The Power of Now is Wrong!

Zen Buddhism does not make claims about ultimate reality the way other religions do; it does not claim reincarnation, does not claim what God is, what heaven is, or what happens after death—it makes no claims about metaphysical truths.

“are there any claims made by Zen Buddhism cuz other religions make claims you know like Christianity claims that Jesus was the one true Son of God and Islam says that Muhammad is his Prophet peace be upon him all this stuff so they make claims out the out the bum but I don't know that Zen Buddhism makes any claims”

The Advaita Vedanta tradition is generally open to any sort of practice, even though it does not prescribe a specific practice of its own.

“the advi adant tradition kind of is open to any sort of practice you know they're they're not they don't really have a specific practice that they do but if you want to do zazen when Nisar Maharaj whenever he talks to somebody about how to meditate...he describes sounds almost exactly like shikantaza style zazen”

Zen uses poetic metaphor and symbolic language rather than straightforward, direct statements about its teachings, making it less immediately clear than Advaita Vedanta's direct philosophical exposition.

“if you read dogen everything is kind of like well you know I gave you the example of Kurds and way why does he say Kurds and way I don't know it's very poetic...he uses the metaphor of the the fan and and stuff rather than sort of straightforward”

The danger of non-dual philosophy is that it gives practitioners a specific point of view (the teacher's interpretation) that can become a fixed dogma like Christian or Islamic belief, making people think they understand something when they have only memorized words.

“it's giving you the way the teacher your teacher your Guru...has come to understand it and has decided to express it...and that can become a a fixed thing...like a fixed belief...you think that because you can say the words...that's it done”

The danger of philosophies that tell you everything and claim to reveal the ultimate truth is that these statements can become fixed beliefs—like Christian or Islamic dogma—rather than living understanding, causing practitioners to think they understand something when they've merely memorized the words.

“the problem with a philosophy that tells you everything is okay it's giving you a specific point of view on that it's giving you the way the teacher your teacher your Guru...has decided to express it...and that's the way he or she is expressing it...and that can become a a fixed thing it become it can become like a any other belief...it can become like that like a fixed belief...you think that because you can say the words blot it his...that's it done now go on to the next thing”

One should find a single spiritual tradition with a legitimate teacher and commit deeply to that path rather than sampling multiple traditions, because finding one good tradition and sticking with it is more effective than eclectic mixing.

“once you've once you've recognized that then follow that one and see where it gets you I think that's the best strategy”

Some people claim Zen Buddhism teaches reincarnation, but Brad Warner rejects this claim, saying Zen does not actually make that assertion.

“the the claim that people try try to make for Zen Buddhism is that it claims reincarnation but I I reject that too and a lot of people in the Zen tradition say no it doesn't really claim reincarnation”

Practice like zazen reveals 'all kinds of stuff well beyond the parameters of anything any Guru or teacher or book could tell you because you're going to find it for yourself'—meaning practice gives access to discoveries inaccessible through teaching alone.

“the practice reveals all kinds of stuff well beyond the parameters of anything any Guru or teacher or book could tell you because you're going to find it for yourself”

The idea that you can understand or experience a philosophical teaching intellectually and believe you have achieved it is a pitfall—you can learn the words and think 'that's it, I've got it, I'm done now,' like learning any other fixed belief such as 'Jesus Christ died for my sins.'

“the problem with a philosophy that tells you everything is okay it's giving you a specific point of view on that... you think that because you can say the words blot it his you know it doesn't matter what the words are but Bo you say those words and then okay that's it that you got it that's it done now go on to the next thing”

A philosophy that tells you everything and gives you a specific point of view can become a fixed belief identical to any other dogma, whereas zazen as an ongoing practice reveals itself over time and cannot become static in the same way.

“the problem with a philosophy that tells you everything is okay it's giving you a specific point of view on that it's giving you the way the teacher your teacher your Guru if you're in the invited tradition has come to understand it and has decided to express it and that's the way he or she is expressing it uh and you can learn that but I think the problem is that can become a a fixed thing it become it can become like a any other belief”

The practice of zazen reveals things 'well beyond the parameters of anything any Guru or teacher or book could tell you because you're going to find it for yourself,' suggesting practice accesses knowledge that cannot be transmitted intellectually.

“the practice reveals all kinds of stuff well beyond the parameters of anything any Guru or teacher or book could tell you because you're going to find it for yourself”

Nisargadatta Maharaj's meditation instructions, when describing how someone should meditate, sound almost exactly like Shikantaza-style Zen meditation.

