Brad Warner Zen

With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,

Well, we got a good drenching here in southern New Mexico and west Texas yesterday afternoon and evening. I was sitting in El Paso at Pho Tre Bien Vietnamese restaurant with Zen Master Brad Warner and Students, Bobby HenShin Byrd and Rev. Bonnie Bussho Hobbs (Student Rev. Celia Kajo Villa was delayed and would meet up with us later). The rain was so thick we could not see through it. I drank a Chinese beer, then sipped espresso. We waited, talked, but mostly watched the torrents.

Brad Warner is an unassuming young man in his forties. He dresses simply: a t-shirt with a monster movie character, a simple long sleeved print shirt, and plain cotton pants. No beads, no robes and hair on his head cut in shaggy strands. I enjoy his presence.

When we got to the El Paso UU Church, it quickly filled. People seemed eager to meet this anomalous Master. Rev. Bussho and Rev. Kajo assisted by setting up books to sell and preparing to video record the talk. I politely welcomed people at the door, but otherwise stayed in the background: this was not my show, and when it was time to start, I sat against the rough stone wall of the beautiful sanctuary and listened.

Brad talked about his life and entry into Zen practice. He talked about his practice itself and his relationship with his 90+ year old Master, Nishijima-roshi. He was decidedly grounded. No fancy jargon here. I could hear his thoughtfulness, as well as his intuitive flashes, which brought a fresh, truly "Zen" life to the room.

Zen is, if anything, iconoclastic at its roots. It is the most pure form of Buddhist practice and by this I mean, it is, at base, unadorned and direct. We in the West seem to have fallen in love with the forms, the outer garments, if you will: robes, beads, incense, bells, shaved heads, talking the talk...but, while these are important containers, they are not the thing itself.

The audience was mystified this, I suspect. Like many, they expected a Buddhist persona, the sort of thing we see in commercials. Yet, what they got was the real thing. Unadorned. Simple. And deeply human.

Zen takes us into our humanity. Our practice, like psychotherapy, takes to the deep, hidden crevices of who we think we are and demands that we chip away the cover and expose ourselves. Like water dripped on a hot burner, tssss! Gone.

Yet, this is an internal burning away and so often it fails to reveal itself even to us. We burn and recover; burn and recover only to eventually ask ourselves what we are doing this for. In the end, we do it just to do it. It is life itself, this practice of Zen, and if it yields a concept we have gone too far.

I would highly recommend Brad Warner and all three of his books: Hardcore Zen, Sit Down and Shut Up, and Zen Dipped in Chocolate Wrapped in Karma.
Brad will be at the UU Church in Las Cruces Saturday evening at 7:00 PM and at the Zen Center of Las Cruces to practice Zazen on Sunday at 10:00 AM. If you are in the area, I would encourage you to meet him.

Be well.