Zen Wrapped in Karma Dipped in Chocolate
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Synopsis
Zen teacher and punk bassist Brad Warner had a tough year: He lost his dream job, his mother died, his grandmother died, and his marriage fell apart. In "Zen Wrapped in Karma Dipped in Chocolate", Brad follows the form of his first two books, mixing his real-life adventures with Buddhist philosophy and pop culture examples. He applies the Buddha's teachings to his own real-life suffering, deconstructing the popular image of the Buddhist Master. How does a real Zen Master deal with death, divorce, job loss, and personal discord? How does he perform the work of trying to help others get over their tough times while going through some pretty heavy pain of his own? How do you sit and meditate while your world crumbles all around you?Warner also explores whether real Buddhism exists in the West, travelling around North America in search of authentic Buddhist practice. 'While I've found shining examples of the Buddha's way in prisons and at heavy metal shows', he writes, 'I've also seen sad perversions of Buddhism in temples and among those supposedly propagating the Way in America. Authentic Buddhism doesn't always come packaged the way we imagine it should'.This isn't another esoteric book about the ancient, venerable, and exotic philosophy of Buddhism. It's a book about what it means to live your life as a real human being. According to Warner, although Zen does not offer the kind of pie-in-the-sky 'ultimate solutions' many religions and cults promise, it does provide a real and exceptionally practical way to deal with what life dishes out to all of us. In fact, he says, Zen practice and philosophy provides the only truly rational and realistic way to live a balanced and happy life.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
As the review above says, this book will be best enjoyed after reading the first two.
It is a book with a mission - to debunk gurus, holy people, god men and other such types who might claim that they are anything other than a normal person with an unusual job (and possibly a fancy costume). The way he sets about doing this is by using his own life as an example (being a fully ordained Zen monk/priest and a normal person who finds the fancy costume a bit of a drag). If the reader hasn't built up a bit of a rapport with him by reading his earlier books, then they might find themselves wondering why this book is all about him. Although he writes well, it's not as though the events of his life are the stuff of an epic memoir. Which is sort of the point.
An important read for anyone who is involved with "spiritual leaders" of any flavour. If you haven't read the other books, don't worry, you will still get the message loud and clear.
It is a book with a mission - to debunk gurus, holy people, god men and other such types who might claim that they are anything other than a normal person with an unusual job (and possibly a fancy costume). The way he sets about doing this is by using his own life as an example (being a fully ordained Zen monk/priest and a normal person who finds the fancy costume a bit of a drag). If the reader hasn't built up a bit of a rapport with him by reading his earlier books, then they might find themselves wondering why this book is all about him. Although he writes well, it's not as though the events of his life are the stuff of an epic memoir. Which is sort of the point.
An important read for anyone who is involved with "spiritual leaders" of any flavour. If you haven't read the other books, don't worry, you will still get the message loud and clear.
16 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
In his previous 2 books, Brad Warner combined Soto Zen Buddhist teachings with sometimes only vaguely relevant biographical anecdotes. Zen Wrapped In Karma is more of a straight biography, illustrating that Zazen is a philosophy of action by showing the effect it has had on his life. It covers how meditation helped him cope with the death of two family members, divorce & dealing with the expectations people have of a well-known Zen teacher.
In this book, there is no seperation between Buddhist theory & Brad's life - this illustrates how everyday life IS the practice, rather than the practice being esoteric theory written by a 13th century monk who didn't get out very much. Because the situations Brad outlines are particular to him (we all deal with the death of relatives at some point but each do so under our own unique circumstances) it isn't just saying 'be like Brad' but instead demonstrating that wherever life takes us, meditation will help us through the bad times.
Brad Warner is very much the marmite of Zen writers - people tend to either love his stuff or knock everything he does. How you feel about Brad will very much affect your reaction to this book. For instance, he illustrates the point that 'zen masters' are merely human & not pure superbeings who levitate during meditation by outlining the circumstances under which he slept with one of his students. He does this fully knowing that certain people will use this information as a weapon to discredit him, while other readers (eg. me) will appreciate the tragedy of Soto Zen organisations being as riddled with gossip, back-biting & power struggles as any other. This point is a crucial one - Buddhism is about accepting whatever we confront with equanimity, not blindly conforming to a dogma laid down by someone from an entirely different culture.
I have read both of Brad's previous books & while I enjoyed this one as well, I felt that if I hadn't read the others first, I wouldn't have warmed to the narrator as much & wouldn't have been able to relate to it at all. For this reason, I would recommend people who haven't read his stuff before to start of with either 'Hardcore Zen' or 'Sit Down & Shut Up'. I'd also recommend them because while 'Zen Wrapped' is a page-turner which makes it point well (meditation helps you through the bad times, treat others with respect but don't worry about pleasing everyone) because it only has a few points to make, I'm less likely to take take it back off the shelf than his other two.
In this book, there is no seperation between Buddhist theory & Brad's life - this illustrates how everyday life IS the practice, rather than the practice being esoteric theory written by a 13th century monk who didn't get out very much. Because the situations Brad outlines are particular to him (we all deal with the death of relatives at some point but each do so under our own unique circumstances) it isn't just saying 'be like Brad' but instead demonstrating that wherever life takes us, meditation will help us through the bad times.
Brad Warner is very much the marmite of Zen writers - people tend to either love his stuff or knock everything he does. How you feel about Brad will very much affect your reaction to this book. For instance, he illustrates the point that 'zen masters' are merely human & not pure superbeings who levitate during meditation by outlining the circumstances under which he slept with one of his students. He does this fully knowing that certain people will use this information as a weapon to discredit him, while other readers (eg. me) will appreciate the tragedy of Soto Zen organisations being as riddled with gossip, back-biting & power struggles as any other. This point is a crucial one - Buddhism is about accepting whatever we confront with equanimity, not blindly conforming to a dogma laid down by someone from an entirely different culture.
I have read both of Brad's previous books & while I enjoyed this one as well, I felt that if I hadn't read the others first, I wouldn't have warmed to the narrator as much & wouldn't have been able to relate to it at all. For this reason, I would recommend people who haven't read his stuff before to start of with either 'Hardcore Zen' or 'Sit Down & Shut Up'. I'd also recommend them because while 'Zen Wrapped' is a page-turner which makes it point well (meditation helps you through the bad times, treat others with respect but don't worry about pleasing everyone) because it only has a few points to make, I'm less likely to take take it back off the shelf than his other two.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Brad Warner writes in an honest, no-nonsense style. The book is not overly 'thinky' and can appeal to anyone who is either just getting interested in Buddhism, or someone who already is, and enjoys learning about the 'realities' of the Zen way.
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