Part 9 (2/2)

Your life is yours alone, and to miss your life is the most tragic thing that could happen.

So sit down, shut up, and take a look at it.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.

FIRST AND FOREMOST, I gotta thank the two people who kept telling me I should write a book about Buddhism in spite of my protests that I was supremely unqualified to do any such thing: my current Buddhist teacher, Gudo Wafu Nis.h.i.+jima, and my first teacher, Tim McCarthy. Don't blame me, folks-they made me do it.

Next up, thanks to my editor (I have an editor-cool, huh?) Josh Bartok of Wisdom Publications for making my ma.n.u.script into something people might actually want to read. And to Rod Meade Sperry, the guy in charge of trying to get people to buy this thing. And to everybody else at Wisdom Publications for helping to bring this book into being. When I sent my ma.n.u.script to Wisdom I figured the best I'd get was the same ”Dear Author: We didn't even bother to read your submission”-type form-letter I received from another well-known publisher of Buddhist books (who shall remain nameless) or the strange uncomprehending (and often incomprehensible) replies I got from mainstream publishers. But here I am, a Buddhist author at a Buddhist press. Who'da thunk it?

And, of course, thanks to my parents Dan and Sandy Warner for love and support and for providing me with an upbringing that allowed me to see a lot more of the world than most other kids from Wadsworth. Plus thanks to the rest of my family, particularly my grandpa Everett Warner, grandma Marian Warner and my aunt Sue who ruined her year of perfect high school attendance to see me as a baby. And, of course, my sister Stacey, her kids Ben and Skylar and their dad Dave. Ben and Sky, please ignore all the dirty words in here, okay?

Thanks as well to Tim McCarthy's teacher, Kobun Chino Otogawa, who I never got to meet, but whose wonderful translation of the Heart Sutra led to a major turning point in my life. Also thanks to his daughter Yos.h.i.+ko Chino, his wife Katrin Otogawa, and his lawyer Hollis deLancy for allowing me to use it in this book.

Thanks also to the late n.o.boru Tsuburaya who gave me the opportunity to realize my dreams and, more importantly, to realize the true nature of such dreams. Thanks to his son Kazuo Tsuburaya for not getting rid of me in spite of all the times I've screwed things up for the company and to Masahiro Tsuburaya and Akira Tsuburaya for (hopefully) doing the same. And I can't forget Koichi Takano, whose special effects work I admired since I was five years old and who, for a while, I got to call ”boss.” Thanks, as well, to Jimmy Ugawa and Atsus.h.i.+ Saito for putting up with me all these years. After nearly ten years I'm still happy and proud I work for Tsuburaya Productions, the best producers of j.a.panese monster movies in the business. Gabare (”Go!”) Ultraman! Gabare (”Go!”) Ultraman!

And thank you Jimi Imij, Johnny Phlegm, Tommy Strange, and Mickey X-Nelson, the other members of Zero Defex (though John left before I joined) as well as Fraser Suicyde, Jim Krane, Mike Mohawk, Sue Hess, Dan Yell, Jimmy Dread, Sean ”Trick Bunny” Saley, Sleazy Jesus, Dan Gaffney, Lesa the Death Lady, and everyone else who was there. We had a good time, huh? And to the other members of Dimentia 13, most importantly Joe Nlolflzlilglelr, my best friend since seventh grade who still likes to tell me how full of s.h.i.+t I am, and Louanne Lisk for soaring harmonies. Thanks as well to Dave Swanson who wasn't with Dimentia 13 long but who is the only drummer I've ever played with (other than Mickey) who really listened to what the rest of the band was doing. And I haven't forgotten J.D. Martignon of Midnight Records who gave me the chance to make records. When are those reissues due, J.D.? And thanks to Glenn Rhese of Plasticland who made the alb.u.m Disturb the Air Disturb the Air sound so huge. Thanks as well to Ira Robbins for giving Dimentia 13 more s.p.a.ce than Nirvana in the Trouser Press Record Guide (okay, it was in 1991 and who knew? But still, thanks). sound so huge. Thanks as well to Ira Robbins for giving Dimentia 13 more s.p.a.ce than Nirvana in the Trouser Press Record Guide (okay, it was in 1991 and who knew? But still, thanks).

And what would my life have been like without the members of My Niece's Foot; Nick ”Vic Wild Thing” Wilding, Sam ”The Rock” Flemming, and Emily ”The One Who Could Actually Sing” Iarocci plus our dedicated fan club Ginger and Anjali? Sorry you guys didn't get more s.p.a.ce in this book. Next time, I promise. (In case you care, my rock 'n' roll nickname in the band was ”Stu” after The Beatles' dead ba.s.s player.) Also here's to the many people with whom I shared cheap living s.p.a.ces during the ”Prosperous Reagan Years” when I could hardly afford Top Ramen: Logan Lestat, Laura Rachel, Steve McKee, Bill Ferrell, Lesa Lilly, Sue Cihla, Mary Bauch, Becky Wagner, Dale Houston (cuz you two were around a lot), and everyone else who put up with my noise and mess. And thanks to each and every high school and other related facility that turned down my applications for work during those years. Don't ever be disappointed with what happens in life because sometimes you don't know when someone is doing you a tremendous favor. Seriously.

