What SPIRITUAL LEVEL are you on?
Humans are the ONLY animals that comprehend spirituality.
Humans are the ONLY animals that imagine what God looks like.
Humans are the ONLY animals that seek spiritual enlightenment.
What is spiritual?
We'll consider anything involving God or an afterlife.
What is enlightenment?
In the cartoons--a light glows brightly overhead.
In Buddhism--a light glows brightly within your mind.
American Zen is AMERICA'S FIRST BUDDHIST ROCK BAND, starting in 1991 when Coyote moved to Utah.
American Zen will travel up the spiritual ladder of enlightenment to LEVEL 8, the highest possible level of Buddhism.
We have defined these LEVELS of LIFE or spiritual growth in stories, poetry, and music, to create an entertaining pathway to inspire you.
Very few people make it to LEVEL 3. Christ, Buddha and Mohammed all were LEVEL 3 when they first developed their religions.
LEVEL 3 = I WANT YOU TO LOVE ME. True love is difficult to teach. Compassion is impossible to enforce.
Each spiritual LEVEL of American Zen includes a SECTION of THIS WEBSITE, www.americanZEN.org with poetry, lyrics, and stories.
Travel these website SECTIONS of americanZEN.org to discover the enlightenments and inspirations to help elevate you above these LEVELS. Some people, whether they were elevated or not, found that this new way of analyzing and understanding other people, improved their lives and made social interactions more enjoyable and less frustrating.
"When you view people according to their spiritual LEVELS, it is easier to predict their actions and have appropriate expectations of them," Shawn Whitson, Buddha Kung Fu Disciple.
Everyone is on one of these 8 LEVELS.
Jesus was a Hebrew preaching to Hebrews. He supposedly had a grasp of his Jewish religion, which elevated him to LEVEL 2. When he was baptised by John The Baptist, he began to see beyond the limitations of his religion and view all people as "children of God." This elevated Jesus to LEVEL 3. Jesus became a Kung Fu Cowboy of LEVEL 4 when he gathered his apostle posse and preached his humanism.
Everyone starts at LEVEL 1 = PEACE OF MIND.
- You work a job
- You look for love, or sex, or both...
- You create a family
- You seek financial security
- You seek entertainment
- You have a home
- You are successful at all the above--when you have PEACE OF MIND
LEVEL 2 = CHRIST KILLER is the addition of religion to life.
- You have a religion
- You are taught about God
- You are given initiations and ceremonies
- You seek God's help
- You seek God's blessings
- You have a religious lifestyle
- If you threaten people with your religion--you are a Christ Killer
Very few people make it to LEVEL 3 = I WANT YOU TO LOVE ME.
- The Original Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, rose to LEVEL 3 under the Bodhi tree
- You accept all religions and learn something useful from each one
- You support people's faith in their religions
- You seek to bring people closer to God
- You realize that all people are God's children and love them accordingly
- You lead a humanistic lifestyle, enjoying all races and all religions
- If religion limits your life--you are still in LEVEL 2
One out of 1,000 people rise to LEVEL 4 = KUNG FU COWBOY.
- You have a spiritual lifestyle
- You talk and debate about the many concepts of God
- The Original Buddha, created his Buddhist religion when he rose to LEVEL 4 = KUNG FU COWBOY
- You realize that your happiness is God's happiness
- You see the community as your family and desire to protect and nurture you neighbors
- You live a KUNG FU LIFESTYLE of good health, good living, and good exercise
- Karate is a sport for beating people up -- but Kung Fu is a way of life to bring happiness to yourself and all around you
Start at the beginning of American Zen's spiritual journey: LEVEL 1 = PEACE OF MIND.
The stories, poetry, and songs by The Hippy Coyote are from his struggles setting up his family in Utah in 1992. Your stories of life in LEVEL 1 will be different, but will have common difficulties, and similar obstacles. Kid raising, marital issues, and financial problems are part of the human condition in LEVEL 1, and Coyote tells his stories accordingly.
When you've read Coyote's LEVEL 1 stories and poetry, and fathomed his music, you will be inspired to look at your own world of problems differently, and hopefully more insightfully. Learn from Coyote's mistakes and adventures, and more inportantly, see beyond the events of life to learn bigger life solutions that all people can benefit from
Welcome to the spiritual journey of American Zen.
This odyssey of maturity is what separates us from the animals of this world. Humans have the unique ability to pursue spirituality.
Like any new math lesson, or Kung Fu class, or job advancement...hard work is required. So remember, "NOTHING IS HARD."
Make "hard work" your "normal work" and the world will unfold its richness like a blooming flower.
Work hard to improve yourself and make a good life that you'll proud of.
Look to the future and do your best every day.
Any excuse or laziness is a disease.
To have a healthy body, you need a healthy mind.
To have a healthy mind, you need a healthy body.
So if you ever plan to make it to LEVEL 3 and LEVEL 4, you'd better start your Tai Chi and Kung Fu classes now.
It's hard to grow spiritually even in LEVEL 2, if your daily goal is beating people up--so stay away from Karate, Judo, TaeKwonDo, and boxing. Many Kung Fu schools are just Chinese flavored Karate classes. If your teacher tells you to fight or spar with another student, you're in the wrong school. In our Buddha Kung Fu, Shaolin Chi Mantis, and Tai Chi Youth schools, the only sparring or competitions we do are PUSH HANDS. No one gets hurt, it's a lot of fun, and students are always helping their opponent to improve their skills--so there are no losers, even in our Push Hands tournaments.
Good luck on your journey.
ENTER
Hosted by Shaolin Communications