Japan Launches 'Buddha Phone'

CNETNate writes "The Japanese Odin 99 handset isn't a regular video-enabled phone. It's geared, perhaps somewhat ironically, towards the Buddhist geek. Aside from regular cell phone features, a dedicated button loads a private, customizable, animated altar on the phone's screen. The idea is to allow Buddhists to perform their dedications conveniently on-the-go. You can simulate incense burning, purification rites and play music to help you meditate wherever you happen to be. The question is, does such a device somewhat negate the values a Buddhist would stand for?"

Comments

Umm...

[SCPRedMage]

The question is, does such a device somewhat negate the values a Buddhist would stand for?"

Yes.

Re:Umm...

[dave562]

+1.

My experience with Buddhism (Chan / Zen) has been that the intention behind the practices involves becoming mindful and living in the moment. One of the key aspects of the training involves sitting in meditation and just "being". It isn't that a person lights incense for the sake of lighting incense. They might incense so that they can focus on the incense and meditate on it as it burns.

I personally meditate on the train quite often. My Blackberry doesn't meditate for me. I do the meditating.

Buddhism is like any other religion. There are a lot of people who get so caught up in the rituals of the religion that they don't fully understand the underlying reason for doing the ritual in the first place. It's not like once you've lit your 10,000th stick of incense, some guy named Buddha appears before you, smacks you on the forehead to open up your third eye and then you're suddenly enlightened.

C&E

[merreborn]

I suppose this represents a form of religion no more watered down than that practiced by your average "christmas and easter christian" over here in the states.

The world is full of people who don't take their professed religions seriously.

Re:C&E

[ZigiSamblak]

The world is full of people who don't take their professed religions seriously.

Which seems preferable to a world full of religious extremists to me, but then I am an atheist.

Re:C&E

[JanneM]

"And why can't one take religious seriously and not be a violent extremist, or even a bigot?"

I don't know. Why?

Re:Not quite

[SCPRedMage]

If it helps any, I think that such crass commercialization negates pretty much any value system.

Re:Not quite

[Nutria]

it seems easier to me to sell snake oil and useless consumer junk to spiritual people than to more secular individuals but that's just a hunch

Considering that most geeks think of themselves as secular, and have (or aspire to have) iPhones, iPods, Androids, Crackberries, multitools and just about the whole ThinkGeek inventory, I'd say that it's an invalid hunch.

Re:Not quite

[F34nor]

The funny part about this is that Buddhism IS SECULAR. There is no debate here either. Buddha specifically said he knew nothing about god, the afterlife, or anything spiritual. All he figured out was why humans suffer on earth and how to eliminate suffering. Life is suffering, wanting things makes you suffer, to end suffering end desire, and don't be a dick. Where's god? Nowhere. Just because the Tibetans hybridized his teachings with tantric yoga or because Asians like to burn incense and build gold Buddhas has no impact on his teachings and philosophy.

Re:Not quite

[Simon Brooke]

Buddhism is not purely defined by what Buddha said. You cannot discount thousands of years of teaching and tradition as having "no impact".

The plain and simple fact is that the vast majority of Buddhists in the world today believe in spiritual things. Good luck convincing them that the religion they have followed all their lives is really a secular philosophy.

Well said. If Christians actually followed the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, the world would be a much better place. If Muslims actually followed the ethical code written down by Mohammed, the same applies. Every one of our great religious traditions (with the possible exception of Judaism) was founded by a great moral teacher with real and humane insights, and then corrupted into something almost diametrically opposite usually within the first couple of hundred years.