This could be a Zen question. Do you aim for the other cars or the space between the cars?
If “Buddhahood is defined as a state free of the obstructions to liberation,” this could be an avenue for self-enlightenment.
19 thoughts on “QUESTION OF THE DAY: WHAT DOES A BUDDHIST MONK DO ON A BUMPER CAR?”
Comments are closed.
He doesn’t need to become one with the bumper car; he already is the bumper car. No trying. Also, Buddhist nuns like bumper cars, too.
It is one thing to know and another thing to believe. Santa are you listening?
Tom,
I liked your story. It’s the answer to the koan “If laconic unintended irony happens in an interview and no one is around, will it make a noise?” I’m betting the reporter’s question/statement got a smile and maybe a chuckle from the monk.
Make fun of Buddhists all you want (I’m kidding and know you’re being light-hearted) but it’s worth pointing out that it’s the one religion one can joke about without worrying that a fundamentalist sect might seek revenge, isn’t it?
There are no “radical Buddhists” are there? They seem to practice, better than other religions from what I’ve seen, being kind to one another, which likely makes for bad bumper car drivers but great friends, in most cases.
IOW, what’s so funny about peace, love and understanding? Cheers!
According to the book “Zen and the Art of Driving a Bumper Car,” a Buddhist monk should keep the car staionary for a period of time, meditate, contemplate, and then let his intuition determine whether he should aim for other cars or the spaces between them.
Dredd:
and that is a bad thing in light of the emails from the CRU? Isn’t some more time needed to evaluate the veracity of the claims and to determine if there is fire where there appears to be smoke? Shouldn’t we proceed with caution prior to changing the way we do business, especially if this is more than a “tempest in a teapot”?
OT … just had to let some Canadians know …
It is claimed that the Canadian government has rebelled against environmentalism and is trying to sabotage the Copenhagen summit.
http://ecocosmology.blogspot.com/2009/12/new-judas-rising-north-of-america.html
Yep, in reality just about any Buddhist monk is going to bump into everyone around him as hard as possible – just like anyone else! Wheeee!
(My favorite quote about Buddhism came from the head of a temple in Chicago during an NPR interview. He rhetorically asked, “What’s the difference between Buddhists and non-Buddhists?” He then answered his own question, “non-Buddhists think there’s a difference.”)
Once in the car, I think he could go for it with relative gusto. It’s a safe(ish) game. Zen Buddhists are known to practice martial arts and bumper cars are less rough than some things one does to practice some martial arts techniques. Zen is very big in marital arts. As for playing aggressor or evader, that’s pure preference.
Dredd,
Beat me to it, darn you.
Exoticism aside: Get yelled at by the ride operator for breaking the safety rules.
AH,
You have mastered the essence of Buddhism. You have avoided the cane for now!
Question to be answered by our own Laughing Buddha…
Trick question.
The real question is what would a monk do IN the bumper car, not ON the bumper car.
He would suffer zen o phobia ON the bumper car but would experience zen o rama IN the bumper car.
He’s probably a novice, not an ordained monk. He may be testing his faith.
The cars are not real, just an illusion, so the monk can drive into anything he wants.
Maybe you don’t aim at at all–you just become one with the car and see where it takes you
A Buddhist would avoid peril.