I started this site after seeing how many references to Zen appear in pop culture, and especially in commercial products. Zen Buddhism began in China in the sixth to seventh centuries, and spread throughout East Asia, where it remains one of the most popular forms of Buddhism to the present. Products that use the name “Zen” do not reference this history. Instead, they reflect a very recent understanding of the term Zen that equates it with a sense of calm detachment. The goal of this site is not to mock products with Zen labels, or demarcate authentic vs. inauthentic forms of Zen, but to catalogue the vast array of such products and examine what they say about (primarily American) understandings of Zen. I aim to contextualize the products within Zen history in both the United States and Asia. Like yoga, Zen is a religious tradition that modern people have separated from its religious roots and applied to practices and products without concern for its history. I am interested in what is at stake in these cultural appropriations. Why “Zen” yarn, and not “Presbyterian” yarn? I am grateful to my students in the Zen Buddhism course at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, for bringing many of these items to my attention, and I hope to involve future versions of the course in this site.
Hi Megan. Thank you for your eye to popular culture’s use of “Zen.” One other place you might look is web-radio—a lot of “Zen” there. Best, Richard Payne
Richard, thanks for the suggestion! I’ll see what I can find on web radio.
http://www.asus.com/zenbook/it