The third and final installment of my Shambhala Sun Audio interview with Noah Levine, founder of the Dharma Punx and Against the Stream movements, is now online.

In it, Noah talks about how he deals with all the attention he gets, and why Americans might want to take a good look at creating their own stream of Buddhist practice. You can listen here. You’ll also find links to the previous two installments. Noah has some good stuff to say — definitely worth a listen.

Hey, Horses… I just posted the first of three interview segments with Noah Levine (of Dharma Punx, Against the Stream, and Meditate and Destroy fame) over at Shambhala Sun. I think you’ll dig, and hope you’ll check it out.

While you’re there: there’s a pretty interesting discussion going on about downloading dharma materials — when they’re not expressly for free distribution. The mighty Than Geoff even makes a cameo via a comment. Y’all are web-heads, so you might have something to say. Click here if you’re interested, and thanks!

Giant, GIANT thanks to Konchog Norbu for sending this clip, via the blog, “Truth is Within: Just Another Buddhist Monk’s Weblog.”

You may recognize its initial title-card as a reference to Penelope Spheeris’s infamous documentary series about punk and metal, The Decline of Western Civilization.

I want to see this!

Kin, one of the Horse’s two brothers from another mother, recently pointed out some lyrics from the band Embrace. Embrace were, essentially, Ian MacKaye — previously of Minor Threat, and later, of Fugazi — backed by three former members of fellow 80′s/DC hardcore pioneers, The Faith. The pointing-out was aimed at the track, “Do Not Consider Yourself Free.”

Take a look:

I didn’t want to see people
Hurting people
But I refuse to close my eyes
So in front of me
I see ugly people
Seething and believing ugly
Lies

And yes, of course, I’m
Scared of being hurt
And yes, of course, I’m
Scared of being wrong
But at the same time my silence
Will convict me
And the evil will carry on
If I can do some good
I want to do it
If I have a choice
I want to make it
It’s my human responsibility
That life lives
Selfishness gives
And death becomes natural

So you can stay cool behind
Your window
And choose the view
You want to see
But as long as there are
Others held captive
Do not consider
Yourself free.

Now, don’t get me wrong — I am in NO WAY suggesting that this is a “Buddhist” song, or that MacKaye and company are or were Buddhists. Not at all. But still: is it just Kin, and me, or are these lyrics a wonderful take on the Bodhisattva’s Vow?

And more importantly: what songs do you know of, Buddhist-created or not, that inspire and uphold your practice?

Dig this new New York Times “Bowery Journal” report on Noah Levine, Dharma Punx, and Josh Korda, who runs an NYC DP group.

A sample quote: “Perched on a ledge behind Mr. Korda, who was kneeling at the front, was a small white statue of a seated Buddha — with a mohawk. It is a curious combination; punk is typically seen as an expression of aggression, whereas Buddhism espouses compassion. But Mr. Korda and his friend Noah Levine, who started Dharma Punx, say both movements are rooted in dissatisfaction with the way things are, a desire to live in the present and a thirst for peace of mind.”

What’s extra cool is that as of 10 am, this article was the lead on the front page of the NYT site. What’s less cool is that the Dharma Punx site is seemingly down because of all the traffic they must be getting.

Well, nice problem to have.

Just got this email: “hi! i love your site — i wanted to send you [a link to] my artwork. i was raised in a Nichiren temple in Okayama, Japan. I am doing a public commission for the Dharma Punx meditation space in Los Angeles [This is Noah Levine's Against the Stream Buddhist Meditation Society]. It will be a 16 foot by 32 foot steel painting. Thank you so much for the wonderful website.”

This, obviously, is a sample of Miya’s work. But do take a look around her site for more; there’s some really gorgeous stuff there. And Miya’s story is something, too. From the site:

“I am half-Japanese and half-Russian and was raised bilingually and in two distinct cultures; a Buddhist temple in Japan and in mountainous rural Northern California. I was raised amongst swordsmiths-turned Buddhist priests, as I am the descendant of Bizen sword maker Ando Yoshiro Masakatsu. After graduating from UC Berkeley with a degree in East Asian Studies, I attended a Masters program at Yale University to pursue my interest in Buddhist Iconography and imagery. ” (There’s a lot more text on the site; this is just a taste. You can also see an interview with Miya, in which she speaks about “her work with the medium of steel and her focus on impermanence,” here.)

Pretty damn cool stuff. Thanks so much for getting in touch, Miya, and keep us all posted about the progress on the LA piece!

This review of “screamo/emo/screamcore” band Senses Fail strikes a weird note:

“According to its website, Senses Fail is a pretty mystical bunch. The band members dig mythology, eastern philosophy and the Buddhist belief in nirvana, from which the name derives. I can’t think of anything more stupid than naming a hardcore band after a something related to the peace-loving Buddhist religion. Those are two completely different modes of thought.”

Indeed, the band’s lead singer Buddy Nielsen (awkwardly) confirms that the name “Senses Fail” is derived from the Buddhist belief in Nirvana: “In Buddhism, they believe that being alive is hell, and the only way to reach Nirvana is to ultimately have no attachments to anything.”

The author of the review might do well to bone up on bands like, say, The Firstborn. Or Monkey. Or Shambhala. Or Witch. Or Meshuggah. Or The Wu. Or Asunder. Or Garuda. Or Lamb of God. Or Ruin. Or, for that matter, this one band that came from out of the punk scene of Seattle. (What was their name again?)

Not that these bands’ names were all inspired by Buddhism. Some were, most weren’t. But all of these bands play in an idiom (punk, metal, hip-hop, etc) that many might think could never be the domain of people interested in “peace-loving” Buddhism. The fact is, all of these bands (save the actual Nirvana) have dabbled with meditation or Dharma in their songs, and many, in their lives.

Sure: Dharma and more aggressive music may exemplify “two different modes of thought.”

But what’s wrong with having more than one mode of thought?

If that’s stupid, then our generation of practitioners, it seems, doesn’t want to be smart. Cool by me.

How ’bout you?

Here’s Noah’s new blog (more or less about his own brand-new website) for Huffington Post.

Go, Noah.

He, and the new documentary about him, have even landed on the MTV movies blog.

And hey, while we’re trawling the web, here‘s a nifty little time-machine artifact from a 1952 issue of TIME.