Hardcore Zen_ Punk Rock, Monster Movies and the Truth About Reality - Brad Warner [63]
The major problems we have in the world are nothing more than big ugly heaps of much smaller, much more mundane problems. But ultimately, taking care of the small takes care of the large. Of course, we do have to work out some of those really big issues before they kill us all. But even here we have to do what needs doing step by step with the flexibility to change tactics when things don’t go as planned.
Do the things you can do right here and right now. Do your best. And when you run into something that you can’t fix, keep on doing your best. Take things as they come one by one by one. And gradually, you’ll find that things start looking a little better. But bear in mind that “gradually” will happen on the universe’s time scale—not necessarily yours. Be patient. You’ll never be rid of all your troubles—and really, you wouldn’t want to be. The miracle is—and just think about this one for a little bit—if enough people start doing the right thing here and now then ever so gradually, ever so very agonizingly slowly, all of those big hairy world problems will just
simply
disappear.
In fact, that’s already happening.
But I’ll say it again: If you want to really change the problems of the world, you have to start with yourself. You have to look at your own action right here and right now. You are the only one you can ever change. Your opinions, your beliefs, your traditions, the habits you picked up from your family and your culture, they’re all of no value at all when it comes to true morality. Tell funnier jokes!
You need to learn to observe yourself clearly and with a penetrating honesty that melts right through your own thoroughly built-up defenses. And trust me, this is far more difficult than it sounds.
Reality is here and now. The universe is where you are at this moment. The most important action you can possibly take is what you do right now. Be completely naked. Be absolutely open and the universe will show itself in all of its true glory. God will stand before you and within you.
REVENGE OF the POD PEOPLE
I don’t want to belong to any club that will accept me as a member.
GROUCHO MARX
WHEN I WAS STUDYING ZEN with Tim McCarthy, Buddhist morality was definitely talked about but there was never any question of me or anyone receiving the Buddhist precepts from Tim. Tim just wasn’t into that kind of ceremonial stuff. When I got to Japan and started studying Buddhism with Nishijima, I gradually became aware that a lot of his students were taking the precepts ceremony and that he already had a few “Dharma heirs”—people to whom he’d given transmission. I noticed that lots of people showed up at his lectures wearing a thing called a rakusu. This is a little garment deal that looks kind of like a bib: a square of cloth, usually brown or gray or black, that you hang around your neck. On the back of the cloth square your teacher writes a short phrase usually from a Buddhist sutra and your “Dharma name”—a new name which is given to you when you take the precepts ceremony. All of that stuff has always seemed really lame to me.
I’ve always held disdain for people who join spooky mystical religious orders and then change their names and start wearing goofy orange dresses and all kinds of other weird affectations. My buddy Terry of the Cleveland Hare Krishna temple is a good example of what happens to that sort of person.
But everybody loves getting a nickname. Nicknames are fun. Though it wasn’t the coolest name, I was pretty pleased when the guys in Zero Defex started calling me Brad No Sweat. I would have preferred something more along the lines of the punk names my friends Johnny Phlegm and Fraser Suicyde got, but it was good enough. I rarely used that name, though, because, well, I hated the whole