24 September, 2008

Bunko Metta

Yesterday I was invited to join a bunko evening in a nearby town. I don't know the first thing about bunko but I'm in need of distraction lately and would like to meet some new people, so I figured: "why not?!"

The game was being held at the house of someone I've never met. When we got there and she opened the door a huge wave of warmth and energy washed over me and the first thought that popped into my head was "Wow! I wonder if she's Buddist?!"

Well it turns out she's neither overly warm, nor overtly Buddhist, but has traveled extensively throughout Asia and had amassed a huge collection of Buddha statues, masks, artwork, etc. They were gorgeous, expensive, and obviously not just touristy trinkets. And something in that house eminated a feeling of well-being. It was surreal...

**photo thanks to ichkaanwaalisch's photostream in Flickr

4 comments:

anno said...

Sounds like a fun evening... what's bunko?

Betsy said...

According to Wikipedia, "Bunco (also Bunko and Bonko) is a parlour game played in teams with three dice. A winning throw in Bunco is to throw three of a kind of a specified number."

It's based purely on luck, and is fast paced. The nice thing about it is that you play it in groups and constantly switch partners.

Apparently it was a popular gambling game in America during the prohibition era and groups of law enforcement groups, called "Bunko Squads" were sent to break up games.

I'm not usually big on games, but the people at this group were really nice, and it made for a fun evening.

Goofball said...

hmm are warm & energetic people buddhists? Interesting association to make

Betsy said...

No it's not that, I meant it more the other way around, that a desirable trait in Buddhism is warmth and tranquility. which is exactly what I felt emanating through her open door...

It sounds odd now that I've written it down, but I was obviously tuning into something because all the statues and other artwork confirmed my expectation. It was uncanny!