Welcome to The Zen Revolution. The first 22 episodes cover subsequent chapters of the manuscript, with literary excerpts and bumper music. The Field of Weeds essays follow, a weekly series from the desk of H. Grevemberg together with cases from Zen Master
Chapter One - Fall to the Ground - read by H. Grevemberg - a new chapter every week. The story begins in the wilderness of Louisiana. Bumper music is Queen Adreena - Drink Me - Sleeping Pill.
Chapter Two - The Call to Practice - author H. Grevemberg reads from the back matter of Kafka's The Metamorphosis - Wilhelm Emrich - The Animal as Liberating Self - Modern Alienation and it's Law - before delving into chapter two of the Revolution. Bumper music is Blonde Redhead - La Mia Vita Voilenta - Jewel.
Chapter Three - Open Season - author H. Grevemberg reads from the fourth chapter of Andre' Gide's The Immoralist before diving into the material. The bumper music is Sonic Youth - Anagrama - Tremens.
Chapter Four - Vashon - author H. Grevemberg reads from Henry Miller's Tropic of Cancer. The saga continues, taking the reader from the Zen center to Grevemberg's first 100-day solo retreat. The bumper music is Azalia Snail - Fumarole Rising - Hidden Addendum.
Chapter Five - Stella - author H. Grevemberg reads from Samuel Beckett's Molloy. Afterward the revolution continues with a brief run through Seattle, kyol-che in Providence, and a new bearing – toward NYC. The bumper music is AFX – Analord 11 – W32.Mydoom.AU@mm.
Chapter Six – The Desert - the author begins anew on the West coast. An arduous stint at a desert monastery leads to his eventual indoctrination into a monastic order. The episode begins with an excerpt from Yukio Mishima's final work The Decay of the Angel. The bumper music is Tricky – Maxinquaye – Black Steel.
Chapter Seven - Seoul - author H. Grevemberg reads from Camus The Myth of Sisyphus. The revolution continues on the way to Korea, to the author's first glimpse at a real Zen monastery. The bumper music is Peter Gabriel – Passion – Of These, Hope - Reprise.
Chapter Eight - Gye Ryong San - author H. Grevemberg reads from Gogol Dead Souls. In chapter Eight of The Zen Revolution, the author attends a 90-day retreat in the Gye Ryong mountain range, Korea, at a 13-century old monastery. The bumper music is BÖC –Mirrors – The Vigil.
Chapter Nine - Haengjanim - author H. Grevemberg reads from Faulkner The Sound and the Fury. In chapter nine of The Zen Revolution, the author, confined to the monastery grounds, is forced to begin anew as a novice monk. The bumper music is Magik Markers –Boss – Taste.
Chapter Ten - Monsoon - author H. Grevemberg reads from Simone de Beauvoir's The Mandarins. In Monsoon the author struggles to maintain in a pitched battle between two strong women sorting out their order of dominance. The bumper music is Sonic Youth –Dirty – On The Strip.
Chapter Eleven - Leap Year - author H. Grevemberg reads an excerpt from Thomas Mann's short story A Man and His Dog. In Leap Year the author goes through the final stages of haengja training before the kyoruk - the trial-by-fire for novice monks, coming next week. The bumper music is Blonde Redhead – Fake Can be Just as Good – Bipolar.
Chapter Twelve - Kyoruk - H. Grevemberg reads an excerpt from Dostoevsky's House of the Dead, and, in Kyoruk, attends the final stage of indoctrination into the Chogye order of Buddhism in Korea - the trial-by-fire for novice monks. The bumper music is The Stooges – Fun House – TV Eye.
Chapter Thirteen - Totem - H. Grevemberg reads an excerpt from Celine's Death on the Installment Plan, and, in Totem, returns to Louisiana to tend to a dying father, is forced to choose between leaving him to the horrors of a difficult end, or leaving the Buddhist order. The bumper music is AFX – Analord 1 – Where's Your Girlfriend?
