August 14, 2023

"I walk in the forest. I try to count 10,000 steps to be healthy at 77 years old. I don’t do many interviews anymore..."

Said Matthieu Ricard, asked “Why do you have an Apple Watch?," quoted in "The ‘World’s Happiest Man’ Shares His Three Rules for Life" (NYT).

ADDED: This post was garbled most of the day. And linkless. Sorry. Fixed. I was without a connection the whole time.

28 comments:

RideSpaceMountain said...

Stories like this consistently remind me of the scene in Spielberg's "A.I." where they go to the City of Pleasure and Vice, and there's a small Christian chapel on the main drag sandwiched between a strip club and a brothel. The chapel is there, but it's digitized. In the future all religions will be digitized, with little holographic buddhas and pre-programmed zen koans reciting endlessly on a mandala that you initiate with the touch of your finger.

Religions will be the definition of the lights being on but no one's home. In the future, only computers will have the spiritual stamina to occupy the eternal spaces that used to be reserved for actual souls. No humans need apply.

Ampersand said...

A substantial portion of NYT journalism is well done. Nevertheless, I can't bring myself to pay for it, as any money given to the NYT subsidizes the destruction of my country.
My tax dollars already involuntarily subsidize the NYT, via my city's library system, which pays to allow me to go online and get a free three day pass. Anyone who feels as I do about the NYT should check out their library's digital access options.
I prefer this approach to the paywall circumvention options.

Randomizer said...

We expect more from our Buddhist monks.

The 10,000 steps goal was a marketing gimmick made up for the 1984 Olympic Games in Tokyo. There are a bunch of Buddhist temples in Japan, so you'd think he'd know that.

If a Buddhist monk did intend to do 10,000 steps per day, shouldn't he be counting each step in an awesome display of mindfulness?

It's not universal, but Buddhist temples are famous for having a million steps to get up to a little shrine. He just work at one of those.

gspencer said...

Q. "Why does a Buddhist monk need an Apple Watch?"

A. To let him know how long he's been in Nirvana.

Sebastian said...

Rule #1: don't live by rules.

tim maguire said...

Why does a Buddhist monk have an Apple watch? There are far cheaper watches that count steps just as well. Plus it's not that hard to walk 10,000 steps. If he does his forest walk, he gets his steps in. That's free.

Spiros Pappas said...

The old ass monks on Mount Athos are also tough dudes.

Saint Croix said...

I don't know who he is, but I bet I'm happier than he is.

Ricard was lightly dubbed “the happiest man alive,” after neuroscientists at the University of Wisconsin scanned his brain during meditation and found the highest capacity for happiness ever recorded.

They should scan my brain during one of my big orgasms!

Saint Croix said...

I would also bet that children are happier than 77 year old people.

And puppies are happier than children.

Leland said...

Doing 40 push-ups a day is healthier, takes less time, takes less space, easier to count, and Apple Watch can’t count the reps, so you won’t need one.

The reality is the monk is phubbing society yet is decent enough to do it in the forest.

Narr said...

Does a Buddhist monk shit in the woods?

Kevin said...

“Why do you have an Apple Watch?”

That's anti-monkist.

He's a monkiphobe.

Scott said...

I do more than 20000 steps a day - most in the forest. It will make you happier!

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

A young man left his Apple Watch in the car and never called back to arrange retrieval. (I have no way of contacting pax once the ride is recorded as over)

Off the top of my head, I can’t think of any life experience that prepared me for such display of aloofness.

Whiskeybum said...

Why? For the same reasons anyone else might want an Apple Watch. He's a Buddhist, not Amish.

Sally327 said...

I thought that headline was a quote from Althouse herself. And I thought, when did she ever do that many interviews? W

Chest Rockwell said...

Missing link!

typingtalker said...

“Why do you have an Apple Watch?”

"Apple Watch? Oh, this. It's just a pedometer. My friend gave it to me when he got a new one. It's very accurate."

"Apple Watch? It's just for decoration ... jewelry. The battery ran down and I never got around to replacing it."

"Apple Watch? I liked the band. I have several and I usually wear one that matches my outfit."

"Apple Watch? I keep losing my phone and the watch has this cute Find Devices function that probably saves me an hour a day looking for it."

"Apple Watch? I have a cardiac arrythmia and the watch is a lot cheaper and easier to use than a Holter Monitor. And it tells time too."

mikee said...

Three rules. Seems a bit excessive. Could we pick and choose to apply just one or maybe two and still be almost the happiest person in the world?

Oligonicella said...

"World's Happiest Man", "The Noble Savage", "Biden Doesn't Suffer Dementia", etc.

All cliches about fantasies.

Pete the Streak said...

Sigh.
I used to enjoy checking this blog a few times a day to see what the knowledgeable commentariat had to say.
Not sure what’s going on, but nearly 7pm, and still nothing moderated.
Oh well - probably just easier to make this stop my last one. If I remember.

Nancy Reyes said...

world's happiest man?

Iman said...

A much better way for a monk than being a meth monk.

No joke!

Iman said...

… und Weiss ist scheisse.

Narr said...

I agree with Pete the Sttreak--I hope the schedule of comment dumps hasn't changed to allow only one, and that relatively late.

MikeD said...

C'mon guys, AA informed us she wasn't connected for most of the day, probably similar to my first day"cold turkey" vis a vis cessation of smoking. Now, if only she can at least cut back on her swims in the sewer of Acela Corridor media.

MalaiseLongue said...

This guy sounds like a judgmental, condescending tool.

MadisonMan said...

As far as linkless goes, I think most commenters -- most -- can probably figure things out.
I'm not sure if that's a good enough reason for me (a not-77-yo) to buy an apple watch. Just walk a similar path daily. Or one of many different paths, for variety.