Then there's everyone in Nis.h.i.+jima's group Dogen Sangha, particularly Taijun Saito, Peter Rocca, Harumi Saito, Isamu Takenaka, s.h.i.+n and Yumi Kiriki, Jeremy and Reiko Pearson, and Mike and Yoko Leutchford. And special thanks to everyone who did not walk out as soon as they learned Nis.h.i.+jima was handing his weekly lectures over to a know-nothing little punk like me.

Thanks to Dana Mitch.e.l.l for patiently reading and critiquing my writing when no one else wanted to know. And to Miki Mochizuki for listening to a lot of my rants that eventually went into this book. Thanks to everyone who reads my website (plished master of Zen, and also A COMPELLING STORY OF COMING OF AGE in post-war j.a.pan. One can't help but be drawn to the genuine tone of Morinaga's voice and his SENSE OF HUMOR.” -Shambhala Sun

”UNPRETENTIOUS, POIGNANT AND INSIGHTFUL. Artfully written and translated, Novice to Master Novice to Master weaves personal narrative together with key concepts of Zen practices.” -Sumi Loundon, editor of weaves personal narrative together with key concepts of Zen practices.” -Sumi Loundon, editor of Blue Jean Buddha Blue Jean Buddha

”If Novice to Master Novice to Master were just a monk's story, it would be worth reading. But it is far more. It is the story of A MAN'S DEVOTION TO GETTING IT-WHATEVER IT MAY BE.”- were just a monk's story, it would be worth reading. But it is far more. It is the story of A MAN'S DEVOTION TO GETTING IT-WHATEVER IT MAY BE.”-RALPH: The Review of Arts, Literature, Philosophy and the Humanities HOW TO RAISE AN OX.

ZEN PRACTICE AS TAUGHT IN.

MASTER DOGEN'S SHOBOGENZO Francis Dojun Cook Foreword by Taizan Maezumi Ros.h.i.+ 208 pages, ISBN 0-86171-317-6, $14.95

”An OUTSTANDING introduction to the most important Zen master in j.a.panese history. Francis Dojun Cook provides a brilliant translation of ten carefully selected chapters from DOGEN'S MASTER-PIECE, SHOBOGENZO. These chapters are preceded by a series of short essays written by Cook, which distill the essence of what follows and provide an IDEAL INTRODUCTION to it. These essays help the reader to grasp the more subtle and elusive aspects of Dogen's PROFOUND AND EXTRAORDINARILY CREATIVE WRITING. Cook has a remarkable grasp of the heart of Dogen's thinking and a genius for communicating it.”-Jeremy D. Safran, editor of Psychoa.n.a.lysis and Buddhism Psychoa.n.a.lysis and Buddhism THE GREAT AWAKENING.

A BUDDHIST SOCIAL THEORY.

David R. Loy 320 pages, ISBN 0-86171-366-4, $16.95

”I LOOK FOR DEEPER MEANING EVERYWHERE. LOY'S BOOK SURE GAVE ME SOME-not only on that personal how-to-live-my-life level, but also in the universal realm of what's-this-all-about.” -Kalle Lasn, editor-in-chief of Adbusters Magazine Adbusters Magazine and author of and author of Culture Jam: The Uncooling of America Culture Jam: The Uncooling of America ON ZEN PRACTICE.

BODY, BREATH, AND MIND.

Edited by Taizan Maezumi Ros.h.i.+ and Bernie Gla.s.sman Foreword by Robert Aitken 208 pages, ISBN 0-86171-315-X, $16.95 Conceived as the essential ZEN PRIMER, this book ADDRESSES EVERY ASPECT OF ZEN PRACTICE: beginning practice, chanting, sess.h.i.+n, s.h.i.+kantaza, working with Mu, the nature of koans, and more.

”A DAZZLING DISPLAY of wisdom about how to use spiritual practices to enlighten our EVERYDAY LIFE.” -Zen teachers Chozen and Hogen Bays, co-abbots of Great Vow Zen Monastery THE ART OF JUST SITTING.

ESSENTIAL WRITINGS ON THE.

ZEN PRACTICE OF s.h.i.+KANTAZA.

Edited by John Daido Loori Introduction by Taigen Dan Leighton 224 pages,0-86171-327-3, $16.95 'Just sit' is one of the most COMMONLY HEARD-AND LEAST UNDERSTOOD-phrases a.s.sociated with Zen Buddhism. Zen master John Daido Loori brings together teachings of some of the most prominent ANCIENT and MODERN teachers.”-Tricycle

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