Slate.com received a copy of a training document handed out to Free Tibet supporters to refer to when they go to baseball games to protest the Beijing Olympics of 2008.
The manual instructs protesters to interact "respectfully" with excitable baseball fans (Page 6): "Most of us … have been confronted with someone who seems to be perpetually negative … here are eight ways to deal." Rudeness in the bleachers? "[I]nstead of zinging off the first thing that comes to mind … count saliently to ten … step back mentally and create some space between you and your angry/negative person" (Page 6).
Just try that at Fenway Park the next time the Yankees are in town. Good luck with that.
Did I ever you tell you I was a Buddhist? No? Well then.
Buddhists get a bad rap. We're thought of as calm, silent types who don't get too excited. To that impression, I beg to differ. Anyone who has seen me at a Dodger Thoughts night would have a heckuva time pegging me for a Buddhist. We're a peaceful folk but that doesn't mean we're weird. My former meditation teacher was a madcap 49ers fan. He literally believed that the cosmos was organized around
a) Buddha
b) Joe Montana
c) Jerry Rice
d) Some Buddhist deity that I can't remember.
He would go nuts at football games, go to a sports bar and make a ton of noise, shouting out advice to the television screen... I liked him because that's what I do.
Look, we Buddhists are good-natured folk. But if a guy stands up in front of me to stretch for a long period of time at a Dodger game, I'll take a deep breath so I have enough air to say "Sit down!" loud enough for him to hear.
Buddhists get a bad rap. We're thought of as calm, silent types who don't get too excited. To that impression, I beg to differ. Anyone who has seen me at a Dodger Thoughts night would have a heckuva time pegging me for a Buddhist. We're a peaceful folk but that doesn't mean we're weird. My former meditation teacher was a madcap 49ers fan. He literally believed that the cosmos was organized around
a) Buddha
b) Joe Montana
c) Jerry Rice
d) Some Buddhist deity that I can't remember.
He would go nuts at football games, go to a sports bar and make a ton of noise, shouting out advice to the television screen... I liked him because that's what I do.
Look, we Buddhists are good-natured folk. But if a guy stands up in front of me to stretch for a long period of time at a Dodger game, I'll take a deep breath so I have enough air to say "Sit down!" loud enough for him to hear.
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