Why I can't stand Buddhists

Why I (Brad Warner) can't stand Buddhists

(Hardcore Zen) March 12, 2025: Why would American Zen Roshi Brad Warner (who unlike most Western Zen teachers has a legitimate title and transmission conferred upon him by a Japanese master) say such a thing? Is it because he is a former punk rocker who is still questioning authority at every turn? Is it just to be dramatic and controversial, or does it reveal something wrong with his practice and progress or comprehension of "Zen"? It is a Western aberration to think that "Zen" is just whatever one wants it to be, everything (O), all encompassing enso, and zero (0), nothing at all. UCLA Prof. Robert Buswell, a former Zen monk in Korea and Theravada monk in Sri Lanka, would beg to differ. Perhaps Warner would do well to read .

I Believe in Reality: Brad Warner (on hating "Buddhists")

Letters to a Dead Friend About Zen audiobook (audible.com), other audiobooks (audible.com). Brad's blog: hardcorezen.info. Write him at bw@hardcorezen.info. Donate by PayPal: hardcorezen.info/donate, and he has a Patreon page at patreon.com...4874189.

Religion is a scam we are born into

(The Open Question) Jan. 6, 2025: In this eye-opening video, I discuss the idea that religion is something we are born into, rather than something we choose for ourselves after thinking. The concept of inherited beliefs is explored, questioning how much of what we follow is shaped by society, culture, and upbringing. Are we truly free in our religious choices, or are we simply following a path laid out before us? Join us as we challenge conventional beliefs and discuss the impact of religion on our lives.

Put thoughts in comments. Is religion something we are born into or a personal choice? Don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe for more thought-provoking content. Support on Patreon: theopenquestion. Subscribe: @theopenquestion. #Religion #Belief #FreedomOfChoice #DeconstructingReligion #BornIntoReligion #Philosophy #CriticalThinking

🔍 The Open Question dives deep into the complex realms of theology, atheism, agnosticism, and philosophy. This channel is a space for questioning, exploring, and understanding the mysteries of faith, doubt, belief, and knowledge. Whether one is a devout believer, a curious agnostic, or a passionate skeptic, this is the place for open-minded, thought-provoking discussions. 🌍 We explore topics like the (non-)existence of God, the origins of religion, debates on science vs. faith, and much more. Our goal is to challenge conventional thinking and encourage critical thought on life's biggest questions. Join us on this journey. If passionate about deep conversations, respectful debates, and exploring new ideas, this is the right place. 👍 Like the video if it was enjoyable and dunk it if it wasn't. 💬 Comment thoughts — but let’s keep the conversation respectful and insightful rather than ad hominin attacks. 🔔 Subscribe for more videos, and don’t forget to hit the bell so as to never miss an upload. Feedback is what keeps this community growing. 🌱 Join the discussion and let’s explore these big questions together.

• Roshi Brad Warner; The Open Question; Sheldon S., Seth Auberon, Pfc. Sandoval (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Love: Somebody That I Used to Know (video)

Ashley Wells,CC Liu, Amber Dorrian, Wisdom Quarterly

The travel season hasn't even started. And my summer is already ruined. Ruined by a song -- and a residual heartache.  I just had to let it linger.

It's the little things in life that s*ck. You can sit on a mountain, that's no pain, but you can't sit on the head of a pin.

Dukkha (disappointment) is just that way. The Buddha and the arhats (enlightened disciples) were on to something. I'm not sure modern "bodhisattvas" understand. But the ones of olde are all I have. I cry to Kwan Yin in a pillow.

I  whisper into my walkie talkie, my iPod with its phone feature. It's funny, telephony: We're being spied on, so I want the CIA/Facebook and its puppet CEO Zuckerberg with his imaginary 100 billion to know: You didn't need to cut me off!

I should probably switch to a Droid because at least the FBI/Google are a lot more user friendly. Kimbra, tell Gotye to get over it. "Addicted to a certain kind of sadness" is no way to be. 

You know you're in bad shape when you're working on what your tombstone is going to say. "Once upon a time there was a girl. The end." That will be my epitaph. I'll stencil it on a tee-shirt for the Warped Tour as I drift around like a ghost looking for bands doing covers of Fun's "We Are Young."

A Heap of Bones

This Was Said [By the Buddha] (Iti 1.24), Wisdom Quarterly translation by Seven
This was said by the Buddha, the arhat: "The heap of skeletons of one person, wandering and running through samsara [the round of rebirth and death] for an aeon, would form a pile of bones as high as this Mt. Vepulla, if they were to be gathered and preserved."

The bones of one person

Piling up in just one aeon

Would form a heap as high as a mountain

This was said by the Great Sage

Who declared it as great as Mt. Vepulla

North of Vulture's Peak

In Magadha's royal city [ringed by seven hills].

Vultures' Peak looking down on the valley of Rajgir with Vepulla to the north

But when one sees with purified wisdom 

The Four Ennobling Truths just as they are:

Disappointment, the cause of disappointment,

The overcoming of disappointment,

And the ennobling Eightfold Path --

Resulting in release from all suffering

Having merely run on

Seven times at the most --

By destroying all fetters

One makes an end of disappointment.

PAIN: Agony and insight, it's all in the head

A BRAIN WIDER THAN THE SKY
A Migraine Diary
Author: Andrew Levy
Publisher: Simon & Schuster (289 pages)

Reviewer: Christine Montross (Washington Post)

It's no easy business to write about pain. Memoirs of illness and injury too frequently end up either as proud testimonies of endurance or self-indulgent tomes. Andrew Levy's beautiful memoir, A Brain Wider Than the Sky, is welcome relief.

A professor of English at Butler University, Levy is also an accomplished writer, who here turns his exacting gaze inward: He invites us to accompany him on a harrowing descent as he changes from a man who has suffered from occasional headaches into the victim of an unremitting, four-month-long, life-altering migraine.

Inevitably, when Levy is confronted with this disorienting and disabling pain, he is driven to wonder why he is afflicted. Happily for his readers, he does not ask, "Why me?" but rather, "Why any of us?" What follows is an affecting, readable account of the pain of migraine and the weird wonder of it. Levy seamlessly glides from the experience of his own suffering to broader neurological and historical realms, including a number of jaw-dropping anecdotes about migraine and its treatment.

Levy guides us through a range of theories regarding the causes of migraine, including Sigmund Freud's laughable hypothesis that his daughter's first menstruation gave him "a migraine from which I thought I would die." Levy also includes descriptions of patients who endured wacky and often violent attempts at treatment, such as the 17th-century intellectual Lady Anne Conway, who allowed her brother to cut open her head. Levy asserts that such a preposterous-sounding cure simply reflects the victim's desperation. More>>