Suddenly, in the middle of the game—I think it was four o’clock, (time and therapy have washed many aspects of this day away)—every Buddhist in the room got up, went into another room, bowed down (to the west, I presume) and started chanted and banging a little gong.
Mark and I peered around the corner to see them all radiating loving-kindness and merit to all living beings, which is believed to benefit those beings. The sharing of merit is a practice where one dedicates the goodness of one’s life to the benefit of all living beings, as well as praying for a particular person.
For a group of people who look for a life of enlightenment, loving-kindness and merit, they sure could grind their heels into Mark and my collective spirit as the ill tidings and torrents of hate came out about John Elway and the entire city of Denver as a whole.
It was starting to grate on us a lot and we both made a hasty exit at the end of the game to escape this ribbing we were taking. We drove north on the 405 freeway, slightly weaving in traffic, punch-drunk from the verbal pounding we received for four quarters.
We vowed never to not only support anything Buddhist but pinky-swore that we would never set foot in the city of Long Beach again.
As a postscript, I’d like to offer that our views on Buddhists have mellowed over the years. Scott (still a Buddhist) and I are once again good friends and are thinking about another Super Bowl gathering soon.
I do miss Long Beach though...
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