Noah Levine’s Followers (243)

Noah Levine

Born

in Santa Cruz, CA, The United States

February 01, 1971

Website

http://www.dharmapunx.com/

Genre

Religion & Spirituality, Philosophy, Nonfiction

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American Buddhist teacher, author and counselor known for his philosophical alignment with Buddhism and punk ideology. Identifies his Buddhist beliefs and practices with both Theravadan and Mahayanan traditions. Holds a masters degree in counseling psychology from CIIS. He has helped found several groups and projects including the Mind Body Awareness Project], a non-profit organization that serves incarcerated youths.

Son of American Buddhist author Stephen Levine. Trained by Jack Kornfield of Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, CA. He also lists as teachers His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Thich Nhat Hanh, Ram Dass, Joseph Goldstein, Sharon Salzberg, Norman Fischer, and Sylvia Boorstein.

He is the founder of the Against the Stream Buddhis American Buddhist teacher, author and counselor known for his philosophical alignment with Buddhism and punk ideology. Identifies his Buddhist beliefs and practices with both Theravadan and Mahayanan traditions. Holds a masters degree in counseling psychology from CIIS. He has helped found several groups and projects including the Mind Body Awareness Project], a non-profit organization that serves incarcerated youths.

Son of American Buddhist author Stephen Levine. Trained by Jack Kornfield of Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, CA. He also lists as teachers His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Thich Nhat Hanh, Ram Dass, Joseph Goldstein, Sharon Salzberg, Norman Fischer, and Sylvia Boorstein.

He is the founder of the Against the Stream Buddhist Meditation Society, with two centers in Los Angeles and over twenty affiliated groups in North America and Europe. (www.againstthestream.org) Noah leads Dharma and vipassana meditation retreats and workshops across the United States and Europe. An important aspect of his work is with inmates in juvenile and adult prisons where he combines meditation techniques with psychotherapy—“exploring how they can have a deeper understanding of what has happened and what they need to do in order to be free, on many levels—free from prison, free from the trauma of the past.” Noah Levine is a member of the Prison Dharma Network.

Levine’s work with inmates is fueled by his own past; as a youth he had several periods of incarceration. His first book, Dharma Punx, in large part details Levine’s teenage years filled with drugs, violence, and multiple suicide attempts - choices fueled by a rebellious nature and identification with punk rock and culture. His substance abuse started early in life - at age 6 he began smoking marijuana - and finally ended in a padded detoxification cell in juvenile prison 11 years later. It was in this cell where he hit “an emotional rock bottom” and began his vipassana practice “out of a place of extreme drug addiction and violence” While incarcerated, he saw for the first time how the practice his father taught him gave him the tools to relieve the fear and uncertainty that pervaded his life.

One notable aspect of Buddhist Dharma is the path of our choices, the actions past and present and the intention for future action – (ref. Buddhist Law of Karma). Levine’s past – addiction, incarceration, violence, initial rejection of Buddhism and meditation – are all defining characteristics of his writings and teachings. “We all sort of have a different doorway to dharma or spiritual practice. Suffering is a doorway. For me it was the suffering of addiction, violence and crime which opened me at a young age, 17 years old. I was incarcerated, looking at the rest of my life in prison and thought, ‘Maybe I will try dad’s hippie meditation bullshit.’ Suffering opened me to the possibility of trying meditation.”

In Levine’s second book, Against the Stream, released in April 2007, "he presents what he has learned about and through Buddhism". Readers will find it written in a style consistent with the "disarming, frank tone" from his first book and, also, free from the typical "Buddhist-speak" found in comparable works; Levine "clearly returns to such central ideas as impermanence and suffering, giving his thinking simplicity and consistency". The author claims that this work is for '"true spiritual revolutionaries" who are looking for both "inner and outer spiritual rebellion"'. ...more

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Average rating: 3.93 · 8,540 ratings · 731 reviews · 11 distinct works • Similar authors

	Wake Up and Open Your Eyes by Clay McLeod Chapman (Goodreads Author), Kelli Tager (Narrator), Joe Hempel (Narrator) 3.31 avg rating — 10,941 ratings — published 2025 — 13 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Dharma Punx: A Memoir 3.79 avg rating — 4,483 ratings — published 2003 — 19 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Against the Stream: A Buddhist Manual for Spiritual Revolutionaries 4.04 avg rating — 1,732 ratings — published 2007 — 12 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Refuge Recovery: A Buddhist Path to Recovering from Addiction 4.23 avg rating — 1,081 ratings — published 2014 — 10 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Heart of the Revolution: The Buddha's Radical Teachings on Forgiveness, Compassion, and Kindness 4.13 avg rating — 765 ratings — published 2011 — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Unsubscribe: Opt Out of Delusion, Tune In to Truth by Josh Korda, Noah Levine (Foreword) 4.19 avg rating — 301 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Clinical Dharma: A Path for Healers and Helpers by Stephen Dansiger, Noah Levine (Foreword) 4.04 avg rating — 26 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Kind Awareness: Guided Meditations for an Inner Revolution 4.12 avg rating — 17 ratings — published 2014 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	[Dharma Punx] [By: Levine, Noah] [May, 2004] it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 2 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Dharma Punx really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 1 rating — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Quotes by Noah Levine (?)

“Waking up is not a selfish pursuit of happiness, it is a revolutionary stance, from the inside out, for the benefit of all beings in existence.”
― noah levine

92 likes

“It's easy to hate and point out everything that is wrong with the world; it is the hardest and most important work in one's life to free oneself from the bonds of fear and attachment.”
― Noah Levine, Dharma Punx: A Memoir

tags: music, philosophy, politics

65 likes

“Sitting still is a pain in the ass.”
― Noah Levine, Against the Stream: A Buddhist Manual for Spiritual Revolutionaries

tags: buddhism, meditation, philosophy, religion

31 likes

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Topics Mentioning This Author

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Buddhist: July's Nominations	6	37	Jun 07, 2011 12:41PM
Challenge: 50 Books: Amanda's 50+ books for 2011...	107	183	Jan 01, 2012 03:58AM

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Noah Levine’s Followers (243)

Noah Levine

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