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Thread: Zen/Buddhist brand names

  1. #1
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    Zen/Buddhist brand names

    This has been a pet peeve of mine for a while now. What is up with all these Zen/Buddhist products in the West? For example, check out Lucky Beer. I confess, the bottles are cool, but 'Enlightened Lager'? When is there going to be a Catholic Beer with bottles shaped like a crucifixion?


    What about Zen Floor Cleaner? I'd like to be able to get some Muslim Floor Cleaner please.


    How about the Zen High Chair from Fisher-Price?


    Are there Jew High Chairs? And of course, there's the Zen mp3 player, which is just perfect for long zazen sessions.





    I'm launching this thread in hopes that the rest of you will add to it with more odd Zen/Buddhist brand names.
    Gene Ching
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  2. #2
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    Psalms 144:1
    Praise be my Lord my Rock,
    He trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle !

  3. #3
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    For whoso comes amongst many shall one day find that no one man is by so far the mightiest of all.

  4. #4
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    Chan Buddhist brands...hmm... let me think....
    Here are the Trappist Monk beer brands though:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:De...trappisten.jpg

  5. #5
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    Trappist Ale is different

    That actually descends from a monastic tradition. I'm more interested in products that don't have any real connect to Zen/Buddhism.

    Like Zen dog beds


    or Zen magnets


    or Zen underwater Camera lenses.
    Gene Ching
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  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by Scott R. Brown View Post
    This is not a veiled request for compliments

    The short story is I did 325# for one set of 1 rep.

    1) Does this sound gifted, or just lucky?

  7. #7
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    Zen Crunch?

    http://fooducopia.com/257-zen-rabbit-baking-company

    and Gratitude Cookies.

    Of course, you will also need a Zen Coaster/bottle opener:

    http://www.porreda.com/acatalog/Zen_...le_Opener.html
    Last edited by Sima Rong; 10-02-2012 at 05:49 PM.

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by GeneChing View Post
    When is there going to be a Catholic Beer with bottles shaped like a crucifixion?


    Close enough...

  9. #9
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    Good one, Bacon

    You too, s_r, but I still think the milofo beer bottle takes it to another level.

    Of course, there's the Buddha Lounge in SF Chinatown (Grant & Washington). It's a legendary dive bar, so much so that they don't need no stinkin' website. I remembered this because I just looked up Buddha Bar, which I saw at a store last night. Here's the Buddha Bar, and it keeps strange company.


    In all fairness, the same company also make a Last Supper Bar


    and a Priest Rabbi Penguin Bar.


    Also check this out:
    Buddhists outraged at Buddha's images on shoes
    PTI Aug 2, 2012

    WASHINGTON, USA -- The Tibetan and the Buddhist community are outraged at a California-based company for promoting a range of shoes with the Lord Buddha's images.

    Tibetans and Bhutanese Buddhists have written to the company, Icon Shoes, to express their disgust. They have flooded the company's Facebook page with protest notes.

    "Unfortunately, it is a basic Buddhist tradition to treat images of Buddhist deities with reverence. Having the images on shoes is disrespect to the Buddhists," wrote Bhuchung Tsering form International Campaign for Tibet.

    "Could you kindly consider this and withdraw the shoes from your catalogue," the Tibetan leader demanded.

    The North American member of the Tibetan Parliament, Tashi Namgyal, wrote a protest letter to Icon Shoe.

    "I came across shoes with image of Lord Buddha on it, manufactured by your company. I was totally shocked and dismayed at being so insensitive," wrote Namgyal.

    "Lord Buddha is worshiped by millions of people around the world including the writer of this letter... Therefore, I would like to strongly urge your company to recall every merchandise sold with Buddha's image and stop not only selling such merchandises but manufacture of such products. Above all, I want you to tender unqualified apology posted on your website," Tashi demanded.

    Based out of Palm Desert, California, ICON was launched in 1999 by a Hollywood filmmaker and art collector.