“when Nisar Maharaj whenever he talks to somebody about how to meditate what he describes sounds almost exactly like shikantaza style zazen”

When you try to reduce a Zen metaphor (like the fan metaphor) to a simple logical statement ('if you don't do zazen, you don't get enlightenment'), you lose the open-endedness and depth of the metaphor, which is why Zen uses metaphors instead of straightforward claims.

“if you try to take that metaphor that I just told you about the guy with the fan and everything and boil it down to if you don't get if you don't do zaz and you don't get Enlightenment well that's not that's not quite right that's not quite what the metaphor is saying and that's why you use a metaphor because it's much more open-ended”

Nisargadatta Maharaj's meditation instruction—to concentrate on the sense of 'I am'—is as cryptic and practice-oriented as Dogen's Zen instruction to 'think the thought of not thinking,' and both are ways to access understanding of the true nature of things.

“Nisar tamah haraj his thing was concentrate on the thought I am and you know when I hear that I'm like it's as cryptic to me as dogen's saying think the thought of not thinking but all of these things are ways to sort of get into it and ways to kind of become comfortable and be able to understand the true nature of things”

One should not try to pick and choose from different spiritual traditions and cobble them together into a hybrid 'Frankenstein version,' but rather should find one genuine tradition and commit to following that single path.

“my other little piece of advice is don't try to pick and choose and don't try to make you know make your own Frankenstein version by reading you know this tradition and that tradition and then cobbling it together it's really better to find one tradition and stick with that”

Brad Warner's final position on Tony Parsons and Jim Newman is that while their philosophy is not wrong, the idea that practice is arbitrary or dispensable doesn't work in his experience and hasn't worked for people he knows.

“I don't think they're wrong philosophically...but the idea that practice is kind of arbitrary or practice can be dispensed with...if you want to know my opinion I don't think that's going to work...it hasn't worked for me and I always had to do a practice”

Leonard Cohen, the singer and student of Joshu Sasaki Roshi, left his Zen teacher to study with Ramesh Balsekar because he preferred the Advaita approach where the teacher tells you straightforwardly what the truth is rather than Zen's cryptic, symbolic, and poetic methods.

“Leonard Cohen who was Leonard Cohen the singer was a student of his teacher of showz on Jack Henner's teacher...josu Sasaki roshi...he left...and went and hung out with Ramesh balakar...he said something like uh what I don't like about this Zen is everything's very Cy and they don't tell you what's going on but if you go to the advit tradition they just tell you everything and it's very straightforward”

Even when Nisargadatta Maharaj discusses meditation, what he describes sounds almost exactly like shikantaza style zazen, suggesting that Advaita teachers are often describing zazen-like practices even if not formally calling them that.

“when Nisar Maharaj whenever he talks to somebody about how to meditate what he describes sounds almost exactly like shikantaza style zazen he just you know this kind of formless go look up shikantaza style and I've done so many explanations of that on this channel I don't want to do it again but it sounds almost like that”

Every time Brad Warner does zazen, even after 40+ years of practice, it reveals something new to him, even if not a dramatic revelation—meaning ongoing practice continuously unfolds understanding rather than reaching a final state where nothing new can be discovered.

“I did zazen this morning...and every time it reveals something new to me including this morning nothing great no Revelations I want to write home about but this morning just like every time I do it I discovered something”

Zazen is an ongoing practice that reveals itself over time and continuously unfolds new understanding, unlike fixed belief which stops evolving once adopted.

“where zazen is kind of this ongoing practice that reveals itself over time as you do it”

Brad Warner's interpretation of Dick Dale's 'Miserlou' is his own version that, while very close to the original, is never quite the same because it comes from him—similar to how meditation practice must be discovered by each individual rather than just understood intellectually from a teacher.

“I Define my own way to play that...I just heard the song I was like okay I guess that's that's what it sounds like and then I learned to play it and then my version is a little different and it's it's my own version and even if it's really really close to Dick Dale's version it's never going to be quite the same because it's coming out of me that's kind of how it is”

According to the speaker's interpretation, the Advaita position that 'liberation is all around' and 'practice can be dispensed with, you can just learn it, you can just hear the information' will not work in his opinion, based on his personal experience.

“the idea that practice is kind of arbitrary or practice can be dispensed with and you can just learn it you can just hear the information be like oh that's the way it is I if you want to know my opinion I don't think that's going to work uh it hasn't worked for me and I always had to do a practice”

The best strategy is to find one spiritual tradition (not a stupid or cult-like path), recognize it is legitimate, and follow that one path exclusively rather than picking and choosing from multiple traditions or cobbling together a 'Frankenstein version' from reading many traditions.