Chapter Fourteen - Noe'mi - H. Grevemberg reads an excerpt from Tom Robbins's Even Cowgirls Get the Blues before delving into Noe'mi. The end of Season Two - The Formal Aspect is rather poetic, a meltdown between the author and a French witch. The bumper music is Queen Adreena – Djin – Ruby.
Intermission - Interview with Tenkai - H. Grevemberg reads two short excerpts from Virginia Woolf's A Room Of One's Own before interviewing Tenkai, an old friend and dharma brother of Maezumi Roshi's line. A lot of ground is covered that reflects back onThe Zen Revolution - worth your time. The bumper music is Peter Gabriel - Security - The Rhythm of the Heat.
Chapter Fifteen - The Open Field- H. Grevemberg reads an excerpt from Conrad's Heart of Darkness. Season Three - The Fall begins with a terse, poetic look at the author's break from the institution. The bumper music is The Jesus and Mary Chain – The Power of Negative Thinking – Nineteen666.
Chapter Sixteen - Downtown - H. Grevemberg reads an excerpt from Henry Miller'sCosmological Eye - An Open Letter to Surrealists Everywhere. Chapter 16 - Downtowntakes the reader along for a day trip via the Los Angeles subway, a documentary framework that turns poetic, transcendental. The bumper music is Folk Implosion -Natural One - the “Kids” soundtrack.
Chapter Seventeen - The Press Forward - H. Grevemberg reads an excerpt from Hunter S. Thompson's The Great Shark Hunt — an out-of-print collection of essays that covers a good span of the author's work — this one from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Chapter 17 - The Press Forward is an argument against relationship developed from H. Grevemberg's Giant essay — a heady look into the production of a saint. The bumper music is Black Sabbath - Volume Four - The Straightener.
Chapter Eighteen - Dead Season - H. Grevemberg reads an excerpt from Upton Sinclair'sThe Jungle, of the rare breed of novel that drives real change, political change. Chapter 18 - Dead Season, the final chapter of Season Three - The Fall, describes the final moments before the author's return to practice. The bumper music is The Cranes -Jewel - Leave Her to Heaven.
Chapter Nineteen - Fire - H. Grevemberg reads an excerpt from Mark Twain's Life on the Mississippi - an excerpt that reveals much about life. In Fire, the author returns to formal practice at the desert monastery after a fire nearly destroys it, and finds something extraordinary. The bumper music is the author's own - Strong.
Chapter Twenty - The Door - H. Grevemberg reads an excerpt from Edgar Allan Poe's The Poetic Principle - A master of poetic language on the higher reaches of the art. In The Door, the author returns to Korea, to the monastery where he did the haengja training a decade before, and something… happens. The bumper music is Sonic Youth - Sonic Youth + Early Live - Where The Red Fern Grows.
Chapter Twenty-One - Everything That Has Been Lost Is Gained - In the final chapter ofThe Zen Revolution, H. Grevemberg reads an excerpt from both The Rebel: An Essay on Man in Revolt, Albert Camus and Chuang Tsu: Inner Chapters, Gia-Fu Feng & Jane English before bounding aboard a train, to his retreat cabin in Louisiana. He exits with a few important words sure to leave their mark. The bumper music is Thelonious Monk -Thelonious Alone in San Francisco - Pannonica.
Essay One - The Impostor - H. Grevemberg walks the streets of San Francisco and downtown Los Angeles, meets with both a Zen Sword Master and Christian Minister - an incandescent reading full of fire and pitch, the dharma of the streets. The series opens with the first case of Zen Master Seung Sahn's Road to Enlightenment - No Question and Answer for the Primary Meaning - an unpublished manuscript from 1965.
Essay Two - The Real Cure - H. Grevemberg illustrates the problems of perception and answers a few listener questions after reading the 2nd case of Zen Master Seung Sahn'sRoad to Enlightenment - Mind Transference - an unpublished manuscript from 1965.
Essay Three - The Collective - H. Grevemberg looks into the nature of existence, and ponders why so few of us question it, after reading the 3rd case of Zen Master Seung Sahn's Road to Enlightenment - Buddha's Dharma is Like This - an unpublished manuscript from 1965.
