really four.

Fast forward a bit, and here’s me realizing that the dude wasn’t wrong at all. In fact, his statement, his instant returning of the book, was, in that moment, the Zennest shit I could have heard, and a lesson I badly needed. I mentally promoted him from hipster to zenster, the new honorific title I made up.

“If you want to learn about Zen, don’t read about Zen.”

I know I’d read that sentiment before, and more than once at that. I’d always taken it to mean that Zen was supposed to be something ineffable, something that transcended our languages’ ability to pin down its essence no matter how much we talk about it. I thought it was a cute paradoxical hook for Buddhist writers.

No, stupid. That’s what I get for thinking too hard. One of my first Eastern philosophy professors once told me about the time that he had been laughed out of a Zen monastery after telling the boss that he was a philosopher. Now I get it.

“If you want to learn about Zen, don’t read about Zen.” If you want to learn about baseball, don’t read about it. If you want to learn about the view from Mount Hood, don’t read about it. If you want to learn about writing a poem or riding a horse or tasting a pickle don’t fucking read about it. Don’t think about it, don’t tell your Aunt Sally about it, don’t deliberate plans for it. Go do it. The simplicity was a kick in the teeth. The kick delivered via being punked by some hipster made it a Chuck Norris roundhouse.

So I read too much and practice too little. That, I confess, makes me a terrible Buddhist. But I’m working on it. Now put down the blog, Poindexter, and go do something.

AnattaPunk hipster pins, coming soon to a store near you! Which store? It’s pretty obscure. You probably haven’t heard of it.