This was a difficult read for me. I'm not very familiar with Buddhist doctrines so a lot of this was new. Plus it's an interpretation of Japanese Buddhist from the 1200s ... so some of the source material was dry. Warner did a great job interpreting and modernizing a lot of the material, making it relatable. ( )

In this book, Brad paraphrases a some of Dogen's work into sort of a casual English. Even so translated, a lot of Dogen's stuff sounds like gobbledygook, but still fascinating in a weird way. You wonder what the hell he's talking about. Brad then talks about it, explaining what he thinks about it, and after that it makes a little more sense. In a few cases I thought the observations were actually pretty damned profound and I highlighted them on my Kindle. Considering its title and all, you might be surprised to find out the book is actually very well documented - lots of discussions of other translations of this very unique Japanese writing. My point being - Brad didn't just throw this together. There's some real scholarship here, and it shows that Warner isn't just some hack who decided to get into this. ( )

"Even if the whole universe is nothing but a bunch of jerks doing all kinds of jerk-type things, there is still liberation in simply not being a jerk." - Eihei Dogen (1200 - 1253 CE)

The Shobogenzo (The Treasury of the True Dharma Eye) is a revered 800-year-old Zen Buddhism classic written by the Japanese monk Eihei Dogen. Despite the timeless wisdom of his teachings, many consider the book difficult to understand. In Don't Be a Jerk, Zen priest and best-selling author Brad Warner, through accessible paraphrasing and incisive commentary, applies Dogen's teachings to modern times. While entertaining and sometimes irreverent, Warner is also an astute scholar who sees in Dogen very modern psychological concepts, as well as insights on such topics as feminism and reincarnation. Warner even shows that Dogen offered a "Middle Way" in the currently raging debate between science and religion. For curious listeners worried that Dogen's teachings are too philosophically opaque, Don't Be a Jerk is hilarious, understandable, and wise.

This book was quite entertaining. From what I understand, Japanese is difficult to translate fully into English with all of the nuances it contains. Now imagine that the Japanese being translated is about 800 years old and even native speakers have trouble with it. Considering this, I feel that Brad Warner did a very good job of getting the point across.

The book is arranged as follows. Each chapter starts out with Warner talking a bit about the piece he is about to paraphrase. This is followed by the paraphrased text itself. Finally, it has some thoughts and input from Brad Warner himself. This book only has the first 25 chapters of the work being paraphrased, but this is explained by the author.

The work itself was written back in the 1200s in Japan by Dogen. Since he dealt with a lot of rubes and hicks, he had to include stuff that seems a bit odd nowadays. Dogen included chapters on hygiene and how to wear your robes and where to get robes and other such things. A lot of the other stuff he includes is pretty good, though. ( )

In this book, Brad paraphrases a some of Dogen's work into sort of a casual English. Even so translated, a lot of Dogen's stuff sounds like gobbledygook, but still fascinating in a weird way. You wonder what the hell he's talking about. Brad then talks about it, explaining what he thinks about it, and after that it makes a little more sense. In a few cases I thought the observations were actually pretty damned profound and I highlighted them on my Kindle. Considering its title and all, you might be surprised to find out the book is actually very well documented - lots of discussions of other translations of this very unique Japanese writing. My point being - Brad didn't just throw this together. There's some real scholarship here, and it shows that Warner isn't just some hack who decided to get into this. ( )