Slashdot Mirror
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?"
Three Zen Buddhist monks standing on a hill on a breezy day observe a prayer flag flapping in the wind.
The first monk says "Flag is moving."
The second monk says "Wind is moving."
The third monks cell-phone plays the crazy-frog ring-tone as he gets spam SMS'd by his provider.
All three monks fail to achieve enlightenment.
Actually, it depends on what tradition of Buddhism the practitioner follows, their personal path, his or her Guru or Teacher (if they have one), that guru's teaching style, and not least of all the individual's personality and life situation. I spent five years as a live-in volunteer at a Buddhist center where I practiced and received traditional training and met many Buddhists of many types, with and without cell phones; simple westerners that were ordained monks and Tibetan Rinpoches who drove Mercedes.
The idea that a Buddhist is some Vietnamese guy with saffron robes and a shaved head chanting "Ommm" all day is not quite in touch with reality. I am not directing this at you personally but at your posts blasé answer: I have found in my conversations that the majority of people who voice any opinion about Buddhism have gleaned their learning from pop culture and suffer greatly from the root cause of samsara: ignorance.
As a Jew, I am supposed to pray three times per day, so thanks to the collections of programs like these: (http://www.pilotyid.com/hebrew-texts.php) -- I now pray from my Treo. Beats carrying a book around with me. Except for Shabboth of course, when we are not allowed to use a phone. But I found that lots and lots of people are doing it, and hey -- just like the printing press invention revolutionized publication of religious literature around the world, from Bible to Koran and Talmud, the same way the technology revolutionizes an aspect of religion, that one hundred years from now we'll look at as a standard practice... And who knows what other inventions will revolutionize it farther?
It's a Chinese-made phone available in China and Hong Kong. Submitter should comprehend what s/he reads. CNET reporting CNET Japan reporting on a Chinese product does not make it a Japanese product or a Japanese launch.
Other Models On Deck If This One's a Success:
1. The Muslim Phone: All Voice Mail Self Destructs in 5 Seconds
2. The Catholic Phone: Reaches Out And Touches... small children.
3. The Jewish Phone: Features downloadable "whine-tones"
4. The Hindu Phone: Comes in only Bright Blue, but six different models, one for each hand.
5. The Wiccan Phone: You can't actually answer it, it just has one big "ignore" button
6. The Jehovah's Witness Phone: Can be programmed to also ring your doorbell.
7. The Mormon Phone: Comes in His and Hers... and Hers... and Hers... and also Hers sets.
OK, that's top of the head, low-hanging fruit... the rest are up to you...
"And why can't one take religious seriously and not be a violent extremist, or even a bigot?"
I don't know. Why?
Trust the Computer. The Computer is your friend.