Zen and the art
of punk rock

Buddhist priest Brad Warner talks about
spiritual challenges and losing it all in Montreal

by JULIET WATERS

I didn’t realize there was going to be an important Montreal angle to Brad Warner’s Zen Wrapped In Karma Dipped in Chocolate. You wouldn’t think an L.A.-based Zen priest, who moonlights in the film industry, would have to come here to get laid. But apparently this is the city where myths of guru like self-control and celibacy go to die. Or at least the city where Warner realized his marriage was over after he consummated a crush on a translator he met at the Fantasia Festival.

As he writes in this memoir, “I’m not telling this story to hold up what I did as an example of ‘enlightened behaviour’ that others should imitate.  But I’m not a religious authority figure, and if you imitate my behaviour you do so at your own risk.”

On top of being an ordained Zen priest and a bassist for the hardcore band Zero Defex, Warner has spent much of his working life as the L.A. marketing liaison for Nakano Productions, famous for low-budget monster movies and TV shows. But in spiritual circles he’s best known for his first book Hardcore Zen: Punk Rock, Monster Movies, and the Truth about Reality. He also has a column on Suicidegirls.com.

I’d read Brad Warner’s last book Sit Down and Shut Up, and was pretty impressed with his irreverent, but serious take on Zen. It’s not about gurus or energy paths or mystical experiences. It’s about having the balls to sit down and face the present moment as it is, day after day after day.

Back in Montreal last week to give a talk at Dawson College, Warner looks more like a punk rock guy on tour than a Zen master. Wearing his own merch (a T-shirt for Sit Down and Shut Up), he seems the antithesis in every way of the sleazy spiritual guru. His popularity seems to be steadily growing with people who are curious, but sometimes wary of spirituality, enough that he recently decided to give up his day job.

“In September they asked me if I would move back to Japan to work for them in their office in Tokyo. I thought about it for a while, and just decided I’d rather do this. And then the huge financial crisis happened and now I’m starting to wonder if I made the right decision. They were offering decent money. But sometimes you got to go with what seems more important.”

Although money is obviously a concern to Warner, it’s obviously not a motivator. “I try to divide it. To me the Zen teaching part of it should be, if not free, at least as inexpensive as possible and accessible to anybody. On the other hand I have this career as a writer in which I write about the Zen stuff. And of course there’s some crossover, but I’ve learned to be okay with being as economically minded as possible when it comes to the books. But when it comes to Zen, I’m equally adamant that it shouldn’t be for economic gain.”

To the point where he’s actually turned down one cushy gig. “I got asked a couple of years ago to go on this retreat where I would be the spiritual leader on a cruise to South America. The guy in charge sent me this long e-mail. And I’m looking at this thinking, this isn’t a retreat. This is a vacation that people can go on and imagine there’s some kind of spiritual angle to it. It just looked like total bullshit to me... I’m not anti-money. If there were some way to make good money at this I would do it. But you have to be honest with people. If you go to a Zen retreat, it’s going to be three to seven days of sitting around staring at a wall. It’s good for you, and it feels good in the end. But it’s not pleasant. It’s not a vacation. It’s actually work. And I don’t want to present it as if it’s a big party and you’re going to have a fantastic experience at the end. Because you might not.”

And anyways that’s what the Fantasia Festival is for.

ZEN WRAPPED IN KARMA DIPPED IN
CHOCOLATE BY BRAD WARNER, NEW
WORLD LIBRARY, PB, 288 PP. $14.95