Number 10: There is apparently a site cataloging what they like to call "Dharma Burgers," without, it seems, recognizing that they, themselves, are a "Dharma Burger."
Number 9: There are practicing Buddhists in Bhutan who think the guys at "Smackdown" are for real.
Number 8: There are practicing Buddhists in England who think the guys at Pathgate are for real.
Number 7: The Kali Yuga officially began on January 23, 3102 BCE, and is scheduled to last for either 2,000 or 432,000 years: nobody can agree which is which.
Number 5: And now see here.
Number 4: Mickey Buddha.
Number 3: The Jerry Springer Show.
Number 2: The Buddhist counterpart to the Jerry Springer Show.
Number 1: Brooklyn hairdresser and "singer songwriter": Alyce Zeoli
Well done.
ReplyDeleteSome say that Kali Yuga has not yet begun... and that things will go downhill when it begins. Maybe people will look back on the KPC days with Alyce Zeoli living like a fat mandarin as "the good old days", which is certainly true if we are in Dwapara Yuga.
ReplyDeleteHate to tell you, but the Horse is well aware that it's a Dharma-Burger. How could it not be?
ReplyDeleteBTW: I've posted a thank-you of sorts for the distinction:
ReplyDeletehttp://theworsthorse.com/2009/04/its-official-the-worst-horse-a-sign-that-weve-entered-the-age-of-vice/
Keep it up.
So, being aware that it's a Dharma Burger, do we here have a case of publishing with intent to Dharma Burger? That's irony isn't it? Isn't there a prophecy about that somewhere? "When irony flies through the air and is read by men..." Something like that?
ReplyDeleteThanks for being good sports.
Best wishes to you.
I'll just say that I think a self-aware Dharma-Burger is a healthier option.
ReplyDeleteThat, and: I'm not documenting Dharma-Burgers to capitalize on them; I've been just blogging away on this stuff for a few years now because it's fascinating to me. NOT because I want to coerce people into picking up crap at Target.
It's fun -- a useful way to look at how to be a practitioner in a world that so often wants to reduce the energy of practice into the act of consuming.
Nicely put, Rod, and we could not agree with you more.
ReplyDeleteThe "consuming as substitute for practice" thing hits pretty hard all over the world, has been ever thus, and it is certainly not confined to Buddhism either. Ever hear of selling indulgences?
Man oh man... if we ever got cut-rate karma clearance going...
Personally speaking, I'm actually in favor of even more trinkets and product endorsements -- we have to keep up with the Catholics, after all -- and it is good for the economy of small villages in the Himalayas. Helps them "go green" and all that.
Psst... got a genuine Kalachakra watch. Wanna' see it?
Anyone watch the Youtube of the third "Dorje Chang"? Looks like the latest incarnation of Michael Jackson - too much plastic surgery and a bad wig. Can things get any worse?
ReplyDeleteRe: 5 & 6
ReplyDeleteI think the heads of the 4 schools should start recognizing people as certifiably insane, with very large certificates with lots of seals. How do people this loopy get taken seriously?
The top ten has developed a bit of linkrot. Damned impermanence, at it again.....
ReplyDelete