Well, since it uses 'Enlightenment' as a WM it makes sense.

I'll tell you what, as an Atheist, if any Christians want to name their next bible reading app Secular Humanism v3.0 it'll be fine with me.

I haven't seen anything that suggests the Enlightenment WM is named after the Buddhist concept. The Bodhi distro could easily be called Locke or Descartes if you consider that the WM could be named after the age of enlightenment in Western philosophy instead.

And if it is named after the Buddhist concept, then my question still stands: why can the names of significant concepts from other cultures be appropriated and applied to utterly mundane notions like software packages and OSes?

How is this different than when people who know zero Japanese or Chinese get tattoos of CJK characters -- I think most people can see how that is an example of shallow fetishization of a culture, appropriating superficial symbols and detaching them from the significant context and value that they are assigned in other cultures.

If it's a serious comment, witness the sibling to your comment where a person thought that the only significance of "Bodhi" is the name of a character from a movie.

The other comment was a joke, and I think you're taking this way too seriously. Software does naming like this all the time: "Gee, our WM is called 'Enlightenment'? What words related to that concept can we use?" It doesn't matter which "enlightenment" the WM is referring to, as that's the nature of word play.

Why does it matter that this distro is named Bodhi? It's just a word.

>And if it is named after the Buddhist concept, then my question still stands: why can the names of significant concepts from other cultures be appropriated and applied to utterly mundane notions like software packages and OSes?

Why can they do this? Because there's no one stopping them. It's some text on a website.

> How is this different than when people who know zero Japanese or Chinese get tattoos of CJK characters -- I think most people can see how that is an example of shallow fetishization of a culture, appropriating superficial symbols and detaching them from the significant context and value that they are assigned in other cultures.

It's not different. And neither are a big deal. I don't see what's shallow about it: "I like the way this character looks (and perhaps like what it means) so I'll use it." You think it's shallow, but how deep does aesthetic desire need to be to be valid? The culture police aren't going to come and arrest someone for appropriating a concept.

> And neither are a big deal.

To you. You're assuming that it's not a big deal to people who invest in those concepts too. Or worse, you're presuming to tell other people what they should and shouldn't value, and how much they should value them.

This passage from the Wikipedia article on cultural appropriation says it better than I can:

"A common sort of cultural appropriation is the adoption of the iconography of another culture. Examples include sports teams using Native American tribal names, tattoos of Polynesian tribal iconography, Chinese characters, or Celtic bands worn by people who have no interest in, or understanding of, their original cultural significance. When these artifacts are regarded as objects that merely 'look cool', or when they are mass produced cheaply as consumer kitsch, people who venerate and wish to preserve their indigenous cultural traditions may be offended."

-- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_appropriation

I sense that some of your suffering may be caused by a negative attachment to an inherently transient distro.

:) +1

Heh, I can respect where you're coming from.

I'm not a buddhist scholar, but of the things that's always interested me about buddhisms path through the world is how adaptive the underlying concepts can be to new cultural contexts. I think, in a lot of ways, that the western cultural context is just a new adaptation on that trend. You have people who sincerely try to get at the heart of the religion/philosophy and you have people that co-opt the names for their own uses, commercial or otherwise.

I'd wager that if we looked at the history of buddhism as it entered japan, there would be similar trends of it being used politically and secularly (but don't quote me on that if I turn out to be horribly wrong).

I think I get more bothered when I see things like mini cubicle zen-gardens, or anyone else profiteering off of a barely there gloss of the cultural history.

As for open-source software, and people trying to instill their distro with an ambiance of 'zen', I think it's a little silly, but I don't think it was done maliciously, and ultimately I don't think it will do a whole lot to really water down the deep and expansive annals of buddhist history.

I think it's good to be sensitive to this sort of thing, and to be aware of who you might be offending. Maybe I'm not being as considerate of the issue as I should be. I suppose I just think that realistically, buddhist culture as it stands in the world is going to go on, largely unaffected by the west and our views, but perhaps greatly impacted by inexorable march of modernity.

I personally like buddhism because if they're right, I get a bunch more chances to figure it out. Kidding, of course... kind of.

Then I presume you don't like Ubuntu either?

Oh, I just thought this was named after Patrick Swayzes' character from Point Break.

Speaking as a practitioner of Buddhist meditation, get off your high horse, Jesse. It's just a name. "Buddhist" is just an identity, and a core goal of the practice is to bring an end to such things.

Get off my high horse?

People value elements of their culture and would like them not to be debased or conflated with the mundane. I'm glad you were able to glean something valuable from an ages-old culture. Try giving back some time.

> "Buddhist" is just an identity, and a core goal of the practice is to bring an end to such things.

First, this is not even the point of the comment.

Second, this is so inane, and a typical attitude of Western admirers of Eastern traditions. Like somehow, Buddhism couldn't manage itself until you came along and told everyone what it really meant.

Try this: go to India, go stop at Bodh Gaya and urinate on the Bodhi tree.

Before the monks who tend the tree beat you up, let them know that they're mistakenly identifying with concepts like "trees" and "cleanliness." But never fear, you have come to set them free and let them know the true meaning of Buddhism, by bringing an end to identities!

If it wasn't for that about.html, I would've thought it was named after a Baldur's Gate II character, and was prepared to make a joke about sucking blood..