Time Flies Like the Wind; Fruit Flies Like a Banana

This isn't the title of a book, but it is on the back cover of one, and struck me as hilarious. I don't even think it's original to the author, but it's no less funny because of that.

The actual book is "Zen Wrapped in Karma Dipped in Chocolate" by Brad Warner. I've been too sick for the last two days to do anything more than sleep, eat, then read until I get sleepy, and managed to finish the book in the meantime.

I don't think this is the strongest of Brad Warner's books, but it happened to hit me at the right time for me personally. For those who aren't familiar with him, Brad Warner is the unlikely American Zen master who also plays bass in a punk rock band and worked for a Japanese company that makes movies about giant monsters portrayed by guys in bad rubber suits. This time out, he talks about having one of the roughest years you can imagine and how he used his Buddhist practice to deal with it. During the course of that year, his mother passed away, his marriage broke up, and he lost his job with the movie company. He approaches all of this in a particularly unflinching way, keeping some details private, but for the most part letting his successes and failures all hang out for everyone to see. The core point of the book is to poke a big hole in the stereotype of the perfectly composed Zen master with no difficulties in his life who never makes a mistake. On that point, he is absolutely successful. His behavior in the course of the book is understandable, but not at all exemplary by his own admission. He points out on several occasions that even the best Zen practitioner makes mistakes and has difficulties in his life, and that anyone who tells you differently is almost certainly lying or just plain wrong.

I find this oddly comforting. It'd be nice to believe that there is someone in this world who really has it all together, and that that goal is attainable by us mere mortals, but it's a lot easier to believe that even the most together people in the world are still human and make mistakes or have serious difficulties in their lives from time to time. It shows us that it's more workable than you might think to get your life together as best humanly possible, and that mistakes are not only inevitable but essential to the process.

My Buddhist practice has definitely helped the quality of my life, but I'm still very much a beginner and still have some serious issues to work out. I had a time in my life similar to Mr. Warner's several years ago, which is why I was so interested in seeing how he dealt with it. All in all, it's not surprising that he did a better (if not perfect) job of dealing with his adversity, and that I can learn something from it.

This book is a more personal and less spiritually oriented book than his previous two. His writing style is as entertaining as ever, but if you're looking for Buddhist-style inspiration, there's less meat here than in his previous books. Still, I kept finding excuses to go back and read more until I was finished primarily because he has a fun way of describing his experiences, and the experiences are truly interesting in the first place. Warner has taken some flak in some Buddhist circles for his unconventional ways, and nothing in this book is going to change any opinions of him one way or another. Personally, I find his honesty refreshing and his writing engaging, and I'll probably buy his next book, too, whatever it happens to be. I think his approach to Buddhism is genuine and inspiring, though it's clear that he has his issues to work out, just like the rest of us.