Dharma Punx

Rating:
Summary: Rude Boy's Dharma Vs. Dharma Punx
Review: When I saw Dharma Punx I was drawn to the promise of a story not too dissimilar to my own, but by the end of the book I was left quite disappointed. My biggest problem with Noah's story is that he's not really a Buddhist, but rather a generic spiritual kind of guy, who likes to meditate. Noah talks in great depths about his adherence to the 12 Steps(AA,) but doesn't mention adherence to the Eight-Fold Path, he mentions the Four Noble Truths in passing, but spends much more time in sweat lodges. Buddhist shortcomings aside, Dharma Punx is moderately interesting story of a man's struggle with addiction and growing up.
With a name like Dharma Punx one cannot help but comparing this book to Jack Kerouac's Dharma Bums, but don't, after finishing Dharma Punx I realized that the title is not an allusion to Kerouac's classic of disenfranchised youth finding refuge in the works of Zen lunatics and booze, rather, Dharma punx is the story of disenfranchised youth finding refuge from booze, drugs and violence in an amalgamated spiritual practice the author has called Buddhism.
I don't think that the lifestyles portrayed in either book could properly be called a middle path though.

Rating:
Summary: Mc'Dharma Poisoning
Review: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

This is a very sad book, with a terrific lesson (although the author never finds it).

Noah many times comes so close to some kind of understanding, but then misses it. Moments constantly arise throughout the book, where you have great hope that he will see what's right in front of him. Yet, he never does. Like after he attended a speech given by the Dalai Lama at Bodhgaya. Noah remarks in length on the Tibetan way of compassion, and at first it seems he starting to open his eyes. Then immediately after, he reacts hatefully and vandalizes someone's property because they treat "his" friend poorly. It's written in such a way, you'd have to believe he's proud of this act while he's writing it. What's maybe worse is that he never comments on his actions, and doesn't appear to ever realize how opposite they are from the teachings he's claiming to embrace. If this was a work of fiction, it could be a comical story of person continually missing the point. But sadly it is not. The pain he causes others after starting his spiritual journey, reads more devastating then any he may of inflicted while he was abusing drugs. Like always in the book, he seems completely blind to it.

Maybe Noah has grown a great deal since he wrote this book. I doubt this however, as I saw on his website he's now having a documentary made about himself. From what I found on the "Meditate and Destroy" website. This film will mainly consist of Noah chain smoking and driving around in his vintage 64 Impala, as he gets nostalgic over the salad days of his misspent youth. Showing us the Dharma is yet just another fashion accessory he uses to finish the overall reflection, he is desperately trying to make sure we all see. The whole thing almost causes tears, when you see how tragic his journey appears to of come. He wrote as if he's got through the worst times of his life. However, I fear a fall from the heights that his ego have taken him, could end up being some of the darkest moments in his life. I hope if this happens he can actually find the Dharma, instead of just wearing it.

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Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Review: An amazingly well written memoir from a Buddhist I can relate to. Any punker kid out there looking for meaning should pick this up and read it straight through because while it may not change your life forever, it'll certainly give it a push in the right direction. Truly amazing.

Rating:
Summary: It's a memoir
Review: Dharma Punx is not a how-to for aspiring Buddhists. It's the memoir of a man who is still on his spiritual journey. Noah Levine never claims to have all the answers and seems pretty forthright in admitting he's still learning and searching. Dharma Punx is a captivating story and worth reading.



Rating:
Summary: Not what it could have been
Review: I was really looking forward to this book, so much so that when it came out I spent $18 that really should have gone towards groceries on it. I'm not a Buddhist,but have a lot of respect for Buddhism as a personal path. A Buddhist teacher who had once been a troubled punk kid like myself, writing a book? That really enticed me.

The thing is, the book really has very little to do with Buddhism or anything that really TRANSCENDS being a torubled punk kid. The book's main value is in it's value as a cautionary tale, which Noah never even seems to be aware of.

