We Talk with Guo Gu: Author, Chan Teacher, Professor of Buddhist Studies...& Former Bassist of a Band {Podcast}

We talk about meditation methods, his life and how he began meditating at such a young age. We discuss his teenage years (his mother took him to a Zen master and asked him how to make him “more Buddhist”) and his stint as a bassist in a 1980s hardcore punk band.

This podcast went longer than most of our podcasts because we just couldn’t stop asking Guo Gu questions.

He recently published Silent Illumination: A Chan Buddhist Path to Natural Awakening by Shambhala Publications. We talk about meditation methods, his life and how he began meditating at such a young age. We discuss his teenage years (his mother took him to a Zen master and asked him how to make him “more Buddhist”) and his stint as a bassist in a 1980s hardcore punk band.

Guo Gu is one of Master Sheng Yen’s senior and closest disciples, and assisted the master in leading activities at the Chan Meditation Center, Dharma Drum Retreat Center, and Dharma Drum Mountain in Taiwan, and other parts of Europe and Asia.

Guo Gu first learned meditation when he was four years old in 1972. He studied with one of the most respected Chinese meditation masters and ascetics living in Taiwan, Master Guangqin (1892-1986). In 1980, due to his family’s relocation, Guo Gu moved to the United States.

We talk attachment, writing, Buddhism, meditation and even a little bit about parenting.

Photo: Shambhala Publications