Brad Warner - Face to Face - a podcast by Angel City Zen Center

Billed as a talk to promote his new book, this one quickly diverged into a frank discussion of how American Buddhism has been developing in the 30 plus years since Brad found this whole Zen thing - how its grown from an oddball fringe practice for Americans into something bigger, more commercial, with burgeoning institutions and expectations. He delves into his own beginnings in Zen in Akron, Ohio in 1984 where college courses on Zen were offered as a fringe element along side parapsychology and channeling the dead, and from there goes on to talk about what it's meant for it to get bigger and more "legitimate," which inevitably leads into the heart of what that face to face transmission Dogen was so fond of is really all about. How do we "question everything" and still respect a tradition? Should Zen centers be more inclusive and welcoming? What do we learn from teachers we can't get on our own? And how does he see Buddhism evolving now that it's here and doing whatever it's going to do?

Further episodes of Angel City Zen Center - Beginners Only Podcast

Further podcasts by Angel City Zen Center

Website of Angel City Zen Center