Mystery Ranch Street Zen Backpack

Name: Mystery Ranch Street Zen Backpack
Brand: Mystery Ranch
SKU: mystery-ranch-street-zen-backpack
Price: 70 USD
Availability: OutOfStock

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Product Description

The Mystery Ranch Street Zen backpack is based on an anatomic design: broader at the shoulders and narrower at the waist. With 25 liters of space, the pack offers rapid access to the contents via the Speedzip closure on top Read More

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Jul 26, 2019

at one point, using the name Zen for a product indicated that it embodied some kind of refined design esthetic. Or that it somehow simplified what was typical of a product in that class to the essentials. Now it's just shorthand for 'our marketing team is out of branding ideas'. Also, as a Buddhist it's kind of offensive appropriation. Though we always hope that it may lead someone down a path of learning more about the dharma. We know this usually isn't the case. Next lifetime. This is 10 times worse in IT, where every third product is Zen-something.

(Edited)

reinisch

Jul 26, 2019

CalaverasgrandeHi there @Calaverasgrande! I think you make a salient point regarding the over-use or watering-down of "Zen" as a label. While my experience of finding this backpack listing had me asking myself, "Ok, how is this backpack 'Zen'?" I think I found some answers to that question. If you're willing, maybe you could let me know if you generally agree or disagree with the following as reasons that the backpack may have been designed with a zen approach or zen aesthetic in mind. Sometimes it's difficult for me to see if I am trying too hard to make something work, when it just isn't so. Your perspective could really help my understanding here! (I hope I do not offend you with any of this. I am not a Buddhist, but I have done some serious research into Zen and to a lesser extent, Buddhism in general.)

Spontaneous Design: If you wanted to carry things on your back, doesn't the unique shape of this bag make sense as a spontaneous design response? The tapered design seems to agree at a fundamental level that the shape of the back is the shape to be matched when carrying something on it.
Straightforward Constraints: In response to: "How is this breathable?" the answer decidedly was not, "We engineered a skeleton that holds the pack off the carrier to increase airflow." Instead it seems to have been, "We made it breathable by using breathable mesh and foam where it needed to breathe." This straightforward style of response to a constraining problem seems to have been followed in a number of elements of the bag: back, laptop sleeve, top flap, etc.
Self-generating Meaning: The relatively bare design of the look of the pack seems to agree with the idea that the bag doesn't have an intrinsic value or meaning beyond its own such-ness. (The patch with the company name, of course, being a strong but singular exception.) With the monochrome color scheme, the lack of ornamental fabric sections or layers, and similar choices to leave out anything extra, the bag seems to almost appear from nothing as just what it is: a backpack.

If you have the time, I would really appreciate your unique viewpoint to help me understand this backpack, Zen, and Buddhism. Thanks for reading! (I've edited this several times for formatting, but can't seem to get the bullets right.)

(Edited)

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