Don’t Be A Jerk: And Other Practical Advice From Japan’s Greatest Zen Master with Brad Warner

Aired Thursday, 28 July 2016, 7:00 PM ET

BRAD WARNER, bestselling author of books like Sit Down & Shut Up and Hardcore Zen, isn’t your typical Zen master. And his latest book the enclosed advance reading copy of his upcoming new book Don’t Be a Jerk: And Other Practical Advice from Dōgen, Japan’s Greatest Zen Master isn’t your typical book about Buddhism.

The Shōbōgenzō: The True Treasury of the Dharma Eye is a revered 800-year-old Zen Buddhism classic written by a Japanese monk named Eihei Dōgen. However, despite the tremendous respect his teachings have earned over the years, many consider the book difficult to understand and rarely read.

A student of The Shōbōgenzō for thirty years, Warner has referenced Dōgen in the six previous books he’s written about Zen practice. Now, in Don’t Be a Jerk, he presents a radical but reverent paraphrasing of Dōgen’s work for modern times in plainspoken language that’s also entertaining.

Says Warner, “We need Dōgen today — desperately. His philosophy offers us a way out of our continuing battles between the idealistic and the materialistic view. He offers us a Middle Way that shows us we do not have to choose between science and religion.

Join Sandie and Brad Warner as they discuss such issues as:

* Was Dōgen the First Buddhist Feminist?”
* You’re Already Enlightened Except You’re Not”
* Did Dōgen Teach Reincarnation and Does It Even Matter If He Did?
* And more…

BRAD WARNER is the author of Don’t Be a Jerk and numerous other titles including Sit Down & Shut Up, Hardcore Zen, and Zen Wrapped in Karma Dipped in Chocolate. A Soto Zen priest, he is a punk bassist, filmmaker, Japanese-monster-movie marketer, and popular blogger based in Los Angeles. www.hardcorezen.info