Here, via TIME. Enjoy.

What on Earth does that mean, you might ask?

Don’t worry — Richard Corliss, who wrote that headline for TIME, doesn’t seem to know either.

So, this is the new issue of the National Review, depicting Sonia Sotomayor on its cover as a pseudo-cartoon Buddha.

Um… why?

And the Horse is not the only one asking. See here. And here.

Do the Old Boys at the NR not know the difference between an Hispanic and an Asian? Or is this like the treatment that Obama’s gotten in the past? (One example, here.)

Either way… No one’s put her on such a pedestal. It’s just weird.

Sheesh.

As a certifiable MAD magazine nut — I took the office tour back when they were at 485 “MADison” Avenue, and even had a letter published in issue # 315 — I was thrilled to see this painting, from a new exhibition in Atlanta called “The Mad Generation.” Said exhibition is a tribute to the art and artists of MAD, something that I personally think couldn’t ever happen enough.

The painting is by Vinnie Blanco, and is called “The Enlightened Fool.”

For more details and to inquire about ordering it — if I don’t beat you to it — visit the exhibition’s website, here.

From Cuernavaca, Mexico, comes this new Dharma-Burger from repeat contributor Luz, who writes:

“Hello my dear Horses!

“Here’s a Dharma-burger scanned from a Mexican magazine. I couldn’t find this kind of image in the product’s website, it seems they only use this approach for printed and TV ads.

“The product has been around for a couple of years. It is an herbal-based sleep and stress aid, produced by a mainstream lab. And yes, the guy is intended to resemble a Tibetan monk, and the product’s name is pronounced ‘dalai’ in Spanish, so the connection with His Holiness seems to be immediate, or at least that is what the marketing wizards pretend.
Even the package’s colors kind of resemble an actual monk’s robes. The model’s pose, however, is pure Dharma-burger material.

“Too bad the so-called sleep aid does not even work! (At least not for me).”

That is too bad, Luz. Get some rest, and thanks!

Giant thanks to reader Eliza J, who sends a Dharma-Burger so classic, so obvious, so typical, that I’m kinda ashamed I haven’t posted it before:

It’s one of those full-page tabloid/rag ads. (This one just happens to be from the “John Edwards scandal” issue of The National Enquirer.) You gotta love the headline. You gotta love the copy. Some key examples:

[The lead/lede:] You may have read about the Buddha. About how the Buddha is “famous” for bringing great wealth and extraordinary riches to anyone who rubs his generous belly.

Documented fact: In just the past year, many people, after rubbing the Buddha, have won Millions upon Millions of Dollars in the Lottery!

[And here are some prime snippets from elsewhere in the ad:]

Look closely at the Buddha. Very closely.

Can you feel a mystical, magical power radiating from this beloved figure? Can you sense a pulsating energy? Can you feel a captivating aura? An electrifying power of attraction? A dynamic, unstoppable force? A dazzling ascent to good fortune and prosperity?

[...] As actually reported by major newspapers and national TV on September 28, 2006, the organizers of a lottery pool at a Wisconsin cheese factory had tried good luck charms for 3 years.

Then a worker suggested rubbing the belly of a Buddha statue. … They won a $208.6 MILLION POWERBALL JACKPOT…

Why can’t YOU also have the same experience as the Wisconsin cheese workers — and rub the Buddha to win money? … Do you think you are a lesser person than anyone who has rubbed the Buddha to win money?

…Once the Buddha is in your possession, do this: Hold the legendary Buddha in your right hand. Then slowly, very slowly, rub the Buddha’s famed belly in slow circles with your left hand.

And you may be amazed at what happens. Joyful. Rapturous. Ecstatic. Thrilled beyond belief.

Key word: may.

But come on: that copy is SO over-the-top, so stoopid, that it’s almost good. Frankly, I could read pages and pages of that crap.

And you gotta love the “coupon” section where you check off the box next to “I WANT TO RUB THE BUDDHA! Here’s just $20.”

Wotta bargain. We’re all gonna be RICH!

Thanks again, Eliza!

We all owe you a cut of our winnings.

Props to the awesome Molly De Shong of the also-awesome Shambhala SunSpace for reporting on this find, via the most credible of sources — The Weekly World News. A natural follow-up on the Playboy/Virgin Mary controversy, right?

Click here for the full story.

So… I (along with Norman Fischer, Sumi Loundon Kim, and Iris Brilliant) participated in one of those Buddhadharma forums — “Next-Gen Buddhism: The Future of Buddhism in a Post-Baby Boomer World.” (Here’s Diana Winston’s intro to it.)

