Dharma Punx: A Memoir

#127
Title: Dharma Punx: A Memoir
Author: Noah Levine
Publisher: HarperCollins
Year: 2003
Genre:  Memoir, Asia, Religion
263 pages

Noah Levine (son of author and spiritual teacher Stephen Levine) describes his chaotic childhood and journey toward moderation and purpose. Crime and drugs are liberally intermixed with Noah's discovery of and deep identification with punk. After much alienation, anger, and despair, he recounts gradually moving to a primarily Buddhist perspective, incorporating spiritual practice into his life, and reintegrating himself internally and in his community and intimate relationships.

As I understood it, the book's promise was to describe the integration of the punk ethos with Buddhism, but this was discussed only superficially. Why punk was meaningful to Noah and how he saw (and sees) himself as a punk in relation to society and culture is named but not well-articulated. To put it another way, it's told but not adequately shown, so it remains an assertion rather than something the reader can really engage with. Similarly, there are many points of convergence between punk and Buddhism, and Noah names some (e.g., seeing much of life as illusory), but without exploring them or identifying points of divergence as well.

Nonetheless, the book is interesting and sometimes moving. It provides a terrific contrast to something like Eat, Love, Pray's vapid spiritual tourism that so easily removes itself from the context of the people who populate the country in which one's resort-like retreat is situated.

The "dharma punx" of  the title appears to refer to a group that Noah leads, but this is never made particularly explicit. I'd have liked to know more.