Letters to a Dead Friend About Zen

Dogen's essay KOMYO variously translated as "Brightness," "Radiant Light," or "Divine Light" is one of his most mystical pieces of writing. In this episode I present my paraphrase of the essay in the style of my other Dogen paraphrases from my books Don't Be a Jerk and It Came From Beyond Zen.

On a recent YouTube video I talked about misogyny in Buddhism and the pro-female ideas Dogen expressed in Shobogenzo. In this talk from March 16, 2016, I go into greater depth about both subjects in front of an audience at a retreat at Mount Baldy Zen Center. 

This is a talk I gave at the Rochester Zen Center on April 24, 2016 about Dogen and his essay "Mind Alone is Buddha." What the heck did he mean by that? Here's my attempt at answering that question.

Here's a conversation I had with Sufi sheik Ingo Taleb Rashid at Benediktushof Meditation Center in Germany on September 27, 2017. We talk about God and Star Trek and take questions from the audience.

In this episode I read from the chapter "Who Walked My Dog" from my new book, The Other Side of Nothing: The Zen Ethics of Time, Space, and Being." It's a sneak preview of the book, which is available now, and of the forthcoming audiobook.

This is a lecture I gave in Vienna in 2018 about Dogen's famous essay "The Samadhi of Receiving and Using the Self."

Here's a talk I gave in Phoenix, Arizona in 2012 about the Grand Canyon and Enlightenment.

In this Q&A session from 2019 in Finland I talk about what it means to be a Zen teacher and then we get into the subject of "good zazen" vs. "bad zazen."

In 2016 I spoke in a bar in Texas about the concept of "No Self" as expressed in Dogen's most famous essay Genjo Koan (The Realized Universe). Here's the recording!

Here's a talk I did in 2015 at Felsentor, a Zen monastery in Switzerland that was established by a dharma heir of Kobun Chino Otogawa Roshi, my first Zen teacher's teacher. It's about the Heart Sutra but I also talk about some other stuff including Hitler's golden elevator. Enjoy!

In today's podcast I ask a group of Germans at a Zen retreat "Are we wasting our time doing this?" I also present a long quote from Kobun Chino Otogawa Roshi, one of the greatest contemporary Zen teachers.

Lots of people ask what Zen teaches about life after death. Here is my really long answer!

The explosive conclusion of my series of commentaries on Dogen's essay Buddhas Alone Together With Buddhas!

What do Buddhists do when they have a "bad hair day"? Here is Zen Master Dogen's answer! Plus an explanation of the universe as it really is.

Part Four (4! Count 'em!) of my commentary on Dogen's essay Buddhas Alone Together With Buddhas. In this one I say some weird stuff about astrology and astronomy.

Part Three of my translation and commentary on Dogen's essay Yui Butsu Yo Butsu, aka Buddhas Alone Together With Buddhas.

Part two of my paraphrase and commentary on Dogen's essay Buddhas Alone Together With Buddhas.

My paraphrase of Dogen's essay "Buddhas Alone Together With Buddhas" in the style of the Dogen paraphrases I did for my books Don't Be a Jerk and It Came From Beyond Zen.

Here's a talk I gave in Lammi, Finland in 2019 on the subject of Buddhist ordination and Buddhist institutions. 

Here's a talk I gave on September 3, 2021 in Lammi, Finland while on my recent European tour. The subject is a koan called One Bright Pearl as well as the teachings of Zen Master Huangpo, who is also known as Obaku. 

The thrilling conclusion of my three-part talk about Hyakujo's Fox at Benediktushof Retreat Center in Germany in September, 2021. The Q&A gets a little funny in this one, but it's sort of interesting too.

Here is the second part of my series of lectures about the old Chinese Zen teaching story, Hyakujo's Fox. This talk took place in September, 2021 at the Benediktushof Retreat Center in Germany.

Here is part one of a three part lecture I did at the Benediktushof Retreat Center in Germany. I'm discussing Hyakujo's Fox, a very old Zen famous koan (teaching story). Parts two and three will follow shortly. 

Here's a recording of a discussion I had on September 4, 2021 with the group at my recent retreat in Lammi, Finland. We talked about aliens, socks, and sweat — three vital topics in Zen Buddhism!

Nishijima Roshi said that zazen is getting rid of what doesn't originally belong to us. It's kind of an interesting to say.

