Meditate and Destroy

In the 1970s, punk rock and Buddhism might have seemed like odd bedfellows, but times have changed, and as Noah Levine puts it in Sarah Fisher's documentary profile Meditate and Destroy, “Buddhism isn't just for hippies anymore.” With his tattoos and shaved head, the motorcycle-riding Noah, son of author and spiritual adviser Stephen Levine, reflects that change. Noah's shift to Buddhism didn't come easily: childhood friends attest to his rowdy youth growing up in Santa Cruz, and he and his father agree that Noah has been dogged by a degree of sadness since childhood, suggestive of clinical depression (although no one ever uses that term). By his teens, Noah had reached a point where it seemed as if things couldn't get any worse as he went from hard drugs to juvenile detention to thoughts of suicide. After hitting rock bottom, Noah finally became receptive to his father's meditation relaxation techniques, and also turned to Jack Kornfield, one of the leading Buddhist teachers in America, who became his mentor. Eventually, Noah established a program for at-risk youth and wrote a memoir, Dharma Punx. Fisher follows Noah as he tours the country, reading from his book and giving lectures. As he tells one group, “I tried on some level to not be punk rock…and I couldn't get away from it.” An interesting portrait, this is recommended. Aud: C, P. (K. Fennessy)