[Buddha-l] Yogi with a cell phone

[Richard Hayes]

On Tuesday 20 February 2007 01:28, Espen S. Ore wrote:

> Once in a Thai temple here in Norway during recitation the local monk's
> phone started to ring (in silent mode, just vibrating beside him). Later
> that day i was driving a Tibetan lama when his phone started to ring,
> the ring tune was a voice saying "Ring ring, ring ring".

If only the lama had known about buddhism.about.com. One of the nifty products 
advertised there is a full complement of Buddhist ring tones. (I joke not.)

Not being a cell phone user, I barely know what a ring tone is, but I'm 
guessing that's the noise I hear coming out of red-faced students' purses or 
backpacks in the middle of class. It's usually a few bars of hip-hop music 
(I'm showing off the fact that this past weekend I learned what hip-hop is) 
or the sound of a NASCAR racer crashing into a wall or something like that. 
(I'm also showing off that I learned what NASCAR is a few minutes ago).

Speaking of NASCAR, and it's connection to Buddhism, NPR has a story about a 
woman explaining why she thinks a dead racing car driver named Dale 
Earnhardt, alias "The Intimidater", was the Buddha. It's a touching story 
that I'm sure you'll all want to hear. (Have a box of tissues handy to wipe 
away the tears.) The story's at
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7480119

Anybody have a calendar handy? When is mappo scheduled to end?

-- 
Richard P. Hayes
Department of Philosophy
University of New Mexico
http://www.unm.edu/~rhayes