NEWS: Brad Warner's Hardcore Zen: Your Life is Not Your Own (Sorry)

A panhandler who stays outside all the time and never gets treatment because they can't afford it is creating a public health risk. In our culture, Buddhist monks who want to live a renunciate lifestyle don't panhandle - more typically they couch surf. Frequently, they earn a small living, enough to pay for an apartment and food. I know quite a few renunciates who live this way, ordained and not.

Our culture simply doesn't see living on the street as a valid lifestyle - that may be a Buddhist lifestyle, but the U.S. and European countries aren't Buddhist.

The point that I think Brad was making is that we're all basically assholes. Maybe a little more, or a little less, but there are few saints among us. It's kind of nice to see him doing wrathful. Don't knock it - it's a very valuable way for a Lama to express himself. If you actually are a saint, he wasn't talking to you, but if you are a saint, you already know that.

The only person whose behavior you control is you. So the *only* way you can change the world is through unilateral action - improving how you act, even when other people are still being assholes, and then holding the line. Maybe they'll follow, maybe they won't, but either way, you are no longer the problem.

I'm an asshole? Oh, my God, I am an asshole! Why didn't somebody tell me?

Come to think of it ...

Perfectly put

You think Christians are the only religious people judging others? Don't get out much, do you?

Really? You call people assholes and then they don't want to hear what you have to say? How surprising! These thoughts have been said many times over a few thousand years by people with a better grasp of English, who don't need to swear to get people to listen.Try putting you ideas across from a position of respect for your listeners and you might have more success. Or you might have got it all wrong and your audience have already got there own truths already down pat. Better yet, concentrate on living those truths and forget about enligthening others. Buddha said "don't follow me' and the Tao Te Ching says "He who knows, says nothing, he who does not know says too much"
Try leading by example, might be more effective than swearing at people x (just my opinion of course)

There was a plotline in The Sopranos where Dr. Melfi had to go on the run because of Tony being her patient. There was a scene where she saw her own therapist and was very angry at being put in that position because "what if one of my patients really needs me."

Her therapist pointed out that it would be no different than if she was on vacation. Presumably, she was allowed to have a life, and as part of having a life you don't have to be available to everyone 27/7.

So what if you're high when someone needs you? Is that any different than turning your cell phone off in a movie theater? Or going on vacation where you cannot be reached? I mean, I presume you aren't going to have your cell phone turned on for every minute of your retreat. And you probably don't have a private plane ready to shuttle you back home if you're needed.

I would say it is different. If you're in a movie theater with your cell phone turned off, and the theater catches on fire, you can turn your cell phone back on and call 911. If you're totally drunk and someone needs you to drive them to the hospital, you can't magically become sober.

Can you magically get the message with your turned off phone that your kid (wife, other person you can make medical decisions for) was just hit by a car and needs emergency consent forms signed at the hospital?

You (general "you" here) are not that important. The world will continue turning without you. The belief that if you take a break from functionality for a while the world will end is the epitome of conceit. It's no different from the CEO who can't let his business go without him when he goes on vacation. It's a god complex.

No. But just because there is an overlap between the cell phone and the drugs doesn't mean it's the same situation.

Nice straw man. I never said the world would end if you got drunk, and I don't believe Brad did either. I'm just saying that if you use drugs, you are abdicating certain responsibilities, and more of them than if you just turn off your cell phone.