Tricycle Magazine | The Buddhist Review

NOW IN SESSION

Suffering is Optional

Did you know that suffering is optional? In this 8-part video teaching, Tibetan master Gelek Rimpoche explains why this is true, how to recognize the causes of suffering, and how to make choices that alleviate it. Interact with Gelek Rimpoche and senior students, who will answer your questions. Written material included. (Feb./Mar. 2010) Not yet a Sustaining Member? Sign up here.

Previous: How to Be Kind (even when you don't want to) with Sharon Salzberg
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How to Be Kind (even when you don’t want to) with Sharon Salzberg

This 3-part audio teaching, Sharon Salzberg, gives you an opportunity to practice kindness in your everyday life—whether you’re feeling kind or not. Insight meditation pioneer Sharon Salzberg has been teaching loving-kindness meditation (metta) for more than three decades. Fundamental to Buddhist teachings, the practice of metta is a path in itself. Guided meditations are included in the talks. Transcripts of talks also included. (Nov. 2009) Not yet a Sustaining Member? Sign up here.
Now: Suffering is Optional with Gelek Rimpoche
NOW IN SESSION
Suffering is Optional

Did you know that suffering is optional? In this 8-part video teaching, Tibetan master Gelek Rimpoche explains why this is true, how to recognize the causes of suffering, and how to make choices that alleviate it. Interact with Gelek Rimpoche and senior students, who will answer your questions. Written material included. (Feb./Mar. 2010) Not yet a Sustaining Member? Sign up here.
Now: Green Meditation with Clark Strand
NOW IN SESSION
Green Meditation: Recover Your Natural Balance

Do you get enough sleep? Former Zen monk Clark Strand would probably argue that you don’t—and that people haven’t since the invention of the light bulb. With his 4-part video teaching on "green meditation" Strand takes us back to the way we were meant to sleep and shows us how. Audio Q&A and discussion forum. (Mar. 2010) Not yet a Sustaining Member? Sign up here.
Upcoming: Stephen Batchelor: Buddhism for this One and Only Life
COMING APRIL 5
Buddhism for This One and Only Life with Stephen Batchelor

In this 4-part video retreat, innovative writer and thinker Stephen Batchelor will explain Buddhist teachings from a secular perspective. Dismissing the notion of future lives, Stephen teaches that the Buddha’s design for living is meant for this one. Written materials will be included. Read the current Tricycle interview with Stephen here. (Apr. 2010) Not yet a Sustaining Member? Sign up here.
Upcoming: The Way of Freedom with Ken McLeod
COMING MAY 3
The Way of Freedom with Ken McLeod

Unbidden and unwanted thoughts and feelings consistently cloud our experience of life. Using a classical Tibetan text in this 5-week audio retreat, Ken McLeod will teach us how to cultivate clarity and presence. Ken's decades-long background in Tibetan Buddhist practice enables him to make these ancient teachings accessible and useful in the world we live in today. (May 2010) Not yet a Sustaining Member? Sign up here.
Upcoming: Break Your Bad Habits, with Martine Batchelor
COMING JUNE 7
Break Your Addictive Patterns with Martine Batchelor

In this 4-part video teaching former Korean Zen nun and author Martine Batchelor will teach a form of Buddhist meditation that helps to break through addictive patterns. Written material for supplementary reading will be included. (June 2010) Not yet a Sustaining Member? Sign up here.

Today in Retreat

Thursday, March 18th, 2010

Gelek Rimpoche, Week 7: "When you enter into spiritual practice, you have to have a goal." Choose your goal carefully and stick to it.

Clark Strand's Week 3: Watch Clark's supplementary YouTube video in the Discussion section of his Week 3 talk! It discusses the early morning, a great time for Green Meditation practice.

Tricycle Retreats are a benefit you can enjoy as a Tricycle Community Sustaining Member

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Retreat Stream

Clark Strand's week 3 follow-up video on Green Meditation is on YouTube #retreats http://3.ly/0495

10 hours 6 min ago

Clark Strand's Q&A from Week 2 of his Online Retreat has been posted! #retreats http://3.ly/a465

1 day 12 hours ago

Week 7 of Gelek Rimpoche on the 4 Noble Truths and Week 3 of Clark Strand on Green Meditation both begin today! #retreats http://3.ly/z4gO

2 days 11 hours ago

Gelek Rimpoche Week 6: Irritation is everywhere, but make sure irritation doesn't take you over and become anger. #retreats http://3.ly/H33e

5 days 7 hours ago

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Online Retreat Schedule

Here’s where you’ll find current-retreat schedules. Members also have access to all previous retreats, listed at left. Teachings are posted Mondays.

