Customer Reviews

Dharma Punx: A Memoir

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

I wanted to like this book, and still somehow believe Levine's heart's in the right place, so to speak. But although Dharma Punx tries at times to bypass the author's apparent total self-absorption, it consistently fails. I imagine if I met Levine, I'd be forced to re-evaluate, but alas, there's only this poorly written book trying hard to convince me he's so punk, his tattoos so cool, his early [quite privileged] life so difficult. Acceptance of one's mistakes can be the result of great wisdom, unless such "acceptance" always falls short of the willingness to interrogate one's active role in one's own suffering: in Dharma Punx, "acceptance" amounts to (probably accidental) self-glorification, with consequent sometimes subtle blaming of everything and everyone else the whole way through. It's as though you smashed your own knee with a hammer, blamed the pain on the hammer or its manufacturer, blamed the neighbors for not stopping you, and yet somehow managed to still hope to convey how cool it is to have smashed one's knees with a hammer (how punk!).

Read HARDCORE ZEN instead.

A couple of people have mentioned "Hardcore Zen" and compared it to D.P. It really is way better. It is much more funny and much less pretentious. I don't doubt that D.P. is helping some people but I also have to think that just about anybody would be glad that they read Hardcore Zen.

Noah Levine supposedly set out to write a book about bringing Buddhism to street punks; instead he wrote 249 pages of self-congratulatory autobiography. Like many autobiographies, this one fails to portray an accurate image of the subject. When writing about one's self, most of us tend to include our accomplishments rather than our negative impacts on life; Levine is no exception.

The first few chapters are only moderately inspiring. Levine takes us through the dysfunctional, privileged upbringing of a child born to hippies. Instead of teaching young, bratty Levine right from wrong, his parents took the approach of allowing him to run wild in an attempt to "find his own way." This led to a life of crime, heavy drug use, dropping out of high school, and violence. Instead of enlightening the reader as to what Levine and his friends were so dissatisfied with, Levine regales adventures he and his friends had breaking into the homes of their rather well off families in order to obtain money for drugs.

Levine's famous father, Stephen Levine, often comes to Noah's rescue, showing the reader how easy it is to be a criminal, broke punk, when your father has influence and money. Once the younger Levine discovers meditation while in juvenile hall, the reader is mislead into believing that he will start down a path of righteousness. While Levine clearly believes that, nothing could be further from the truth. Noah spends the rest of the book boasting of his various spiritual accomplishments, claiming that because he has apologized and made amends for all his youthful trespasses, that he is forgiven and free of that karma. He focuses entirely upon every self-gratifying situation, and avoids or gives little attention to the times when he acted like a blatant jerk. Similarly, his treatment of his former fiancé, for which Levine makes multiple excuses, is dismissed by saying that he was in love and foolish. He then makes sure that we know that despite his emotional abuse and contribution to her suicide attempt, that in the end she sought psychological help and forgave him.

His lack of detail regarding relationships with other people, are just as self-involved. While he admits to having treated his original Asian traveling companions, Vinnie and Micah, with ill regard, he addresses this in one sentence, while complaining about their actions in several paragraphs. One can only wonder how his surviving friends reacted when having read his portrayal of them. Levine expresses even less emotion and sympathy for his deceased friends than he does for the surviving ones. When his childhood friend, a former addict, is found dead years later, Levine immediately assumes he died of an overdose, though, "they hadn't found any dope or needles" (Pg. 236). Levine then spends the next five and a half pages moaning about how the lack of this friendship affects his life, and feels robbed and betrayed. He even goes so far as to say "My oldest friend in the world was dead. And with him died the only witness to see me both shoot dope and teach meditation. Now I was all alone, surrounded by people who I could tell about my past but who would never really know what it was like" (Pg.238). Levine fails to give thought to his friend's family - his new daughter, girlfriend, parents and friends - and instead focuses upon himself. Perhaps the ultimate sin in his account of his friend's death is the hypothesized charge of death by overdose, without ever mentioning the results of a toxicological report. The reader is instead left to think the worst about his friend, and to be inundated with Levine's woe-is-me account of the giving of his friend's eulogy.

Levine's self-pitying attitude and sense of entitlement are prevalent throughout, and though he fails to call his life what it is, the holes he leaves in the reader's knowledge are easily filled. When Levine and his friends decide to pack up their belongings and travel to Asia, it takes them only a few months of planning before they are on a plane. Though he and his friends were working retail jobs and he had an occasional stint as a counselor, they all mysteriously have the funds to bum around Asia not once or twice, but three times. They also manage to maintain lifestyles of week long Buddhist retreats in the mountains, traveling into San Francisco for punk shows, and renting apartments in well off areas, all while sporadically working and in Levine's case, occasionally pursuing a degree. His parent's financial support, while obvious, is never mentioned and must be the only way he would be able to live the opulent life that he lives. Levine's wish to reach the young gutter punks through his memoir may only result in alienating them due to his obvious financial status and inherited social advantage.

