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    • Zen & Enlightenment

      An excerpt from Letters to a Dead Friend About Zen by Brad Warner

      The night that bestselling author and Zen teacher Brad Warner learned that his childhood friend Marky had died of cancer at the age of forty-eight, he had just arrived in Hamburg, Germany where he was scheduled to give a talk to a group of Zen students.
      It was the last thing he felt like doing. Instead, Warner was thinking about all of the things he never said to his friend, since topics like spirituality and meditation didn’t exactly fit with the passion for punk rock they had shared since they were young.
      So, as Warner continued his teaching tour through Europe, he began writing out all the things he wished he had said to Marky before he died, and the ultimate result is the new book Letters to a Dead Friend about Zen.
      Simply and humorously, Warner reflects on why Zen provided him a lifeline in a difficult world. We hope you’ll enjoy this excerpt from the book.

      Through sheer dumb luck I happened to encounter Zen Buddhism when I was a teenager. I didn’t go looking for it. It was just there at exactly the time I needed it to be.

      I don’t believe in Buddhism either, by the way. It’s not like I heard their fairy tales and figured they were better than anybody else’s stories. The Buddhists have fairy tales too. The difference is that nobody cares if you believe them. They don’t care whether you believe their stories because the very idea of a you who can believe in stories is something they also call into question.

      Even so, I’m not all that interested in Buddhism. I’m much more interested in what is true. What I like about Buddhism is that the Buddhists are also interested in what is true. At least, most of them are.

      I’m not sure if Zen Buddhism would have helped you or not, Marky. I never tried to sell it to you. You knew I was into it, but you never asked.

      I never liked people who tried to sell me their religions. I know you didn’t either, so I wasn’t gonna do that to you. No one ever tried to sell me Zen Buddhism. If they had, I would have regarded them as people who were too insecure to believe in something unless a bunch of other people believed it too. I have no time for that.

      But nowadays I’m a minor spiritual celebrity. I’m not as big as Deepak, but I’m big enough to make a living at it. Which was always a source of embarrassment whenever I interacted with you and still embarrasses me when I’m around friends who, like you, knew me long before I started doing what I do now.

      I see spiritual celebrities as charlatans, as people who make their living selling empty promises that they themselves don’t even believe. I swear that’s not what I do. But I don’t have anything against anyone who assumes the worst about me in that regard. Because that’s probably what I’d assume about me if I wasn’t me.

      Spiritual celebs play the same stupid games as regular celebs. They, or maybe I should say we, validate each other the same way cheap nightclub singers do when they get on TV talk shows.

      It’s like there’s a little Enlightened Beings Club. Here’s how it works. Some guy says he’s got enlightenment. He has a story to back him up about the wonderful day when he finally understood everything about everything. Another guy, his teacher, certified him as a member of the Enlightened Beings Club. And now he’s ready to help you learn to be just like him.

      You go to the enlightened guy, and he trains you to imitate the things he says. Or if he’s real clever he teaches you how to rephrase his schtick in your own words. If your imitation meets his criteria, he gives you his seal of approval, and off you go. The industry is self-perpetuating. It’s in your teacher’s best interests to support your claims of enlightenment since you, in turn, are expected to support his. Without such support, the whole thing falls to pieces.

      If someone comes along and says, “Ain’t no such thang,” it threatens the whole system since it is built on extremely shaky ground. Unless people believe in enlightenment, enlightenment cannot exist. The enlightenment they sell is nothing more than the belief in enlightenment.

      This is the same deal with religions. Believing in God is not like believing in the existence of Mount St. Helens or something tangible like that. The difference is that you can question the existence of Mount St. Helens all you want, but it doesn’t go away. But when someone questions the existence of God, the very existence of God is threatened, because that sort of God is nothing more than the belief in God.

      And here’s what’s even weirder.

      It turns out that enlightenment actually is real.

      God actually does exist.

      I don’t know how you feel about my saying that now that you’re dead, Marky. But I know that when you were alive you would have rolled your eyes at me. And I would not have blamed you.

      There are a lot of things I wish I’d talked to you about. But I didn’t. And so I’m writing you this letter. Maybe I’ll write you a bunch of letters. There’s a lot to say. I don’t know if there’s an afterlife and you can somehow read these letters, or if there’s reincarnation and you’re still a baby and can’t read them, or if you just stay dead after you die, in which case you’ll never even know of their existence. Maybe I’ll write about that in another letter.

      All I know is that whether or not you can receive what I’m saying doesn’t change the fact that there are things I want to say. And so I’m going to say them.

      But I’m going to have to say them later because right now there’s nobody else in the Pizza Pazza and the surly guy behind the counter is giving me a funny look. So I’d better scarf down my cold pizza and go.