    "Icon is for the art lover and the woman who loves shoes and handbags. We support artists by paying royalty for the use of their art," the company says on its Facebook page.

    "I really think you should stop manufacturing the shoes with Buddha's imprint... it is totally against Buddhist sentiment," wrote one Tshewant Gyeltshen on the company's Facebook page.

    "I am Buddhist. Your idea of putting Lord Buddha's image on footwear is unethical," said one Yoezer Gempo.

    "Why do they have to put Lord Buddha's image on shoes? Among Buddhist we don't even let our shadow fall on His image. It cannot be ignorance since they had the guts to run a company and even call the pattern 'Thangka of the Buddha'," wrote an angry Passang Tshering on his blog.
    I should note that despite being Buddhist, I don't find these that offensive. True, I said it is a "pet peeve" but it's really more amusing to me personally.
    Gene Ching
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  10. #10

    The Buddha Lounge!

    Of course, there's the Buddha Lounge in SF Chinatown (Grant & Washington). It's a legendary dive bar, so much so that they don't need no stinkin' website.
    I got hammered there once without even realizing what it was. Me and my brother-in-law were wandering around looking for a bar, both already a little buzzed from a family dinner. We stumbled in there and got good and plastered. It wasn't until I re-visited Chinatown with my girl that I realized the place was called Buddha Lounge. I couldn't help myself, I just started laughing.

    The bartender was awesome. Nice guy and generous with the drinks. Don't remember his name (shocker).

    I always call the place "Buddha Bar", though.

  11. #11
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    That lucky beer bottle is AWESOME. I want to buy that for the bottle alone, I don't care what it tastes like.

  12. #12
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    For whoso comes amongst many shall one day find that no one man is by so far the mightiest of all.

  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by GeneChing View Post
    What about Zen Floor Cleaner?
    well, on one hand, this isn't too far off the mark - I mean, Ch'an is all about seeing suchness for what it is, so the idea of cleaning the mind isn't inconsistent - in the Hui Neng Sutra, a monk writes the poem about the ind being a mirror without a speck of dust upon it;

    of course, OTOH, Hui Neng then responds to the poem that there is no dust, no mirror; indeed, not a single thing can be said to exist; which would suggest that there is nothing to clean; making the point of cleaning fluid moot;

    Zen Cleaner checkmates itself!

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by GeneChing View Post
    I should note that despite being Buddhist, I don't find these that offensive. True, I said it is a "pet peeve" but it's really more amusing to me personally.
    getting offended at this sort of thing as a Buddhist would, to me, demonstrate a profound lack of understanding of the Buddha's teachings at a fundamental level; heck, some Ch'an people woud be like, "why isn't the Buddha's pic on the sole of the shoe?"

  15. #15
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    Haaa. Good one Lucas!

    I hear what you're saying tgy, but it is a slippery slope, one that often causes nibbler Buddhists to get deluded. Firstly, there are many sects of Buddhism that don't adhere to the Chan take at all. The most dominant faction in China is probably Pure Land, and they can be a lot like Born Again Christians except that they swap the power of prayer with chant. They would be as ****ed off about Buddha on a shoe as Muslims would be if Mohammed was on a shoe.

    But more to the point, it gets back the the ol' Shaolin sausage problem. The abbot was right to shut down the sale of Shaolin sausage. My only regret there was that I didn't save a Shaolin sausage label, for posterity's sake. I ate one before they were banned and back when I was eating meat sausage. It was nasty...like a Vienna sausage but longer with more nitrates and MSG.

    But I digress. Despite the mirror/no mirror view in Chan, you must draw the line somewhere. Some practitioners use that argument to defend their carnivorousness. I have heard of one who used it to defend his bestiality. Others might use it to defend their pedophilia. There must be a line somewhere.

    Meanwhile, here's another Buddha Bar. I wonder if there are any Buddha Butchers. I found a Buddha Butter dish.

    Gene Ching
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