“my other little piece of advice is don't try to pick and choose and don't try to make you know make your own Frankenstein version by reading you know this tradition and that tradition and then cobbling it together it's really better to find one tradition and stick with that now there are some bad traditions out there and there are some that are not going to get you anywhere but trouble but I think there're probably more good traditions”

It is not very difficult to spot phonies and fakes within spiritual traditions, making it possible to identify whether a tradition is authentic or a cult/scam before committing to it.

“there are some bad traditions out there and there are some that are not going to get you anywhere but trouble but I think there're probably more good traditions and it's you know it's not that hard sometimes it's hard it's not always that hard to to spot the phonies and The Fakes”

You can hear the Advaita teaching that liberation is already the case and it is philosophically sound and not too different from the way Zen looks at things, but the problem is that there is nothing in that teaching about practice, which may be lacking in the Advaita approach.

“reading The Power of Now I was like yeah sure this is great but how do you how do you do any of this was philosophically sound I thought and kind of not too different from the way Zen looks at things but there was nothing about any sort of a practice in there and this is what I think is perhaps lacking in that”

Leonard Cohen was a student of Joshu Sasaki Roshi but became dissatisfied with Zen because everything was 'very cryptic' and they don't tell you what's going on, so he went to study with Ramesh Balakrishna in India because in the Advaita tradition they 'just tell you everything' and it's straightforward.

“joosu Sasaki roshi so he left at some point Jo Leonard Cohen left josu Sasaki roshi and went and hung out with Ramesh balakar apparently he Leonard Cohen like me had read I am that but by then n was dead but you could still go study with his student Ramesh balakar if you went to India and so he went to India studied with Ramesh balsar and he came back eventually to mount baldi's end center”

The speaker has received a question about what claims Zen Buddhism makes, which prompted him to realize that Zen Buddhism may not make any explicit claims, unlike religions such as Christianity and Islam which make specific doctrinal claims.

“the other day and I should do a whole video about this asked me about you know I I forget exactly what the question was but embedded Within the question was the claims made by Zen Buddhism and I started thinking are there any claims made by Zen Buddhism cuz other religions make claims you know like Christianity claims that Jesus was the one true Son of God and Islam says that Muhammad is his Prophet”

Nisargadatta Maharaj's teaching to 'concentrate on the thought I am' is as cryptic as Dogen's teaching to 'think the thought of not thinking'—both are ways to enter practice and become comfortable understanding the true nature of things.

“you know Nisar tamah haraj his thing was concentrate on the thought I am and you know when I hear that I'm like it's as cryptic to me as dogen's saying think the thought of not thinking but all of these things are ways to sort of get into it and ways to kind of become comfortable and be able to understand the true nature of things”

Metaphor in Zen teaching is more open-ended than direct statement because when you boil down a metaphor like the fan story to a simple rule like 'if you don't do zazen you don't get enlightenment,' you lose the nuance and the metaphor cannot be reduced to a single fixed meaning.

“that's why you use a metaphor because it's much more open-ended so Zen is very sort of open-ended in in what it says”

Brad Warner's assessment of 'The Power of Now' by Eckhart Tolle is that it is philosophically sound and not too different from Zen's perspective, but it lacks any description of specific practice methods needed to realize the philosophy.

“reading The Power of Now I was like yeah sure this is great but how do you how do you do any of this was philosophically sound I thought and kind of not too different from the way Zen looks at things but there was nothing about any sort of a practice in there”

Brad Warner's practice of zazen, done daily since 1982 (roughly 40+ years), totals in the hundreds of thousands of times, with no revelations today but still discovering something new with each sitting.

“I did zazen this morning...every day since 1982 pretty much...every day usually twice sometimes five or 10 times a day...I did zazen this morning for the who knows...it might be...hundreds of thousands...and every time it reveals something new to me including this morning nothing great no Revelations...but this morning just like every time I do it I discovered something”

The speaker has done zazen nearly every day since 1982, typically twice per day and sometimes up to 5-10 times per day, performing zazen potentially hundreds of thousands of times, and each time it reveals something new to him including on the morning of recording this video.

“I did zazen this morning for the who knows I mean it might be it's certainly into the thousands or tens of thousands of times that I've done zazen who knows hundreds of thousands I don't know every day since 1982 pretty much and maybe I've skipped a handful of days but pretty much every day since 1982 so you go figure out how many that is every day usually twice sometimes five or 10 times a day uh I've done it that much and every time it reveals something new to me including this morning”

Tony Parsons and Jim Newman teach that when illusion drops (when someone realizes there is no separate self doing things), it is experienced as 'nothing happened' and 'no one gets anything'—meaning the realization doesn't feel like a personal achievement.

“they like to drop is that when illusion drops it's like nothing happened and no one gets anything”