[Here's another "Dharma-Burger Classic" from our old, defunct blog. But maybe it's new to you?]
In late May (2007), Reuters reported that Café Press, which sells shirts and other merchandise online, pulled some of these due to pressure from the Thai government.
The offending items? “G-string underwear and T-shirts for dogs” which bore an image of the Buddha. (The news agency would have done well to be a bit more clear—the company was in fact enabling an on-line seller to purvey underwear for humans, as well as shirts for dogs.)
It’s a common Thai belief believe that our canine friends are, in fact, inferior to us humans. I for one can’t say that I agree—I think it’s safe to say that you’ll never, ever see a dog hawking cheap bedroom-wear on the internet, offensive or otherwise.
…Speaking of dogs: we stumbled upon this shot by Vicki Rogers, and just loved and wanted to share it:
The verdict is in:
Does a dog have Buddha-nature?
Most definitely.
Huge thanks to reader Amelus for sending this tasty bit of weirdness. Its source is the Buddhist teacher Luang Por, who seems to be affiliated with DMC. No, not DMC of RUN-DMC (though, can you imagine?), but instead the Dhamma Media Channel, a Thai TV and web operation whose tagline is pretty heavy: “The Only One.” Well, whoa.
(Amelus also sends this morsel of a Dharma-Burger. As he suggests so succinctly and sarcastically: “Zen: Japanese fast food!” Thanks again, Amelus.)
Following up on “Bizarro Thai Ronald McDonald” (a Dharma-Burger for the ages), reader JM writes: “A friend who’s been to Thailand tells me the Michelin Man does wai/anjali [more commonly known as gassho] there too.” Lo and behold, it’s true, as seen in this graphic from the Thai Michelin site:
I always liked that little guy…
Thanks, JM! (And, just to be fair, here‘s a link to Jalopnik’s coverage of him from ’06.)
On Dispatches, his online journal, punk-godfather (I think he probably hates that term) Henry Rollins files a brief report from his July ’08 trip to Thailand. One sentence especially caught the Horse’s eye:
“I got some interesting photos of a McDonald’s that has some rather obscene Ronald McDonald statues.”
Could Old Man Hank be referring to our friend, Bizarro Thai Ronald McDonald? Seems pretty likely… and if you don’t know BTRMcD, you can meet him here.
