As a pro-sk8ing Buddhist, I have to thank stalwart reader Ben J. Hutchinson for pointing out this painting:

It’s by painter/illustrator Jason Arnold, who is (clearly) super-playful and talented; see more here.

[UPDATE: I've just put together a new interview with DeStefano, for Shambhala SunSpace. I hope you'll check it out.]

On NBC’s Last Comic Standing, the gruff Mike DeStefano, a seasoned comic, has become an audience favorite. And actually, it’s clear that the comedian’s persona is just that — a persona; at heart he’s a big softy and a family kind of guy. He’s also a former addict celebrating more than a dozen years in recovery.

Buddhism, clearly, plays a part in all this (though DeStefano identifies himself primarily as a practitioner of “recovery comedy”). Last night on the show viewers saw Mike’s monster Buddha tattoo (shown here) and also heard a joke that I imagine we’ll be hearing people repeat for a while:

“I went to a Chinese restaurant… They had a suggestion box, so I wrote ‘Free Tibet’.”

(It’s not “What did the Buddhist say to the hot dog vendor?*” but, hey, not bad, Mike.)

Other evidence of Mike’s interest in Buddhism? His new comedy album is called OK Karma. And here’s the cover (left).

He’s also written a book entitled Bada Bing Bada Budda.

Check out Mike online, here.

Update: click here to check out DeStefano’s contribution to the (true) storytelling podcast, the program, titled “The Junkie and the Monk.” It’ll give you a taste of Mike’s personality and background and — while it’s seriously rough stuff at times — it’ll make you laugh. You’re gonna like this guy.

(* “Make me one with everything.”)

Nirvana has gone big-time:

Nirvana Spring water, that is. (Thanks to Gary Steinberg for the tip!) That, above, is the new look of the product, one of many named in honor of the ultimate cessation of suffering.

And here it is as the Horse had seen it in 2007 (presuming it’s the same product, newly relaunched):

(Click here to see that 2007 post.)

Nirvana has come a long way, baby.

…I never know what to think about this kind of co-optation. One one hand, it’s co-optation of something that for people has varying degrees of weight or sacredness. That’s often bad. It can certainly complicate things. But:

Could it be that, in a culture like ours — where products will be part of the fabric of many lives, for better of for worse — it’s  a good thing when products are named after positive things and are depicting similarly positive people or activities? As opposed to, say, being named after something negative or somehow depicting mindless or violent or otherwise negative ideas?

It’s better to see a product message that depicts meditation as a positive thing than to see just yet another one that depicts some stupid, typical consumer culture message.

Isn’t it?

His Holiness the Dalai Lama did the Today show, “his first live morning show interview ever.” Video follows, and here’s a report from Today themselves.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

So: what do you think? When you see a media moment like this, how does it make you feel? Hopeful? Tired of the mass-media? Proud of the mass-media? Something else entirely?

Leave a comment after the jump, where you’ll also find more video from the Today appearance, including the “chat about happiness” mentioned in the first clip. (more…)

Over on Shambhala SunSpace, I’m sharing with readers the chance to hear “Red As Blood,” a track by Seattle’s Deadly Light, who describe the music on their new CD Six Walls as “fairly heavy rock/metal, with a bit of an ambient/tribal feel as well.” Also, the band are practicing Buddhists. Here, on the Horse, you can also hear another track, “Black Electric” (below).

Deadly Light is Max Neal (guitar, backing vocals), Don Baumer (drums, backing vocals), and Dave Vitello (vocals, electronics). Regarding the band’s connection to the dharma, Baumer tells me:

“As practicing Buddhists, we have written lyrical content that deals with consciousness, the trials and triumphs of working with meditation and the path, and the difficulties of bringing that path into a society that often fosters materialism and alienation.”

Okay — I’m sold on the concept. But how’s the music? Well, I’m sold on that too, but here’s “Black Electric” a sample track from Six Walls for you to check out for yourself. The lyrics are included, too.

