\nHis piece presented an intriguing argument for branding and
\npopularizing Buddhism in order to make the Buddha’s valuable teachings
\navailable for everyone. Inspired by Jerry’s title, I’ve been thinking
\nabout the ways Buddhist terms or ideas already show up in popular
\nbrands sold everywhere and what, if anything, these brands mean to
\nthose of us who call ourselves “Buddhists.”<\/p>\n
What message In most cases, I by Evelyn Cash A few weeks ago, Jerry Kolber wrote an article on this blog about the Branding of Buddhism. His piece presented an intriguing argument for branding and popularizing Buddhism in order to make the Buddha’s valuable teachings available for everyone. Inspired by Jerry’s title, I’ve been thinking about the ways Buddhist terms or…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":205,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-828","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-buddhism"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"\/DOCUME%7E1\/EVELYN%7E1\/LOCALS%7E1\/Temp\/moz-screenshot.jpg\")
![\"zen-plus.jpg\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/124\/import\/assets_c\/2009\/09\/zen-plus-thumb-234x341-8084.jpg\")
<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n
\nFrom
\nmy little knothole, it seems like the most branded Buddhist term out
\nthere is Zen. Most mornings at work, I grab my mug and head to the
\nbreak room for hot water to steep my Tazo Zen tea (their website<\/a>
\nis and example of what I’m talking about and features links such as “Be
\nEnlightened” and “Enlighten Us”). Before I finally broke down and
\nbought an iPod, my MP3 player of choice was the Creative Zen V<\/a>. And for those of you who watch the Daily Show, you already know Jon Stewarts famous send off: “here it is, your moment of Zen.<\/a>”
\nThere are many many more examples of this sort of “Pop Buddhism” that
\ncome to mind once you stop to think about it (I just remembered that
\nPinesol commercial with the guy meditating<\/a>
\nand floating off the ground). You can go to the store and pick up a
\nMandala card coloring set (which I own by the way and actually enjoyed)
\nand grab a mini-Zen rock garden on your way out.<\/p>\n
\nare these marketers trying to send when they label their products with
\nBuddhist terms or when they design products modeled after aspects
\nBuddhist practice? You would never see Tazo Presbryterian tea or a
\nCreative Catholic MP3 player. Maybe it’s just the allure and “mystery”
\nof the East or maybe it’s just one more piece of evidence for Jerry to
\nadd to his argument against Buddhism as a religion (if it’s a tea, it
\ncan’t be a religion.. right?). The truth is, I don’t know why
\nmarketers use Buddhist language to sell their products and as a
\npracticing Buddhist it doesn’t really bother or offend me anyway. I
\ndo, however, wonder how people who know nothing about Buddhism view
\nthese types of products. Before high school, I knew next to nothing
\nabout Buddhism but I don’t really remember noticing or thinking much
\nabout these types of things. Nowadays, when I see people perusing the
\ndiscount section in Barnes and Noble and picking up that Mandala card
\nset, I do wonder what they are thinking. <\/p>\n
\ndon’t think these Pop Buddhist products are doing much harm. In
\ngeneral, these products are neither postive nor negative reflections of
\nactual Buddhist practice. More often than not, they have nothing to do
\nwith Buddhism or Zen at all (the MP3 player comes back to mind). If
\nanything, some of them may inspire the random curious individual to do
\na
\nlittle research and find out more about meditation and Buddhism. On
\nthe other hand – and mostly in relation to the prevelance of the word
\n“Zen” for everything from yarn<\/a> to project management<\/a>
\n– I do hope that this phenomena doesn’t give people the wrong idea of
\nwhat Zen is. I know from my own experience that when I tell someone
\nI’m a “Zen Buddhist” I do tend to get a quizzical look that either says,
\n“yeah right” or “so you basically do nothing?” I tend to think that
\nthese products make Zen seem like a very esoteric, “empty mind” yet
\nvery cool approach to life. For me, Zen has been a much deeper spiritual practice and philosophy than these products seem to give it credit for. Then again, maybe that’s exactly what Zen
\nis and the marketers have got it right and they’re selling it. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"