Comments on: Sit down & Shut up! Brad Warner calls Genpo Roshi’s “Big Mind” bluff.

By: Looking Back On My Path With Genpo Merzel. ~ Atalwin Pilon | elephant journal

Mon, 28 Feb 2011 01:26:51 +0000

[...] That means that I spent a total of five-six months on retreat with Genpo, strictly during the Big Mind era when he spent a lot less time one-on-one with students than before. That might sound like a lot [...]

By: Ran still (last)

Ran still (last) — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 13:30:29 +0000

I didn't comprehend the whole thing as a very peaceful comment, – “Peace” at the end struck me as somewhat insincere, but here one may be wrong about such things.

By: Ran still

Ran still — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 13:29:33 +0000

Thirdly, – it seems to be claimed that B [Warner] is “trying to gain attention for himself by trashing others”.

- Without expressing any personal opinion as for Big mind itself, – this does seem like a most unlikely supposition, – and it is not supported at all.

On the other hand, – teaming up with men like Ken Wilber – [! - whose lack of true understanding Genpo Roshi is no in way able to miss, same as any other master who has rightly succeeded to the Dharma - and in any lineage] or cooperating with Andrew Cohen – [again - ! - who Genpo surly knows is explicitly a straight out fraud] would not normally be any sign of any sincerity or decency. – Bill Harris and Frederick Lenz should also be mentioned in this context.

It is in the least most unusual, – and it is not possible in any way to seriously claim otherwise.

By: Ran Kennedy

Ran Kennedy — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 13:24:22 +0000

(It won't take my comment in full as one, so I'll split it into several (4) parts: -)

First, BL says: “Brad is not yet even a Sensei”. It seems the terms “Roshi” and “Sensei” as he uses them were introduced in his own Sangha or school.

See http://antaiji.dogen-zen.de/eng/201005.shtml (- “in so far as there is no official rank of Roshi”, and this seems not only to apply to the Soto sect. – btw)

Either Brad has got the Dharma or he does not. Any other rank could not even appropriately be called secondary. This is a point BL seems to severely miss.

And Brad and Genpo do not seem to differ on this point. Neither one of them claims otherwise. At least not that I know.

By: chris

chris — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 18:04:53 +0000

im sure its been said before but Brad is not claiming to be a Dharma Punk, his teachings trhough his book are a lot more traditional and respectful of the Soto tradition than it would appear on the surface….Noah Levine is the author of Dharma Punx which is a different tradition from Soto and is not connected to Brad

By: Disrobing Genpo. ~ Brad Warner | elephant journal

Disrobing Genpo. ~ Brad Warner | elephant journal — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 04:46:49 +0000

[...] Some of you reading this probably already know that I have been highly critical of Genpo Roshi for a number of years. In March of 2007 I published an essay on the Suicide Girls website titled “Big Mind® is a Big Load® of Horseshit“. In that essay I took Genpo to task for teaching a ridiculous technique that he claimed in his literature at the time could give a person a true Buddhist enlightenment experience in just a few hours. Not long after that Genpo introduced a new, extra special version of the Big Mind® seminars for which he charged $50,000 per person. I spoke out about that as well. In 2008, the folks in Genpo’s organization came after me for daring to criticize their teacher in the comments section of this Elephant Journal piece. [...]

By: Genryu

Genryu — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 22:35:18 +0000

Genpo has been caught having sex with yet another student – KC "Kyozen Sato" Gerpheide, now one of his 'successors'. He finally had to publicly admit it in January:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Genpo_Merzel

This is not the last time either. He was thrown out of Bar Harbor in the nineties for his behavior. He's also fond of pretending that he hasn't ordained monks of his that have dared to speak out about him. A thoroughly unsavoury individual and no Zen Master.

By: Waylon Lewis: Top 10 Buddhist Teachers Living in America. | Infinite Smile

Waylon Lewis: Top 10 Buddhist Teachers Living in America. | Infinite Smile — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 17:25:33 +0000

[...] disqualified charlatans (Genpo Roshi, who is well-loved in many circles, has recently been accused of such), promising youngsters who have yet to prove themselves…and those who you can’t [...]

By: Steroids

Steroids — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 02:32:56 +0000

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By: Elliem

Elliem — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 18:06:12 +0000

For everyone's info...here is Big Mind's 2008 publicly available 990 federal tax return: http://dynamodata.fdncenter.org/990_pdf_archive/8... from The Foundation Center's 990 finder - http://foundationcenter.org/findfunders/990finder...