"Dharma Punx" reads like one giant pat on the back, a story of privilege and so-called enlightenment. While much is made of Levine's spiritual growth, he devoted only three pages, found after the epilogue, which explain his practice of meditation. Though this book is found in the "Eastern Religion" section of stores, the book gives little attention to actual religion and instead reads like a who's who in modern Eastern philosophy. When Levine describes his attendance to Ram Dass, he makes sure to let the reader know that Dass is a friend of the family and helped teach the young Levine while growing up. His treatment of famous others such as Jack Kornfield, Norman Fischer, etc., is much of the same, so it is of little wonder that such figures in Eastern teachings gave positive reviews of their friend's son's book, which can be found gracing the back sleeve in large, bold print. Nepotism is rampant in Noah Levine's life. As neither conceit nor nepotism are Buddhist or punk, one must wonder how it is that Levine feels he has the right to portray himself as an example of either community.

Wanted to Love it. Read 40 pages and put it back on the shelf...I was smelling far too much spiritual materialism. Noah may have an interesting story, but he seems way too impressed with it himself. I found myself thinking..."Who Cares?". Hope this book offers something good to others, but it certainly didn't for me.

P.S. Cool cover, though.

As a person on a spiritual path after my own stuggles with drugs and alcohol, I was looking forward to reading this book and getting inspired. I was quite disappointed. Noah's book of elementary-style writing and run on sentences can best be summed up as "Noah is a punk rocker and he meditates and he thinks he's really cool". Every other paragraph is littered with "I am a punk rocker" statements. It gets really tedious, especially after the first chapter. The book is clearly meant for his fellow punk-rockers--and it's wonderful if troubled teens really connect to what he's saying. However, for someone on a spiritual path, Noah is certainly attached to his ego. Noah brags a lot, puts in some plugs for his father's books, and makes you realize that with connections, anyone can get published. On the plus side, this book has inspired me to write my own memoirs...

I bought Hardcore Zen and loved it, so I spent the extra money on this and found it not exciting at all. A lot of teenage angst that unfortunatly does not do it for me any more. I didn't learn anything about Buddhism, and his tales of Punk days long ago, were pretty dull.

Good front cover, go buy Hardcore Zen.

I Grew up in the punk scene around this same time, in another west coast town so some of the early scenes in this book feel a bit familiar. I had my struggles w/drugs, 12 steps, etc. as well. I'm also in my 30s and am trying to find a bit more peace...

I was hoping to learn something from this book but frankly it just comes off as arrogant, intellectually lazy, 3rd rate california feel good crap. Levine wants way too much to be the guy with the answers and is awfully dismissive of his own shortcomings. It's especially funny when he relates the Dali Lama's comment about how his tatoos are "colorful!" as if it meant something. It meant that they're "colorful" dude. That's it.

The guy comes off like a preacher's kid. Doesn't disgraced televangelist Jim Baker's kid have a bunch of tats and a guru-style book deal too? They should hook up.

It's great that a privileged white kid from so-cal can get into drugs then turn his life around using his dad's connections, wow glad he had to work so hard, right.... But what really "upsets" me about Noah here is that he ignores the myriad of positive aspects of punk rock the 100's of bands and 1000s of kids who did NOT see punk rock as a dead end street, or as a reason for violence. Haven been in punk bands for most of my adolescent through adult life I find this very offensive, I too am a Buddhist, and the two paths are neither mutually exclusive or really all that different. Some friends of mine on tour in another positive punk band stayed at my flat on tour a couple weeks ago and we had a good laugh at this. But I guess you gotta do something to sell books.

The book is great in showing the details of Levine's struggle with addiction and his path to recovery. However, it lacks the artistic touch and with its extensive chronological display it reads more like a biography than a memoir . Some parts of the book were exciting and many were too long and boring, especially the details of his trips and the monasteries that he visited. He doesn't go deep into intellectual discussions or explains his ideologies. Rather, he just refers to them as part of conversations that he had with his friends "We discussed the nature of being," for example. The book has no dialogue at all and the writer tends to repeat himself a lot. I wonder how many times he said "Spiritual Practice" or "Full cycle of friendship"!

If awakening is a path, Noah is hacking his way through a dense jungle. He crosses the path a few times, but never actually follows it. His machete of an ego and sense of self is sharp and hard, it cuts deep into all that happen into it's way. It may not be wise to follow the trail he blazes, as it seems to go in circles.

This book is a struggle to read and almost impossible to motivate yourself to finish. I wouldn't say it's a total waste of time. Even though, the author never seems to learn anything during his adventures. The reader can learn a great deal from the vast collection of wrong turns, which make up this book from beginning to end.

Do I recommend reading this? Not really. If you do read it, just realize it is a "memoir". It says so right on the cover. Don't expect from the use of "Dharma" in the title that it will impart any knowledge of reaching awakening. Be somewhat like expecting "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" to instruct you in fixing a motorcycle (that is a book I do recommend).

With all that said, this is a success story of someone turning away from drugs. If you too, have swapped a chemical addiction for prayer beads, sanskrit tattoos, and your own blend of patchwork spirituality, then you may actual enjoy this book a great deal. However, if you have a rudimentary understanding of buddhism, you'll find this book off track and almost insulting.