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Buddha Buzz: The Game of Life

The number of English-language Buddhist board games in the world doubled in size in recent months, to an astounding . . . two! You now have your choice of rainy day dharma fun between BuddhaWheel and the recently unveiled Karma Chakra. Both feature attractive designs, with Tibetan mandalas making the logical conversion to playing fields, but with price tags of forty-five dollars for Karma Chakra and about eighty dollars for BuddhaWheel, you might want to consider dusting off that old Monopoly board one more time.

 

Nuddhism

Image 2: © IStockPhoto.com/Efenzi
IStockPhoto.com/Efenzi

Do you find it hard to get into the full lotus position while wearing constricting pants? Are you tired of having to look fashionable around the meditation hall? Well, the Skyclad

Zendo in Lutz, Florida has a solution for you: bare-bottomed Buddhism! The nudist Zen group meets Wednesdays and Sundays for sitting and walking meditation in the raw. Not surprisingly, attendees are advised to bring their own towels and cushions.

 

 

Artifact or Artifiction?

Image 3: © John R. Hart, The Union
John R. Hart, The Union

When Hermann Henry found hundreds of seemingly ancient Buddha heads in a river in Colfax, California, while panning for gold this winter, he didn’t wait for an explanation, trading the porcelain heads to a local shopkeeper for $3000 in gold, quartz, and cash. All the intrigue of any good antiquities scandal ensued: Federal agents swooped in (from the Bureau of Land Management) and seized the 230 miniature heads, Henry was thrown in jail (for unrelated charges), and an unlikely figure came forward to claim the booty (local art professor Casey O’Connor had made the heads himself, distributing them in several area rivers for people to find and enjoy).

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