136: Brad Warner

 

 

This week we talk to Brad Warner about not being a jerk

Brad Warner is an ordained Zen teacher and author of the books There Is No God And He Is Always With You , Sit Down and Shut Up and Hardcore Zen. He’s also a writer for the Suicide Girls website, bass player for the hardcore punk rock group 0DFx (aka Zero Defex), star of the movies “Shoplifting From American Apparel” and “Zombie Bounty Hunter M.D.,” director of the film “Cleveland’s Screaming!” and former vice president of the US branch of the company founded by the man who created Godzilla.

His latest book is called: Don't Be a Jerk: Other Practical Advice from Dogen, Japan's Greatest Zen Master - A Radical but Reverent Paraphrasing of Dogen's Treasury of the True Dharma Eye

In This Interview, Brad Warner and I Discuss...

• The One You Feed parable
• His book, Don't Be a Jerk and Other Practical Advice from Dogen, Japan's Greatest Zen Master
• That we become the people we need to become
• How a person can be a buddha one minute and a jackass the next
• That once you realize what your "negative" urges are, they become less attractive for you to respond to
• The answer to the question, "How do you strive to be a better person AND accept life exactly as it is?"
• That the most intelligent course of action is the one that benefits everyone involved
• How one of his teachers said that you need to hold an equal amount of faith and doubt
• The idea that thoughts are just the secretions of your brain the same way your stomach acid are the secretion of your stomach

For more show notes visit our website

 

A grandfather is talking with his grandson and he says there are two wolves inside of us which are always at war with each other. 

One of them is a good wolf which represents things like kindness, bravery and love. The other is a bad wolf, which represents things like greed, hatred and fear.

The grandson stops and thinks about it for a second then he looks up at his grandfather and says, “Grandfather, which one wins?”

The grandfather quietly replies, the one you feed

The Tale of Two Wolves is often attributed to the Cherokee Indians but there seems to be no real proof of this. It has also been attributed to evangelical preacher Billy Graham and Irish Playwright George Bernard Shaw. It appears no one knows for sure but this does not diminish the power of the parable.

This parable goes by many names including:

The Tale of Two Wolves

The Parable of the Two Wolves

Two Wolves

Which Wolf Do You Feed

Which Wolf are You Feeding

Which Wolf Will You Feed

It also often features different animals, mainly two dogs.