…and no, not just because the figure portrayed here is actually Hotei and not the historical Buddha. (A common mistake.) It’s more because…. well, see for yourself.

The Local East Village has just published a new interview with Dharma Punx’ Josh Korda.

Hey, any meditation teacher who loves Mastodon and the Wu-Tang Clan is my kinda meditation teacher.

Check out the interview here.

And thanks to the mighty Sam DeWitt for the heads-up on this one.

That was playful title of the email just received from reader Alex Gillette, sent to bring our attention to this item from Buzzfeed, Religious Stereotypes Venn Diagram According To Google. Check it out. (Link opens in new window.)

Those who enjoy writing (and Dharma-Burgers) may want to know that OmmWriter Dana, for Mac, is now available. What is it?

OmmWriter is a simple text processor that firmly believes in making writing a pleasure once again, vindicating the close relationship between writer and paper. The more intimate the relation, the smoother the flow of inspiration.

And why that name? As the OmmWriter site’s “Frequently Meditated Questions” page says:

Dāna is a Sanskrit and Pali word meaning giving. Sometimes it is also referred to as the practice of cultivating generosity. [...] After having created something so valuable, we figured that OmmWriter was just too good to keep to ourselves. Hence the name OmmWriter Dāna.

Yes, it’s free. Check out a video demo of OmmWriter here.

Fans of the Horse’s “Altar Madness” posts — where readers submit photos and explanations of their personal Buddhist altars — REALLY should see Altar-Bot:

This is serious!

That’s right. There’s a FAIL of the “Things That Are Doing It” variety over on FAILBlog. Click here to see it. (Though I have to say, I’ve seen better.

(Wait, that came out so wrong….)

From a new Huff Post interview with Mickey Hart (a “rhythm master” if ever there was one):

Mickey, what is an issue that’s bugging you?

Well, it’s about the rhythm of things. If you look around at the Gulf, North Korea, or Iran, it’s a rhythmic thing I see. We’re out of rhythm with the world. It’s a rhythmic universe, and nature is very efficient and likes to be in rhythm because it’s most efficient. When you break that rhythm and come between it, you have arrhythmic events and it will destroy, it will not build. It will decompose as opposed to compose. Saying the world has gone mad is not a proper way of saying it, but I look at it as the world has gone out of rhythm. If you look at it in rhythmic terms, it’s much more explainable. It’s gone out of rhythm, and we’re not in rhythm with it, and that’s the problem we have in all of these hot spots and these scary places with the Islamic militant views and the extremist religious views. All you have to do is tune into the Dalai Lama, who is about the opposite of that. Now, that’s a rhythm master. That guy is really in tune with things. So, we need to be listening to more of that, and we need to be thinking of things in terms of getting along in rhythm, and being efficient and flowing, and being more aware of our surroundings. When I look at the news, in total, that’s what I think of.

Read the rest of it here.

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.

Who wins?

See the whole comic strip here, via Ty Templeton, whose blog is a must if you like comics. (The recurring “Moments of Zen” — not about dharma; rather, they’re like the “Moments of Zen” from The Daily Show, but about comics — are a riot.)

If you dig this blog, I think you’ll be interested to see my newest post for Shambhala SunSpace,  Stephen Prothero and the Dalai Lama: Just who’s “wrong” here?

Of course, I may very well be wrong about that.