Here is the final part of my paraphrase and commentary on Dogen's essay Bussho (Buddha Nature). In this episode, Dogen says, "Grasses, trees, and even land are mind itself. Because they are mind, they are living beings and they have Buddha Nature. The sun, the moon, and the stars are mind itself. Because they are mind, they are living beings and they have Buddha Nature." Pretty interesting stuff!

Years ago I made a joke commercial about a machine called The Enlightenizer that gets you enlightened in minutes. Now someone has created the Enlightenizer for real!

At last! Here is part two of my paraphrase and commentary on Dogen's essay "Bussho" or "Buddha Nature." The commentary is far more extensive this time so the episode is twice as long as part one! Dogen discusses the deep meaning of Buddha Nature and I get into some of what I think Dogen means. What is Buddha Nature, anyhow?

The second episode of my series about Buddha Nature isn't ready yet. So I'm putting up the audio from the video tribute I made for my friend Franz Kummer in Germany who passed away a few weeks ago. He was good guy.

I'll be back soon with more of my in-depth analysis of Dogen's essay about Buddha Nature. But here's the audio of a brief video I did on the subject. It may serve as a good introduction to the subject.

This is part one of my podcast about Dogen's essay Bussho or "Buddha Nature" from Shobogenzo. I paraphrased the essay in the style of my Dogen paraphrases from my books Don't Be a Jerk and It Came From Beyond Zen, then I commented on it. Enjoy!

Sometimes scary things happen during meditation. Sometimes it can be really, really scary. Let's talk about that.

My reaction to a story about an enlightenment experience.

It's one of the most popular Buddhist books in the world, but up until a few months ago I had never read it. Now I have. Here are my thoughts about the Tibetan Book of the Dead.

If you always wondered what my favorite Zen books are, well, here are some of them! 

Zazen is supposed to be a practice without a goal. What does that mean?

Dogen describes zazen as the King of Samadhis. What the heck does that even mean?

This episode was recorded in the pre-pandemic days. But I think we all need a break from that stuff, so here it is. In this episode, I talked to my friend Rylend Grant, a professional Hollywood screenwriter and member of the Angel City Zen Center. Topics range from Zen in the entertainment business, to entertainment in the Zen business, and even a bit about diversity and inclusion in Zen. Enjoy! Or, should I say "Zen-joy?"

In this episode's letter to my dead friend Marky, I try to address the idea of the "meaning of life." You always hear that phrase, "the meaning of life." But what the heck does it mean? What does it mean to say that life has a meaning? What is meaning? What is life? It gets a little weird! But a nice discussion followed and you can hear that in the second half of the podcast.

This episode was recorded at Mystic Journeys Bookstore in Venice, California. I love Mystic Journeys Bookstore! But it's not exactly a Zen space. They sell healing crystals, offer psychic readings, and sell books about all sorts of new age topics. Zen, by contrast, is philosophy that emphasizes ordinariness as the way to the truth. Is Zen compatible with belief in the paranormal? That is the question this episode's letter to Marky takes up.

In this episode's letter, I wrote to my dead friend Marky about some of the weirder claims Zen Buddhists sometimes make -- like their occasional claims of experiencing oneness with everything. If some Zen guy has an experience of oneness with the entire universe, shouldn't the rest of us also notice it? I mean, he's become one with us too, presumably. You'd think you'd notice something like that! 

I didn't include a letter to Marky about the Heart Sutra in Letters to a Dead Friend About Zen because I had written a chapter about it in my first book, Hardcore Zen. But the Heart Sutra is probably the most important sutra for Zen Buddhists. So I wrote Marky a letter about the Heart Sutra for this episode and presented it in America's Heartland, Cleveland, Ohio.

Recorded October 12, 2019 in Akron, Ohio. In this episode I write to Marky about how I got started in Zen. This talk was delivered before a group that included a number of people who knew the real people upon whom "Marky" in the book was based. I think the discussion after the letter was one of the best that I've had so far with an audience.

Recorded in London, England on July 4, 2019, Brad Warner introduces his book Letters to a Dead Friend About Zen. The book is a series of letters to Brad’s childhood friend Marky who died in 2014. Brad wants to tell his friend everything he never said, to explain Zen, “this crazy philosophy and weird meditation practice I do every day.” In this episode Brad read a new letter to Marky (not from the book) on the subject of "Beginner's Mind" in Zen Buddhist practice.