Noah seems to have had typical hippy parents; they were self-involved, selfish, and basicly forced him to raise himself, although he comes from an obviously well-off background. Strangely enough, Noah doesn't seem to even realize that! He praises his parents excessively, despite that they seem to have used Buddhism and meditation as a self-medicating excuse for gross negligence in raising their kids. His parents were also friends with such despicable New Age "Buddhist" hacks as Jack Kornfield and Ram Dass, which are among the roughly 3,092 names Noah drops in this book, along with the members of Rancid, The Dalai Lama, and some semi-legendary punk figures. But I get ahead of myself.

So anyway, Noah predictably grows into a self-absorbed, amoral young man, and starts into the standard punk rock cliches of theft, fighting, and drugs. I want to digress again for a minute; though I've done all of these things at some point, it was NEVER what punk rock was about for me, or for thousands of other kids. Nor was Noah forced into it; he chose it, and seems perversely proud of it in his wirting, though he tries to sound contrite. He actually starts hitting the pipe before he's 18, and gets arrested multiple times. This leads to jail, where his dad teaches him meditation.

Noah decides to get his life back on track, but still wants o be involved with the scene, so he joins the straight edge movement and starts going to meetings. This part of the book is the most down to earth, actually, and the part where Noah seems genuinely to recognize his own failings, rather than playing them up for street cred.

It doesn't last. Noah gets into "spirituality", in the most annoying all-inclusive new age way possible. He just embraces several mutually contradictory belief systems (all eastern), and starts hanging with gurus. He does this while continuing his punk rock life, and getting itno expensive hobbies like motorcycling. As an aside, there are MANY parts of the book where it's clear someone is funding him, though he never brings that up.

At one point he gets disillusioned (and rightfully so) by spiritual teachers so he decides to go on a pilgrimage to Asia. Cos, you know, Asia is spirtual! This part could have been very good, and it IS interesting, but Noah ultimately doesn't get the point; some religion being eastern and exotic doesn't mean it has "the answer", and travelling to someplace where it's widely practiced doesn't mean you'll understand it better. He comes back to America even more egotistical than when he left, starts teaching punk kids about "The Dharma". He also gets a lot of religiously themed tattoos, and becomes a true religious universalist; there's no religion he won't engage in the practies of, so he does prayer beads, sweatlodges, chanting, prasadam, and anything else that doesn't seem too Judeo-Christian.

This book is not entirely bad, but as many other reviewers have pointed out, it has more to do with Noah and his ego than any kind of exploration of morality and spirituality. As a memoir about the early punk scene and a troubled kid, it gets a 4. As anything further, it gets a 2; there are good ideas about religion presented, ones that Noah pretty much ignores after bringing them up! We'll compromise and call it a 3.

One last thing; I've met Noah, and he's a friendly and likeable guy. I haven't actually seen him speak, but my friend did and she said that his audience is mainly middle-age upper-class white people who enjoy his novelty value. He's also marketing teh hell out of "Dharma Punx", including a line of clothing. Take what you will from that.

Rating:
Summary: Cries too much about his attachment
Review: The story is interesting at the beginning of the book, but towards the middle during his "sprirtual journey" he cries constantly about his Lola and degrades the Buddhist monks and temples. He never admits his sexual attachments directly but he sure cries about them. Noah truly not a Buddhist. The book drags and is not uplifting.

Rating:
Summary: Punx to Monx?
Review: Unlike many of the reviewers, I enjoyed this book quite a bit. But I agree that it was lacking. It did not have the depth of "Youth of the Apocalypse," for example, a book which preceded it by several years and became the manifesto for many punks finding the last TRUE REBELLION in ancient Orthodox Christianity. Youth of the Apocalypse provides a much deeper critique of Western culture and delves into more philosophical and metaphysical exploration. In fact, the more "Dharma Punx" I read, the more convinced I became that Levine got the idea for his book from "Youth of the Apocalypse," but failed to match its quality. Overall, I recommend "Youth of the Apocalypse" as the better book.