Thanks to regular reader and Horse-friend Weasel Tracks for letting us know about this one. It's a poster for "Zen Smoke" rolling papers.

Its caption (not seen here) reads, "The Zen Experience." Indeed.

To learn how rolling a blunt and ponderously spacing out might fit into your practice, you can visit the Zen Smoke site, here.

Reader Anarchobodhi sends this shot of this bottle of dietary supplements called, yes, "Fully Empowered Zen."

(Insert lame side effects-joke here.)

Reader Konchog Norbu writes:

Please don't ponder too much what a Buddhist monk was doing at Go Fug Yourself (it's cuz the writing is very, very funny, swear). But tonight I was brought to a jaw-dropping halt. This garment sported by Bebe Neuwirth should earn a spot on your site somewhere. Not sure where, but you're smart fellers.

Don't worry, Konchog. We understand. We read GFY too. And frankly, we're not sure we made the right move in putting this shot of Bebe here. Just how much of a Dharma-Burger is this?

It might be worth considering that cost could be the deciding factor. We'd like to think Bebe paid about a Benjamin or less for this dress, at some indy boutique. But if she paid thousands, as so many celebrities do for their Big Night clothing, then we're calling Burger.

You've probably seen this one around, or at least one of its many incarnations.

One reads, "Buddha is my OM boy." (Get it? Get it?)

Anyway, this is a knock-off of several similarly-themed shirts, which, far as we know, started with "Jesus is my Homeboy."

Either way: Ugh.

Buddha Bash shirt by Abercombie and Fitch

This one helped spark at least a couple of protests. See "Artfulbigotry and Kitsch," for an example.

Seems that Abercombie and Fitch, purveyors of Gen-Y clothing (and borderline porno, in their catalogs and displays) really know how to piss people off. 

While this shirt seems pretty innocuous, quite a few others have made headlines.

"Get your Buddha on the floor." (Get it? Get it???)

"Zen Librarian" shirt.

More t-shirt corniness, but hey: sometimes corny's okay.

It says: "The Zen Librarian searched for nothing on the Web and got 327, 465, 357 hits."

An odd one, yeah, but if you were a librarian and into Zen, wouldn't you have to have it?

A tour shirt for the Dave Matthews Band.

Having never heard anything about Matthews being a Dharma-practitioner, we're gonna go out on a limb here and guess that this is a different kind of "Buddha" being alluded to here.

Or maybe all that smoke at their shows is just incense.

Right.

From Perspicuity.com

This is one of many clever one-panel cartoons (available on t-shirts) by one Craig Swanson.

The "M.A.T." questions depicted include a few famous Zen koans ("What is the sound of one hand clapping?" "Show your original face.")

Josh Bartok, friend of the Horse (as well as a young Dharma teacher and former monastic) has this shirt, and wears it well. Josh also, somewhat unwittingly, helped to give this section of the Horse its name.

. . . Yet, some people ask, "Does humor belong in Buddhism?"

Lama Zopa "Many Faces"shirt.

Devotees of Lama Zopa Rinpoche, head of the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition, might like to know about the availability of this shirt. Its art is made up of sketches he's done.

The front says:
What is better than
boddhicita in the life
I am filled up with bliss.

The back:
Live with COMPASSION
Work with COMPASSION
Die with COMPASSION
Meditate with COMPASSION
Enjoy with COMPASSION
When problems come,
Experience them with COMPASSION

"Zen Cat" shirt from Northern Sun

Just a little silliness.

Okay, it's funny.

But do you really want to wear a shirt depicting cat-crap, no matter how artfully?

"Buddha Rock" teeshirt design by Graphic Airlines.
Available from Owl Movement

Once again, the Buddha is depicted making "the sign of the horns," usually associated with rock and roll in general, and heavy metal in particular.

See our first year of Dharma-Burgers for more examples.

"Zen Holes" shirt

This odd little number, out of context, is a bit of a mystery.

But when you know what it's for, it's kinda cool:

It's found on the Cafe Press store for "Shakuhachi Blog," a site for enthusiasts of Zen flute-playing. The dots pictured are, of course, meant to mimick the holes on a shakuhachi flute.

If t-shirts are meant to start conversations, then this one's a winner.

And then there's this one, which we guess is meant not to start conversations, but to keep them from starting. It too is a Cafe Press store shirt -- unfortunately, we can't provide the link, 'cause we can't find it anymore.

Tell you this, though: just the image of this thoroughly rude shirt keeps making us laugh out loud. For some reason.

Another famous superhero has been killed off. 

Don't expect "Cap" to be back anytime soon; Marvel Comics has declared the character to be, in their words, "very, very dead."

In recognition of his "passing," we bring you the cover of issue #35 of the comic.

Note the, ahem, compassionate rendering of the statue of the Awakened One found in the lair of America's foes.

You might recognize this shot; it was our homepage's "cover image" for a little bit.

In it, senior Zen priest Kobutsu Malone-Osho shares his feelings on "Zen" brand green tea. He writes:

"[The pic] was taken in the parking lot in front of a Chinese Mahayana Temple in Kuala Lumpur. That sign was facing the temple entry directly parallel, about 60 yards in front of the steps. We were on pilgrimage to the temple (which was pretty much a tourist trap, a cellar full of Buddhist Chatchka stalls). We saw the sign and couldn't resist taking a couple of shots."

Thanks for sending, Venerable Kobutsu.

Maybe you've read our short review of the wonderful little FM3 Buddha Machine. It has rightfully earned quite a lot of press.

We're happy to share some new, first-hand thoughts on the Machine, sent in from Horse reader Arielle:

For what it's worth, your website makes me really happy. Also, for what it's worth, I have some more insight into the FM3 Buddha Machine. In my sangha, which is a Chinese Buddhist monastery, these little chanting boxes are left in the rooms that hold the urns of dead sangha members. Urns are left there for a period of time after cremation before being moved out to the wall of urns at the "cemetery" in another part of the monastery. I was informed by a monk once that these machines are left playing out of respect for the dead, to keep them company. Aparently it's rude to leave them in silence. Keep being awesome!

You too, Arielle, and thanks for this extra info on the Machine.

HSBC ad detail, March 2007.

Reader Ellen, who signs off as "repping the ID project in NYC," sends this Burger and commentary:

this ad campaign for HSBC bank, "Your Point of View," has been around for a couple of months now.

Two (probably stock) photos are shown superimposed with two words - a pair of opposites - then the words are reversed. The tag is "your point of view."

Water in a glass is luxury, tap water is a commodity. Water in a glass is a commodity, water from tap is luxury. Papaya is good, cake is bad; papaya is bad, cake is good.

to me it is a subtle play on the buddhist idea of emptiness -- reality is empty til we put our concepts on it.

and I think it is is rather funny that emptiness is used to sell a bank. I mean, I really don't want to think of my bank as empty, do I?

Thanks, Ellen!

We've included this airline, Buddha Air, in the "merch" sections of the Encyclopedic Links on our homepage. But we never knew anyone who flew this airline. Thankfully, Horse reader Michel  has, and sent this brief report:

This is no joke, I did fly on Buddha Air, from Khatmandu to Pokara, Nepal, and had a very pleasant flight. Old Samsara can be very pleasant, sometimes.

This was in the year 2000, I wonder how it is these days?

If anyone else has flown Buddha Air lately, let us know.