This is a fairly good intro to Zen Buddhism. I think the dude is a bit heavy handed sometimes when he talks about other religions. He borders on being a Zen zealot, which is off putting.

If you just want a book on Zen you can't do better than Charlotte Joko Beck's, Everyday Zen. ( )

This book contains a lot of interesting stuff: personal stories (sometimes it reads a bit like a memoir), illustrations of some complicated buddhist philosophy and snapshots from the post-punk era. Some parts, like the rants on drug-(ab)use and the place of enlightenment in buddhist practice were a bit too much for me. The description of the "moment of satori" kind of ruined the book for me in the end. The no-nonsense tone I like so much was thrown out of the window.
From all the books that I have read on buddhism and buddhist practice and philosophy, this one was the most down-to-earth in the explanation of the 'goal' (as far as we can speak of a goal when meditating). ( )

I'd been wondering about Zen, mostly due to my practice of aikido. Not sure why. Actually I just don't feel like writing a book here. Anyway, I enjoyed this book. I know the author practices one version of Zen, and there are other opinions. The connection to punk rock is what got my attention. I was happy to see that he doesn't take that connection any further than appropriate, and quickly notes that punk usually creates the same kind of Authority that he believes Zen is against. Which I've been thinking about for many years now. He mostly lays off the mystical mumbo jumbo, and when he talks about "God" you know he is not talking about what Joel Osteen is talking about, at least I don't think so. This book got me thinking about a number of things, articulated some ideas that have been floating in my head for a while better than I've managed to say or write them, and overall was a really fun read. ( )

Kinda interesting but not quite interesting enough.

I bought Hardcore Zen a few months ago when I read an introduction to Buddhism. It interested me very much and I liked a few of the concepts represented. Of course, my purpose of reading on Buddhism was not to be committed to it, but to benefit from whatever it has to offer. The reason I chose a book on Zen is that it's the only school of Buddhism I knew about, and I didn't want to read a book that's spiritual in the cheesy way (since I absolutely hate those), which explains the title.

The author's style and writing in the first 50 pages or so were kind of annoying, as he kept trying to convince the readers how much of a punk he was. Maybe it was a necessary step - who knows? I didn't like it, anyway. In those same pages were a few passages that made me chuckle, or think, so it wasn't all that bad. After that bit, he started getting more into the practice of Zazen and the philosophy of Buddhism, which was informative. I generally liked the book a lot. Nevertheless, most people who are religious would not like it and would not be able to pick and choose whatever they love from this book since the author is clearly against following an authority figure (and so am I), and being in most religions meant having to have an authority figure to him. He does not bash religion nor gets preachy which is a HUGE pro in my book.

I'd recommend it to people wanting to know what Buddhism is about without wanting to read cheesy text.



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