Don't Be a Jerk: And Other Practical Advice from Dogen, Japan's Greatest Zen Master Paperback – March 15, 2016

I am pretty impressed and tickled by the whole thing. This book is just a brilliant interpretation. As he says, it is not meant as a line by line rewriting, and more of a quick thumb nail glimpse with a good bit of humor and fairly free interpretation. Nonetheless, Brad manages to convey the heart and sense of each passage. Just wonderful, a takes a kind of genius to pull this off. I think what he has done is just a blast and really funny too, while still being poignant and amazing.I think it still helps that I am already pretty familiar with the standard English translations that he is playing off though, so It may still be a little hard to follow for folks not so familiar with Dogen pretty well (and hard to follow anyway even if you are because, well, Dogen is Dogen even when Bradicized). However, this book may still be one of the best first introductions to Dogen I can think of. I think the book is suited to anyone interested in Dogen, and easy reading overall, funny, insightful and amazing. He did his historical homework too and did a masterful job.Parts are hilarious, including how he took all of Dogen's classical style poetry and made em cheezy rhymes!Gassho, Jundo

Coming from someone who doesn't know anything about Buddhism, Japan, meditation, and dare I say - doesn't have a single spiritual bone in her body, I loved this book!I'm not sure why I started reading it - maybe because of the title, or the other reviews, or because I was promised a good laugh.I got all of that, and more!- The book is indeed hilarious. It's definitely not one of those annoying spiritual books that make you fall asleep within a couple of pages.- It explains Buddhism, Dogen, Zen, the art of meditation... well, it explains all these things in a way that a completely non-interested and non-spiritual person like me can get them. Even better, the book tells you about all these things but for information purposes only. It does not try to indoctrinate you, or make you feel guilty for not practicing, or condemn you to eternal damnation. It's more about, this is what Dogen said (paraphrased in a funny modern tone), this is what people teach, here is some additional background - now go live your life the way you want to.- Dogen's 800 year old writings sound very hard to study and even harder to translate. Warner has done an amazing job making his ideas accessible today. The added humor is a bonus! And makes Dogen's teachings accessible to a much wider audience

Brad Warner takes sometimes incomprehensible Zen writings, translated from the original source into ancient Japanese, sorts through multiple translations into English, and the reflects on their meaning to modern readers. He draws on many years of practice, many of them spent in Japan, and a knowledge of the language and culture.His tone accessible, sometimes a bit sophmoric and flippant, but largely comprehensible, fun and informative. This is a really good book

Warner is not your usual image of a Zen priest. He played in a hardcore rock band, made Japanese monster movies, and calls his teachings Hardcore Zen. This is my favorite of his books I have read. He translates Dogen in regular, easy-to-understand talk. For example, in demonstrating that Dogen was a feminist, he translates Dogen’s comments about the nun Myoshin thus: "Everyone agreed that even though Myoshin was a woman she had the balls to do the job. . . . But some of these dopes refuse to be taught by female teachers who are clearly their superiors. What a bunch of dim-witted weenies!” I like Warner’s simple explanation of the Zen understanding of knowing and not-knowing: “If you can completely accept and be perfectly comfortable with the fact that you don’t know anything, then you know everything.” Later he goes on to say: “It’s difficult to fully trust in our nonknowing. To do so is to act from intuition rather than concrete understanding. We’re trained not to do that. But Buddhist practice emphasizes this kind of nonunderstanding. Our knowledge is always incomplete, and our brains always misinterpret so much, that the only thing we can truly trust is intuition.” I hope this taste encourages you to read this book.

This book is fabulous. Warner's writing has clearly matured and he shows a respect (and understanding) for the material which in case you can't figure it out from the cover art is a kind of modern day paraphrasing, commentary and teaching on Dogen's Shobogenzo. It is a bit jarring however given the screw-the-rules punk ethos he displayed in his first book, Hardcore Zen and while not 'punk' in any way myself, I have been drawn to Brad Warner's writing these past few years precisely because his perspective is so different from my own but as I read this book I was continually thrown off by how polite and respectful his writing has become, which is a good thing...I think. This is an important book in the canon of Zen Buddhist literature precisely because it isn't what you would expect from a punk which I guess, is kinda punk when you think about it. Oh well, there are lots of nuggets of wisdom here maybe even in the spirit of Thoreau and Emerson perhaps and I recommend it highly and without reservation.

I love it so far, it is a wonderful book put together as a quick guide through Dōgen’s Shōbōgenzō.Brad Warner is my kind of writer ✌️

Um ótimo livro. O primeiro que leio do autor. São traduções parciais de alguns textos de Dogen, porém parafraseados, com um toque de humor e quebra de alguns padrões. Não é um livro acadêmico ou excessivamente histórico. É um livro mais direto, atual, jovem, divertido, porém honesto. Lerei outros futuramente.

道元から鈴木俊隆へと受け継がれた稀有な水脈を受け継ぐ書。著者のBrad Warnerは棚橋一晃(kazuaki Tanahashi）の友人でもある。

Brad Warner is a Zen master whose practice is hardcore and no-frills. His teaching is extremely attractive for those of us seeking some form of spiritual accommodation with the universe without the trappings of religion. In this book he makes a successful attempt at retelling and rewording the timeless message of an ancient master which still should resonate wih us today. Brad Warner is a Zen master of the 21st century. His learning is deep. Reading him, one minute you're enjoying a particularly insightful and witty remark, and the next you have been painlessly innoculated by a rare kind of wisdom you don't always perceive on a rational level.

Le texte original est très difficile à lire du fait en particulier de reférences fréquentes à la culture chinoise et japonaise du 13 siècle. Brad Warner a traduit les textes le plus complexes en termes plus faciles d'accès et a ajouté des commentaires pour éclairer les parties obscures.