“Buddha for Sale” — An insult to all? Or just “some”?
A new piece from the editor of the Sweden-based Asian Tribune (published by the World Institute for Asian Studies) makes no bones about the Tribune’s feelings about the phenomenon of the Dharma-Burger. (I can only imagine how they might react to that term in and of itself.)
A couple of excerpts:
Internet companies, institutes for massage, restaurants, resellers of furnishing, and breeders of exotic cats all adopt Buddha in their uninhibited capitalist interests. As well as leaching the symbolic meaning which adherents of Buddhism ascribe to the Enlightened One. Some resellers of these, as they are marketed, oriental objects, also advertise that their Buddha statues are traded fairly or subscribe to the criteria for fair production.
And:
The commercialization of Buddha is an insult to all adherents of the Buddhist tradition. And can be seen as an expression of the prevailing relation between the so called Third world and the postcolonial powers.
Some would say that this is just plain true.
Some would say you have to look at such things in a matter of context.
There’s certainly an argument that different views might largely be the result of fundamental cultural differences. But then it can be fairly said that certain aspects of certain of cultures have to be more conducive to practicing what the Buddha taught than others. After all, wasn’t the Buddha ultimately offering a path to a different kind of culture, one fueled not by outward, material pursuits but by the best of what resides inside us all?
Or is a “Buddha for Sale” maybe not so bad, because we need reminders everywhere we go, not least of all the marketplace?
And hey, each Buddha for Sale is one less Snuggie or Big Mouth Billy Bass or whatever.
Maybe, though, it’s becoming more like one more Big Mouth Billy Bass. (Or whatever.)
(Yikes!)
Anyway, what do you say? Check it out.
Comments welcome.
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August 27th, 2010 at 5:30 pm
Umm…what about Budai/Hotei in the Chinese restaurants?
They have ‘em even in China.
August 30th, 2010 at 3:30 am
Would the Buddha have minded dharma burgers? I don’t think so. Look closely, acknowledge they exist, accept, and move on.
September 2nd, 2010 at 10:59 am
Quote: “Some resellers of these, as they are marketed, oriental objects, also advertise that their Buddha statues are traded fairly or subscribe to the criteria for fair production.”
To be honest, I’d like to know who these sellers are. I don’t want a Buddha pillow case or Buddha beer or a Hotei lighter. I want a small Buddha statue for my altar, and I don’t want it made in some Chinese sweatshop.
September 8th, 2010 at 2:11 pm
“The commercialization of Buddha is an insult to all adherents of the Buddhist tradition.”
This seems to do violence to the grammar of the word insult. An insult exists in the mind or heart of the person who has allowed or chosen to let him or herself *feel insulted* by a given state of affairs.
Sure we use such a figure of speech: “Autotune is an insult to the talent and dedication of real singers”. But we don’t mean such things literally, do we? Anymore than we literally deny Copernicus when we say “the moon came up over the horizon”. We know that the horizon rotated downward, as it were.
How can talent be insulted? How can dedication be insulted, except metaphorically? How can a hamburger, depicted on a magazine page *be* an insult unless one chooses to give it this ontological status by deciding to be insulted *by* it?
So the ostensible claim that: “The commercialization of Buddha is an insult to all adherents of the Buddhist tradition.” seems to work primarily as an exhortation to followers of Buddha to *feel* insulted, and therefore *be* insulted, by the burgers and bath mats and what-have-you, imprinted with the happy fat man’s image.
Today, crowds in Malaysia are reportedly militating against an anticipated insult, the one which will occur if and when some people in Florida carry out their intention to burn Korans on 9/11/10. Murdern and mayhem may very well ensue.
Would that burning of books be an insult if no one chose to take it as one?
Yes it seems to me, too, that the proposed act is *intended* as an insult, a provocation. But does the person committing an act have sovereign power over that act’s meaning?
I’m not a Buddha follower. My tradition teaches: “turn the other cheek”. The gross defilement of icons of my tradition is today a commonplace. If I spent my time and energy being insulted by each instance, or even the overall trend, the cost would be high, the benefit unclear at best.
The moon won’t fall just because the finger pointing to it is splattered with crap, will it?
Does the dharma burger partake less of Buddha nature than the soy burger? I don’t know the answer. I’m just here looking around.
September 8th, 2010 at 2:55 pm
love it. hope you’ll comment some more.