Brad Warner

Brad Warner

Brad is to the Right
School	Soto Zen
Dharma name(s)	Odo
Personal
Nationality	American
Born	March 5, 1964 (1964-03-05) (age 45) Akron, Ohio
Senior posting
Title	Priest
Religious career
Teacher	Gudo Wafu Nishijima
Website	Home Page

"Dimentia 13" redirects here. For the film, see Dementia 13.

Brad Warner (born March 5, 1964) is a Sōtō Zen priest, author, blogger, documentarian and punk rock bass guitarist. Currently living in USA, he has lived and worked numerous years in Japan in the past and was ordained by his teacher Gudo Wafu Nishijima. Throughout his musical career he has played primarily with two bands, 0DFx (or Zero Defex) and Dimentia 13. In 2007 he directed a documentary film on the punk rock scene in Cleveland and Akron in the 1980s, titled Cleveland’s Screaming. Also in 2007, Gudo Wafu Nishijima named Warner the leader of Dogen Sangha International. In 2008 Warner lost his job with the Japanese company he had been working for in the States and subsequently turned down an offer to move back to Japan to work for them. At present (January 2009) he is self-employed and concentrates on writing and teaching, as well as leading the Dogen Sangha International.

Biography

Brad Warner was born in Hamilton, Ohio in 1964. His family traveled a lot for his father's job and he lived in different countries around the world but grew up mainly near Akron, Ohio and attended Kent State University. As a teenager Warner got into the music of the 1960s and hardcore punk, and a friend of his took him to a show by Zero Defex. He auditioned for and joined the band after finding out they needed a bass guitarist. He was initially interested in the various ideologies of the punk rock movement, but soon began to sense that punk rockers on the whole did not take their own beliefs very seriously. He found hypocrisy in the tendency of punks to criticize and question society at large, but not themselves. When he began practicing Zen Buddhism under his first teacher Tim McCarthy, Warner found that the level of inquiry in the tradition went much deeper than that of punk rock. He saw a relationship, or bridge, between punk and Zen for him.^[1]

After the financial failure of his Dimentia 13 albums, Warner got a job in Japan with the JET Programme, and then later in 1994 with a company who made cheap Japanese monster movies. A fan of such films in his youth, Warner plays the roles of various foreigners in their films. While in Japan he met and trained with Gudo Wafu Nishijima, who ordained him as a priest. For a period of time in his early training he was unsure exactly why he kept practicing zazen, but knew he didn't feel right when he did not. He started a small controversy when he agreed to write articles for SuicideGirls, the online soft porn site. SG discontinued their publishing writing in 2009. In 2007 he directed the documentary film Cleveland’s Screaming, which depicts the punk rock scene in Akron and Cleveland in the 1980s (it includes interviews). Also in 2007, Gudo Wafu Nishijima named Warner the leader of Dogen Sangha International.^[2][1][2] [3]

Bibliography

• Zen Wrapped in Karma Dipped in Chocolate: A Trip Through Death, Sex, Divorce, and Spiritual Celebrity in Search of the True Dharma. New World Library. 2009. ISBN 1577316541. 
• Sit Down and Shut Up: Punk Rock Commentaries on Buddha, God, Truth, Sex, Death, and Dogen's Treasury of the Right Dharma Eye. New World Library. 2007. ISBN 1577315596. 
• Hardcore Zen: Punk Rock, Monster Movies & the Truth About Reality. Wisdom Publications. 2003. ISBN 086171380X. 

upcoming-

• Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way: Nagarjuna's Mulamadhyamakakarika . Monkfish Book Publishing. 2009. ISBN 0982324626. 

Discography

Compilations

• The New Hope. New Hope Records. 1983. 
• P.E.A.C.E./War (double LP). RRadical Records. 1983. 
• Midnight X-Mess #2 LP. Midnight Records. 1986. 
• Midnight X-Mess #3 LP. Midnight Records. 1987. 

Dimentia 13

• Dimentia 13. Midnight Records. 1985. http://www.trouserpress.com/entry.php?a=dimentia_13. 

• Mirror Mind. Midnight Records. 1987. http://www.trouserpress.com/entry.php?a=dimentia_13. 

• Disturb the Air. Midnight Records. 1989. http://www.trouserpress.com/entry.php?a=dimentia_13. 

• T.V. Screen Head. Midnight Records. 1990. http://www.trouserpress.com/entry.php?a=dimentia_13. 

• Flat Earth Society. Midnight Records. 1991. http://www.artistdirect.com/nad/music/artist/card/0,,423565,00.html. 

Guest appearances

• Twink and Plasticland (1989). You Need a Fairy Godmother. Midnight Records. 

0DFx

• War Hero. Get Revenge Records. 2007. http://www.clevescene.com/2007-05-23/music/the-zen-of-clepunk/.  (1983 debut reissue)
• drop the A-bomb. Get Revenge Records. 2007. http://www.getrevengerecords.com/next.htm.  (1982 demo reissue)
• Discography. Get Revenge Records. 2007. http://www.getrevengerecords.com/next.htm.  (1982 demo and 1983 debut, 2 CD)
• Zero Defex. 0DFx Records. 2008. http://cdbaby.com/cd/zerodfx.  (New recordings 2007/2008)

Gallery

See also

• Timeline of Zen Buddhism in the United States

Notes

References

• "Interview with Brad Warner". Tapestry. 2007-08-14. http://www.cbc.ca/tapestry/archives/2007/101407.html. Retrieved 2008-02-11. 

• "Hardcore Zen (Interview)". Here and Now. 2003-09-26. http://www.here-now.org/shows/2003/09/20030926_5.asp. Retrieved 2008-02-11. 

Further reading

• Ford, James Ishmael (2006). Zen Master Who? A Guide to the People and Stories of Zen. Wisdom Publications. ISBN 0861715098. http://books.google.com/books?id=-kut6gcyTNEC&dq=zen+master+who. 

External links

• Brad Warner's personal homepage
• Brad Warner's blog
• Brad Warner's articles for Suicide Girls
• Dimentia 13 on the Midnight Records website
• Hardcore Zen at Wisdom Publications
• "'Question of Authority' ...?" Interviewed by Gary Gach in The Buddhist Channel, Sep. 6, 2007
• Audio Interview Series on Buddhist Geeks