It seems that the piece itself has stirred up a small Dharmic s___-storm of discussion on a couple of blogs. You can join the fray at Dharma Folk’s “Angry Asian Buddhist” post, and at a follow-up piece by A Monk Amok: “Wonderbread Dharma”. The controversy is best boiled down to and centered around Dharma Folk’s contention that we can’t “discuss the future of the Buddhist community in America without talking about Asian Americans.”

For my part, I think that’s true, but would like to reiterate that, indeed, the piece was intentionally conceived to talk about “dharma’s integration into the American culture,” (Winston’s phrasing) with an eye towards so-called “convert Buddhists.” That non-convert Asian Buddhists were not specifically mentioned (where, say outreach to queer practitioners and “people of color” was) didn’t indicate to me that there is any disregard for them. Not at all. Rather, I believe that outreach to and involvement with the non-convert community is a subject ripe for its own forum and discussion. (Which is just what these, and other, excellent blogs are doing!) [Update: Forum moderator Barry Boyce has written a response to the "convert controversy," and points out that Buddhadharma has published two forums that have addressed it. You'll find links to these in Barry's response, here.]

What I feel I can say is that all of the people who were involved in the forum have a love and respect for all the communities that make up North American Buddhism’s landscape. And in actuality, the discussion that went on between Iris, Norman, Sumi, Barry Boyce, and myself was not nearly as brief as it appeared in print. (We talked for almost two hours as I recall; only roughly a third saw print.) Did we talk about  non-convert Asian Buddhist communities? Frankly, I don’t recall, as this was a few months back now, but my best guess is that we did, at least some, but then returned to the focus at hand. But even if we didn’t, again: These are people who want the Dharma, in all its forms, to be upheld.

The main thing is this: all of this discussion is worth having, and it’s to everyone’s credit that that’s happening. We’re very fortunate to be served by a publication like Buddhadharma, and we’re just as fortunate to have the engaged voices of the “Buddhablogosphere,” too.

So why take a look at them and weigh in?  Click a screenshot, and you’re there:

Buddhist-themed tattoos show up in tattoo magazines all the time. There’s no way we could find or post them all. But here’s one of two that, for example, showed up in the (then-)current issue of Skin Art (#115):

This one, a green Buddha, is credited to Joe Waulken of All or Nothing in Atlanta, Georgia.

That’s one big boy of a piece of work.

This second one shown here also appeared in the same issue of Skin Art:

It’s an Avalokitesvara/Chenrezig/Kanzeon/Kuan Yin, the Buddhist goddess who “hears the cries of the world” — the Goddess of Compassion.

It’s beautifully done, what with its colors, its radiant blue lotus and dharma wheel.

Yeah, we’re a little jealous.

The artist is Marco Serio of Invisible NYC in, of course, NYC.

Wade from the very classy Middle Way blog graciously wrote to send on a bit of online marketing that features “a guy in a yoga pose” silhouetted in its imagery. “Thought of you,” he said, and he added a smiley emoticon.

Well, big thanks, Wade… but we’re not gonna run it. It’s definitely nothing personal, mind you. (Your site really does rock.) It’s just that the Horse has made an executive decision: we’re not going to be adding Yoga-Burgers to the menu.

Why not? It’s simple, really: yoga has already been almost completely co-opted by the folks in the advertising, merchandising, and pop-culture worlds. Of course, there is often some overlap with Buddhism, and we’ve struggled with that. Sometimes the overlap is obvious enough (as in this post) that covering it makes some sense. More often, though, there’s no overlap. It’s just “a guy in a yoga pose” (or even more often, a lean, light-skinned, slightly ethnic-looking woman) selling a granola bar. Or a box of teabags. Or a the services of a financial portfolio management company. Or an SUV.

At this point, the near-embedded presence of predominately yoga-based imagery and ideas in mass-culture is pretty much a forgone conclusion. I mean, just look at any of the yoga mags. To try and document all the occurences of Yoga-Burgers seems almost redundant. (Why not just subscribe to Yoga Journal instead?) Besides, in order to do so I’d have to sit at this computer 72 hours a day. I’m getting fat enough just chomping on and trying to digest all the Dharma-Burgers that get dropped in my lap!

Now if only I could think of some mindful discipline that might help me tone and tighten up…

Oh well. I’m sure it will come to me. Til then, thanks Wade — and thanks also to the rest of you — for making The Worst Horse so much fun.