Can you be an atheist and still believe in God? Can you be a true believer and still doubt? Can Zen give us a way past our constant fighting about God? Brad Warner was initially interested in Buddhism because he wanted to find God, but Buddhism is usually thought of as godless. In the three decades since Warner began studying Zen, he has grappled with paradoxical questions about God and managed to come up with some answers. In this fascinating search for a way beyond the usual arguments between fundamentalists and skeptics, Warner offers a profoundly engaging and idiosyncratic take on the ineffable power of the “ground of all being.” “At times in my life I’ve been an atheist, a Bible study teacher, a lover of quantum mechanics, and a believer that the universe is older and vaster than anything I could imagine. This book reflects the paradox of being a human interested in anything that might be divine.” — Moby , musician and recording artist “Insightful, refreshing, serious, humorous, and enjoyable, There Is No God and He Is Always with You takes a deep dive into the actual meaning of the word God and how it can be as useful for Zen Buddhists and atheists as for monotheists.” — David Chadwick , author of Crooked Cucumber: The Life and Zen Teaching of Shunryu Suzuki “Brad Warner frames Buddhism with something that touches my soul on the very deepest level — humor!” — Vicky Jenson , director of Shrek and Shark Tale Brad Warner , a Soto Zen monk and teacher, is also a punk bassist, filmmaker, and popular blogger. He is the author of Hardcore Zen, Sit Down and Shut Up, Zen Wrapped in Karma Dipped in Chocolate, and Sex, Sin, and Zen . A documentary about him is forthcoming from Pirooz Kalayeh, the director of Shoplifting from American Apparel . Warner lives in Los Angeles. There is no God and He is Always with You A Search for God in Odd Places By Brad Warner New World Library Copyright © 2013 Brad Warner All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-60868-183-9 Contents Introduction: The Supreme Truth, 1. Death in the Holy City, 2. There Is No God, 3. ... And He Is Always with You, 4. Seeing God the Quick, Easy, and Effective Way!, 5. My Meeting with God, or Enlightenment Porn, 6. Talking to Zen Monks about God, 7. Why Call It Buddhism?, 8. Meditation Is the Practice of Death, 9. The Meaning of Life, 10. In Which I Discover the True Meaning of Faith by Going to Finland, 11. Is Buddha God?, 12. Sam Harris Believes in God, 13. Morality and Karma, 14. Does God Work Miracles in Brooklyn?, 15. God Doesn't Have to Be Real to Exist, 16. Suicide at a Zen Monastery, 17. A Buddhist Christmas in Mexico, 18. God Holds His Own Hand, 19. Northern Ireland and the Buddhist Concept of God, 20. Hotline to Heaven, 21. What God Wants from You, 22. God Is Silence, About the Author, CHAPTER 1 DEATH IN THE HOLY CITY Lance Wolf died on the streets of Jerusalem, beaten to death under the very eyes, some would say, of God himself in God's Holy City. Although he was not killed for explicitly religious reasons, Lance was murdered by people who probably thought their version of God was better than his. I didn't know Lance well. He was a strange guy. I first met him on the third floor of Ibrahim's House of Peace on the Mount of Olives in one of the Palestinian neighborhoods of Jerusalem. He was smoking a cigarette while lying on a pile of blankets on the tiled floor of a bare, dark concrete room. Ibrahim had taken me upstairs to introduce me and another new lodger at his house to Lance, probably in the hopes that as fellow Americans we could draw Lance out of his shell and maybe get him to come downstairs and eat. Lance was not unfriendly. He sat up on his bedding and chatted enthusiastically. But he wasn't interested in coming downstairs or eating. I couldn't really see his face except when he puffed on his cigarette and the red glow illuminated his gaunt features. Lance came out of his room a few times later that week, always talking about politics or religion. Nobody I spoke with knew when he'd arrived in Israel or why. A Jew, maybe he was one of those guys who come to Israel hoping for an audience with God. Maybe he was running away from something back home. Ibrahim's House of Peace is a hostel in a Palestinian village called At-Tur. At-Tur is the kind of place tourists don't usually visit unless they end up there by accident while visiting the nearby scenic overlook from which you can see all of Jerusalem. Or else they wind up there while stopping by the world's oldest Jewish cemetery, where pious folks get buried in the hopes that when the Messiah descends on the Mount of Olives they'll be the first to greet him. You can see the Garden of Gethsemane from there. Some of the olive trees in the garden are more than two thousand years old and were there when the Romans took Jesus away to be crucified. But if they saw what really happened that night they're not telling. Ibrahim i