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We always imagine that there’s got to be somewhere else better than where we are right now; this is the Great Somewhere Else we all carry around in our heads.

Brad Warner

As for enlightenment, that’s just for people who can’t face reality.
BRAD WARNER

Enlightenment People Reality
I guess that all figures into my approach because once I start hearing the imagination land stuff (that’s my new phrase now I guess) I tend to tune out or start laughing at it like, “Haha, you guys really believe there is a heaven.”
BRAD WARNER

Believe Land Laughing
Do what you do as well as you possibly can. That’s Buddhist morality.
BRAD WARNER

Buddhist Morality Wells
I mean, I can do that all day long. I can tell you the Vulcan’s are not actually devoid of emotion. That they work hard to suppress their emotions. And of course, there actually are no real Vulcan’s, though I know the ins and outs of them as fictional characters.
BRAD WARNER

Character Mean Real
So I was first exposed to this guy Tim McCarthy, and he’s talking about Zen, but deeper than that he was a genuine person. I thought maybe he’s someone I can trust and follow this thing he’s talking about all the time.
BRAD WARNER

Genuine Guy Person Talking
Your role is to do and say the things that need to be done and said from your unique perspective.
BRAD WARNER

Needs Perspective Unique
Real morality is based on a single criterion: right action, appropriate action, in the present moment and present situation.
BRAD WARNER

Action Morality Real
Buddha might be the one thing that could settle Godzilla down. He might say, “Listen Godzilla, you don’t have to do all this. Just chill out a little bit and everything will be fine”.
BRAD WARNER

Chill Littles might
Much of the hatred and fear of sexuality found in religions stems from the idea that sex is a thing of the body and that the body must be denied so that the spirit may be elevated. In Buddhism there is no notion that the body is made of inferior matter while the spirit flies free within.
BRAD WARNER

Buddhism Ideas Sex
The state of ambiguity – that messy, greasy, mixed-up, confused, and awful situation you’re living through right now – is enlightenment itself.
BRAD WARNER

Awful Confused Enlightenment
A lot of seriously insane people have managed to acquire huge followings based on the idea that their insanity is a kind of enlightenment. An obvious example would be Charles Manson or Shoko Asahara who is the person responsible for the Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway.
BRAD WARNER

Ideas Insanity People
The real goal of Zen is to find a way of life that’s easy and undramatic. Strong attachments lead to upset and drama.
BRAD WARNER

Drama Real Strong
Just know that your expectations are only thoughts in your head, and keep on doing what you do.
BRAD WARNER

Expectations Head Knows Thoughts
People imagine enlightenment will make them incredibly powerful. And it does. It makes you the most powerful being in all the universe- but usually no one else notices.
BRAD WARNER

Enlightenment People Powerful
Truly compassionate action arises spontaneously without thought and is carried out in real action with no anticipation of reward and, indeed, no concept of a doer of that action.
BRAD WARNER

Doers Real Rewards
How many Zen masters does it take to screw in a light bulb? The plum tree in the garden!
BRAD WARNER

Garden Light Tree

We always imagine that there’s got to be somewhere else better than where we are right now; this is the Great Somewhere Else we all carry around in our heads.

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We always imagine that there’s got to be somewhere else better than where we are right now; this is the Great Somewhere Else we all carry around in our heads.

Related Topics

Popular Authors

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