Tag Archives: Woods

“It is what it is.” (?)

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As someone with an on again, off again dedication to the sport of golf, Buddhist thought and meditation, and the politics and contradictions of culture writ large and small, I have been interested to listen to Tiger Woods’ recent post-tournament comments in light of his fall from the iconic cultural graces of pop culture celebrity after his “crash” late last November and current struggles on the golf course since he returned to play in the Masters golf tournament about a month ago.

I am especially interested in speculating on his rhetorical recommitment to Buddhist practice that he made during his statement of apology back in February which he said he had abandoned and which, fundamentally, he asserted had led to his disastrous extramarital deviance and likely divorce from Elin Nordegren. Continue reading →

On Woods and Ochoa

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When I read that Lorena Ochoa, one of the best contemporary women professional golfers who would have been a shoe-in for the LPGA Hall of Fame if she’d only played two more years on the tour, announced her retirement from golf to pursue personal/family goals (including having children with her husband of a few years) and devoting more time to charitable work, I couldn’t help but think of the contrast with Tiger Wood’s brief “retirement” after being caught by his wife and the media living a lie.

Based on what I’ve read and witnessed from a distance it’s clear to me that the two examples of living with extreme talent and fortune, albeit in fundamentally different performance spheres, exhibit starkly different levels of mindfulness (that ability to live in the moment with sensitivity and openness to one’s surroundings while maintaining the focus on the task at hand) and character (that sense of one’s humanity that respects in a mindful way one’s spiritual and physical relationship to one’s environment and to the reciprocal desires and obligations for living life fully engaged). Continue reading →

Tiger and the Buddhist Path

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“I have a lot of work to do, and I intend to dedicate myself to doing it. Part of following this path for me is Buddhism, which my mother taught me at a young age. People probably don’t realize it, but I was raised a Buddhist, and I actively practiced my faith from childhood until I drifted away from it in recent years. Buddhism teaches that a craving for things outside ourselves causes an unhappy and pointless search for security. It teaches me to stop following every impulse and to learn restraint. Obviously I lost track of what I was taught.”

Tiger Woods

From his public statement today:

2-19-2010 Continue reading →

Tiger Woods’ body found!

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(I found this piece while searching for up-to-the-minute news on the internet about Tiger Woods.  For people who want to know, indeed, who need to know, this will answer all your questions about our last, great [brown] hope.  Prepare to be stunned into pure goofiness by the following revelations! Above all, enjoy and “learn something,” as my father likes to advise me.)

By Doscats

February 18, 2010

ALGÚN LUGAR, Arizona.  In a stunning reversal of metaphorical meaning, Doscats Investigations reports that forensic linguists, cultural symbologists, and historical semiologists have discovered what appears to be the remains of Tiger Woods’ body embedded superficially on the cover of Vanity Fair magazine. Continue reading →