Gelek Rimpoche: "Suffering is Optional"
February 1 to March 22, 2010

Clark Strand: "Green Meditation"
March 1 to March 22, 2010

Stephen Bachelor: "Buddhism for This One and Only Life"
April 6 to April 27

Ken McLeod: "The Way of Freedom"
May 3 to May 31, 2010

Martine Batchelor: "Your Addictive Patterns"
June 1 to June 22, 2010

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Spring 2010

Vol. 19, No. 3

in this issue

The Rebel Abbot of Zen Mountain

By Sean Murphy

If anyone will be remembered as a major ancestor of Zen in America, it will be John Daido Loori Roshi, who died on October 9, 2009, of lung cancer. Born in Jersey City, in 1931, into a working-class Catholic family, he was by nature a freethinker and a rebel.
Generosity (and Greed) Introduction

When you are practicing generosity, you should feel a little pinch when you give something away. That pinch is your stinginess protesting. If you give away your old, worn-out coat that you wouldn’t be caught dead wearing, that is not generosity.
Good Work

By Monty McKeever and Michaela Haas

When Cyclone Nargis hit Burma in May 2008, it took the lives of nearly 150,000 people and left at least a million homeless. While relief organizations waited at the country’s borders to deliver aid, the Foundation for the People of Burma (FPB) was already there.
Curds and the Middle Way

By Noa Jones

Curd. It’s not a pretty word. It brings to mind tea accidents, milk slipped into lemon infusion, coagulation, spoilage, and mysterious nursery rhymes involving innocent girls and dangling spiders.
Turn Out the Lights

By Clark Strand

Look up into the sky on a starry night and you will see that there is a lot of darkness in the universe and very little light. So great is the invisible counterweight of darkness, in fact, that we think nothing of chipping away a bit of it in order to make a little something more for ourselves...

web features

Jodo Shinshu: The Way of Shinran

Over the past few years, Tricycle has featured a number of articles about Jodo Shinshu, or Shin Buddhism, which developed from the insight of Shinran (1173-1263), a Japanese monk that Rev. Dr. Alfred Bloom calls a "towering figure" in Buddhism. Read the articles below to get a sense of Shinran and his teachings, and the modern practice of Jodo Shinshu.
Simply Stop

By Thich Nhat Hanh

In Master Linji's time, some Buddhist terms were used so often they became meaningless. People chewed on terms like “liberation” and “enlightenment” until they lost their power. It’s no different today.
The Myth of the Experienced Meditator

By Barry Evans

I tell Kyodo Roshi I want to take my practice to a deeper level. "Deeper level?" He laughs again. "What do you mean, 'deeper'? Zen practice only one level. No deep, understand?"
Emptiness: All or Nothing

The idea of sunyata (Pali sunnata) or emptiness has been variously understood—and misunderstood—for centuries.

find a dharma center

Find a center by name, or use our Advanced Search to find by name, city, state or zip code.

tricycle blog

Obama’s gift to Dalai Lama

The Dalai Lama recently said: Just as you cannot say that one medicine is best and other medicines are not so good, so you cannot say that this religion is best and others are of not much use. This generosity of spirit is of course refreshing to hear in our troubled times. The Dalai Lama [...]

Stephen Batchelor on ABC

Stephen Batchelor, who—as you can see from the comments thread on the last post—clearly hasn’t lost his touch at provoking angry and immoderate responses from partisans, appeared on the ABC News program “Beliefs” with Dan Harris to discuss his new book, Confession of a Buddhist Atheist. Click the image to view.

Batchelor’s “Confession of a Buddhist Atheist” examined by Mark Vernon

Here’s a review of Stephen Batchelor’s Confession of a Buddhist Atheist from The Guardian’s Mark Vernon. Since publishing his best-selling Buddhism Without Beliefs, Stephen has become somewhat controversial in Buddhist circles for his Western approach to the Buddha’s teachings. Stephen points out, however, that “the great strength of Buddhism throughout its history is that it has [...]

Monk arrested for setting fire to temple for insurance

A monk in Japan allegedly sets his temple on fire to collect on insurance money. Well, Dogen does say that, “A zen master’s life is one continuous mistake.”

On uprising anniversary, Dalai Lama says China wants to “annihilate Buddhism”

Using stronger words than he usually does, the Dalai Lama accused Beijing of persecuting monastics in Chinese-occupied Tibet: “They are putting the monks and nuns in prison-like conditions, depriving them the opportunity to study and practice in peace,” he said, accusing Chinese of working to “deliberately annihilate Buddhism.” The Dalai Lama’s remarks reflect frequent complaints by Tibetan [...]

The Inklings of Michael Wenger

Michael Wenger has practiced Zen since 1972 and he was gracious enough to run a Discussion during Tricycle’s 90-day online ango, The Big Sit. Now he has a blog with his wonderful ink drawings, called inklings. You won’t be disappointed if you stop by. Below is a drawing of his from a post called “zen what [...]

View all posts »

Buddhism for This One and Only Life with Stephen Batchelor

The Way of Freedom with Ken McLeod

Break Your Addictive Patterns with Martine Batchelor

Discover a new way to experience Buddhist teachings

in this issue

web features

find a dharma center

For Sustaining Members and Digital Subscribers Only