Essay Four - Power - H. Grevemberg explores the power structure of society and illustrates more of the life of a sage while going for a long walk at night. The show opens with a brief excerpt from Agememnon's Aeschylus and the 4th case of Zen Master Seung Sahn's Road to Enlightenment - Dialogue With a Non-Buddhist Scholar - an unpublished manuscript from 1965. The bumper music is Sonic Youth - The Destroyed Room - The Diamond Sea.
Essay Five - Chaos - H. Grevemberg digs beneath the surface of chaos to reveal the underlying pattern - substance. The show opens with the 5th case of Zen Master Seung Sahn's Road to Enlightenment - Vimalakirti's Illness - an unpublished manuscript from 1965. The bumper music is The Jesus & Mary Chain - Reverence (Promo) - Reverence (Jim & William Reid Mix).
Essay Six - The Ground - A fiery look at the whole of practice life, of crossing the plane of existence. The show opens with the 6th case of Zen Master Seung Sahn's Road to Enlightenment - Knock Down the Flagpole in Front of the Gate - an unpublished manuscript from 1965. The chanting is Korean Buddhist monk Won Yul Sunim leading at Tae Go Sa in the Mojave Desert, the desert monastery featured in The Zen Revolution.
Essay Seven - Guns, Germs, and Steel - A condensed look at the major flow of this great work from Jared Diamond. The show opens with the 7th case of Zen Master Seung Sahn's Road to Enlightenment - The Nature of No Creation, No Annihilation - an unpublished manuscript from 1965. The bumper music is Yolando Be Cool & DCUP - We No Speak Americano.
Essay Eight - Ego and the Long Retreat - A live recording from a talk given at Dharma Zen Center in Los Angeles on October 24, 2010. The show opens with the 8th case of Zen Master Seung Sahn's Road to Enlightenment - The Rib-Honored One and the Young Man - an unpublished manuscript from 1965. The bumper music is Sonic Youth - The Destroyed Room - Beautiful Plateau.
Essay Nine - Politics - Written during the 2010 midterm elections in America, a deep, lucid, sane look into the politics of the Zen hierarchies, and politics in general. The show opens with the 9th case of Zen Master Seung Sahn's Road to Enlightenment - Nagarjuna and Kanadeva - an unpublished manuscript from 1965. The music interlude - Blonde Redhead - Fake Can Be Just As Good - Ego Maniac Kid
Essay Ten - The Long Retreat - A glimpse into the life of a Zen adept, the process of preparing for long retreats, and how they are done. The show opens with the 10th case of Zen Master Seung Sahn's Road to Enlightenment - One Mind is Still - an unpublished manuscript from 1965. The bumper music - The Cure - Disintegration - Last Dance
Essay Eleven - Event Horizon - The Zen Revolution takes a new turn, toward a live autobiography, the dharma presented against a backdrop of various lowlifes from the house on Monterey, to a concert in Hollywood. The show opens with the 11th case of Zen Master Seung Sahn's Road to Enlightenment - Wide Open, Nothing Holy - an unpublished manuscript from 1965. The bumper music - Blonde Redhead - Misery is a Butterfly - The Messenger & 23 - Top Ranking
Essay Twelve - Tribes - The Zen Revolution Thanksgiving Special - takes you on a bus ride to Berkeley, a rambling tour through Skid Row, an update on Kye Soen from The Zen Revolution, and her children - all sorts of holiday fun . The show opens with the 12th case of Zen Master Seung Sahn's Road to Enlightenment - True Taste of Zen - an unpublished manuscript from 1965. The bumper music is - AFX - Analord 08 & 05 - W32.Deadcode.A & Reunion 2
Essay Thirteen - Quadrism - The Zen Revolution takes a final turn, toward a new series, a new format, and introduces the concept of quadrism. This episode marks the spin off of Field of Weeds to its own show with a new beat, more of a documentary, stripped bare, with extra content available on the upcoming iPhone/android apps: video shorts, photographs, homade music, and a text of the show formatted for portable devices.
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