Deadly Light – Black Electric (Click to play; opens in new window)

Presence thickens the air
Clear light shines
Why protect the indestructible?
Instead I’ll bow down
Fear suffocates
Break through
Open night
To zero point
Breathe the charge
Central channel
Current shoots
To zero point

Floating in black electric
Let the dream shine
Groundless, the panic comes
Don’t you go unconscious

Take the leap
Reach the shore
Cut through
Chained no more
Reach the farthest shore
Cut through
Chained no more

Gone far beyond
You’re gone far beyond

(About the song, Don says: “Black Electric is about experiencing the moment to moment unfolding of our lives as a transparent intensity, like space being on fire, rather than the ’safe’ world nestled in familiar concepts. ‘Floating in Black Electric’ is what happens when we stop protecting ourselves from illusions of creation, destruction, and separateness and instead experience the present moment as an intense, crackling, electric singularity.”)

For more from Deadly Light:

You can hear another track (also with lyrics), “Red as Blood” over at Shambhala SunSpace.

Or, follow Deadly Light on their website.

Thanks to my friend Sam DeWitt, who sent news of this video clip with the message “Here is Josh Korda (our teacher at NYC Dharma Punx) interviewed on CBS Doc Dot Com. America will never be the same!”

CBS’s own caption for the clip: “Dharma Punx in New York City mixes the tradition of Buddhism with the ideology of punk rock. Dr. Jon LaPook talks with teacher Josh Korda about how the seemingly different connect with the help of meditation.” Check out the video, after the jump. (more…)

The tattoo in question, via farm4.static.flickr.com

Sports site TSN reports that:

“English welterweight Dan (The Outlaw) Hardy’s stomach tattoo was airbrushed out of the UFC 111 fight poster because it is ‘anti-Chinese government stuff,’ according to UFC president Dana White.

‘”I’m trying to get into China,” he told fans at a question-and-answer session Tuesday. ‘I don’t need anti-Chinese government stuff on my fighters.’

“Hardy, however, says the tattoo — the fighter’s favourite — is a Tibetan Buddhist prayer written in Sanskrit.

‘”It’s basically just like a prayer for focus,’ Hardy said. ‘It keeps me walking the path that I should be walking without veering off and distracting myself.’

“Apprised of that explanation, White said: ‘That’s not what I heard.’

[...] “‘I heard that it was anti-Chinese government, so I ripped that thing off it. I’m not going to put him on a poster with anti-Chinese government writing on it when we’re trying to get into China. . . . I don’t know what this stuff means, so I’ve got to be safe.’

But, as the MMA site Bloody Elbow (nice name, that) points out:

“The tattoo is the well known Buddhist mantra “Om mani padme hum” which has no political significance in relation to China.”

Well, not quite no political significance.  While the tattoo isn’t an overt anti-China statement, China sure is sensitive to hearing about Tibetan Buddhism. Some, like Robert Thurman, would even go so far as to say that the Chinese government is trying ‘re trying to, um, airbrush it away.

Well, you knew this was going to happen. Last night’s episode of The Daily Show of course addressed Brit Hume’s comments about Buddhism’s inability to redeem Tiger Woods. Here’s the video of that, followed by video of Don Imus’s response, as well as Howard Stern’s comments.

And The Daily Show will not be alone; other “fundits” are sure to follow. Howard Stern, for his part, was incredulous this morning when discussing Hume’s comments about Buddhism: “This is unbelievable — this guy used to be impartial. [...] [Then, addressing Hume:] “Aren’t you supposed to be a network anchorman?”

Update: Radio host (and Stern nemesis) Don Imus has now weighed in, too. Imus had a pretty thoughtful go at it, and it’s worth noting that this aired on the FOX business channel:

Via AFP:

The Ryohoji temple, built in the late 16th century in a Tokyo suburb, erected a colourful manga-inspired sign at its entrance in June and has since seen visitor numbers perk up — especially young men.

But it went a step further at the weekend, setting up tents and opening up a temporary cafe staffed by bonnet-wearing girls sporting classic frills, one of the recent popular themes among fans of anime and costume role-playing. [...]

it seemed to work, the temple drawing hundreds of visitors on Saturday as the event coincided with a local autumn festival in Hachioji, on the western outskirts of Tokyo.

The Denver Daily News is reporting on the local premiere of “Mantra,” a new Buddhist horror film:

Mantra tells the story of a group of strangers who go to a remote cabin area in the woods for a meditation retreat. While a generous amount of nudity and gore ensues, the film also explores some heady philosophical concepts like love, desire and suffering.

[Filmmaker David] Wimer was inspired to write Mantra after attending a Buddhist retreat in India. He found that the meditations were “mind-altering, scary and weird,” and became enlightened on the connections between Buddhism — which focuses on desire and suffering — and horror films.

More here.