      Brad Warner is the author of Letters to a Dead Friend about Zen and numerous other titles including It Came from Beyond Zen, Don’t Be a Jerk, and Hardcore Zen. A Soto Zen teacher, he is also a punk bassist, filmmaker, and popular blogger who leads workshops and retreats around the world. He lives in Los Angeles where he is the founder and lead teacher of the Angel City Zen Center. Visit him online at www.hardcorezen.info.

      Excerpted from the book Letters to a Dead Friend About Zen. Copyright ©2019 by Brad Warner. Printed with permission from New World Library.

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    • Double Vision: Supporting Our Troops in the Afterlife
      memories

      I’m a long-time high school teacher and, sadly, one of my former students was a soldier killed in the war in Iraq some months ago. I am psychically sensitive and have had encounters with spirits on a few occasions throughout my life. This young man came to me not long after he was killed, and he still shows up now and then. I sense his presence and his emotional turmoil but I don’t know what he wants from me. I feel he’s not at peace and would like any advice you may have on how to help him move on. Thanks for your wonderful work!

       – L.

      Astrea:

      Day after day I’m visited by all the young people (not just Americans) who have died fighting this war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Some of them are barely 18 years old and volunteered for service because they strongly believed that their country was doing the right thing. Many were just citizens of these war-torn countries.

      The warriors among them believed they were doing something to make all people safer from attack by enemies in the future. Now that they’re in another dimension, they’re shocked and upset that their deaths seem to mean nothing.

      Many of them don’t seem to know where they are. Because they died so young and so suddenly, they’re lost and confused. The worst for me is how they beg me to contact their loved ones and ask them not to forget about them.

      Many of them feel that no one cares for them at all. Time and time again, I hear Don’t forget me, and Tell everyone that I love them. Every time the news comes on, I’m bombarded with their sweet faces and voices.

      What can we do to help? They tell me to pray for peace in my own way every day. They say to pray that their families are safe, cared for and protected. They ask to be sent on into the light that they see but can’t quite reach, so I pray for that too.

      I was at a loss for more until a few weeks ago. Then a young soldier from Tennessee who was killed sometime last year came to me and asked me to write letters to living soldiers. She told me that they need remembering too.

      We can be against all war but still reach out to our brave warriors. My mother told me that during World War II, she and her friends each wrote 10 letters a week addressed to any U.S. soldier.

      Due to terrorist concerns, the government won’t deliver mail unless it’s properly addressed to a real person, but we can always ask around for names or contact a military chaplain or the Red Cross. I imagine receiving mail addressed to them personally would mean more anyway.

      The young woman who died serving this country assures me that the love and support of the people at home means so much to them. She says this will even help the spirits waiting to cross into the light. We need not comment on the war to connect with the young people all over the world who are caught up in it.

      Readers, please join me in writing to young soldiers. Just one letter can make a tremendous difference. For those who died in service to their countries, and for those serving in the military now, I offer up a sincere prayer for peace.

      *****

      Susyn:

      When someone special touches our lives, it’s only natural to want to acknowledge and connect with them. This is the case with the young man you mentioned, and I believe he’s coming to you for some very important reasons.

      Besides wanting to acknowledge that you taught him so much more than you probably realize, he does have important information he wants you to pass on to the students you are teaching now. He knows you have a great influence over these young minds. Your ability to exemplify and teach them about honor, integrity and honesty make you the best person to pass his message on.

      He says he willingly chose to serve his country but feels he was misled or betrayed by the powers that be, and he is highly concerned that young people his age might follow in his footsteps. He simply asks that you continue to encourage your students to do more research and soul-searching before making such a decision without all the facts, like he did.

      He also admits to being somewhat of a pain in your class, and he wants to apologize for that. He says you were instrumental in teaching him that you would give him your attention without his usual antics, so that behavior wasn’t really productive.

      Now that you have gotten the message, he will get ready to move into the light and on to his next tour of duty as he jokingly calls it. Here is a ritual you can use to help him move to the next level:

      Gather three purple candles, three purple gemstones, and wear the color purple, as it represents the spiritual realms and will create an ideal atmosphere for this transition.

      Light the candles and call him in by name. Once you feel his presence, you can formulate a request to the universe to open a spiritual portal and allow him to pass through. Filling in the blanks with his name, your words might go something like this:

      _______ and I request that a spiritual portal be opened. _______ is ready now to move into the light and continue on his path. All his work here is done, and we ask for a smooth and speedy transition. I bless you and send you into the light, _______, and will spread your message here on earth.

      You shouldn’t have any more visits after that, but if you do, they will be from a more centered, balanced, spiritual aspect of him.

      Thanks for your letter and your concerns. We all struggle with what the war is doing to our friends, family and children. In your own special way, you can counteract some of the tragedy of the war, which will bring great peace not only to your student but to countless others as well.

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