Frank Zappa’s house is up for auction on eBay. Alex Winter, Bill S. Preston from the Bill and Ted movies, is making a documentary about Frank Zappa and the Zappa family is giving their full cooperation. As part of their efforts to make the documentary happen, they are letting Alex auction off their family home.

When I heard about this it occurred to me that the former Zappa family home would be the absolute most perfect place in the whole world to have a Zen center. Frank Zappa was one of my early gateways into Zen. I never heard Zappa speak openly about Zen, but I’ve heard a few whispers that he was secretly into the philosophy and may have even practiced. But mostly it was because my first Zen teacher and I bonded over our mutual love of Frank Zappa’s music and no bullshit outlook toward life.

But I don’t have $9,000,000. So I’m not able to place a bid.

I’m just putting this out there on the off chance that someone reading this blog does have $9,000,000. Or that nine of you have one million each you’d like to pool together. Or some combination like that.

Here’s what I’d do if you bought me the Zappa house.

I would live in the guest cottage in the back. I’m not sure exactly what it’s like. But my current apartment is a little under 500 square feet and I manage pretty well with that much space. I figure the cottage has got to be at least that big, which is plenty for me.

Then I’d set the rest of the place up as a Zen practice space. There would be a Buddha hall, a zendo, a library, and all the rest of the stuff any Zen center has.

There might be zoning issues, but we could deal with those as they came up. The center would be fairly low key. After all, I’m no Dalai Lama or Thich Nhat Hanh. I’m not even a Noah Levine. Meaning I am not really all that popular. I’m guessing we’d get between 10 and 30 people showing up for regular sittings. Which wouldn’t put too much stress on the neighbors. And we certainly would not be loud or unruly.

Dogen Sangha Los Angeles is incorporated as a 501(c)3 religious nonprofit. So if you buy me the Zappa house I’m pretty sure you can write off the whole nine million on your taxes. We can check that out easily. So that ought to be some kind of incentive.

I am totally serious about this. I’m not delusional enough to think that it’s any kind of a sure thing this will happen just by my putting it out there. But if I don’t put it out there, it’s a sure thing it won’t.

In the end, karma is the deciding factor. If it’s meant to happen it’ll happen. If it’s not, it won’t. Either way is cool with me.

Thanks for listening!

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Registration is still OPEN for our Spring Zen & Yoga Retreat March 18-20, 2016 at Mt. Baldy Zen Center, Mt. Baldy, California

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Check out my podcast with Pirooz Kalayeh, ONCE AGAIN ZEN!

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I’ve got a new book coming out soon! Stay up to date on its release schedule, my live appearances and more by signing up for our mailing list on the contact page!

My publishers are running a contest on Goodreads to give away 2 copies of my new book!

UPCOMING EVENTS

March 18-20, 2016 Mt. Baldy, California SPRING ZEN & YOGA RETREAT

March 25, 2016 Venice, California Mystic Journey Bookstore 7:00pm

April 7, 2016 San Francisco, California Against The Stream

April 8, 2016 San Francisco, California San Francisco Zen Center

April 22, 2016 New York, New York Interdependence Project

April 23, 2016 Long Island, New York Molloy College “Spring Awakening 2016”

June 2, 2016 Los Angeles, CA The Last Bookstore 7:00pm

September 9-11, 2016 Belfast, Northern Ireland 3-Day Retreat

September 16-17, 2016 Dublin, Ireland 3-Day Retreat

September 22-25, 2016 Hebden Bridge, England, 4-Day Retreat

September 27, 2016 – Wimbledon, London, England – Talk and Q&A

September 29-October 2, 2016 Helsinki, Finland, 4-Day Retreat

October 7, 2016 Berlin, Germany Zenlab

October 14, 2016 Munich, Germany, Lecture

October 15-16, 2016 Munich, Germany, 2-Day Retreat

October 23-28, 2016 Benediktushof Meditation Centrum (near Würzburg, Germany) 5-Day Retreat

ONGOING EVENTS

Every Monday at 8pm there’s zazen at Silverlake Yoga Studio 2 located at 2810 Glendale Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90039. Beginners only!

Every Saturday at 10:00 am (NEW TIME!) there’s zazen at the Veteran’s Memorial Complex located at 4117 Overland Blvd., Culver City, CA 90230. Beginners only!

Plenty more info is available on the Dogen Sangha Los Angeles website, dsla.info

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One of the main ways I maintain my lifestyle while not living in the cottage behind Frank Zappa’s hosue is through your donations to this blog. I won’t get any of the recent Angel City Zen Center fundraiser money. I appreciate your on-going support!