Tricycle - The Buddhist Review |

Now in Session

Elizabeth Mattis-Namgyel, The Power of an Open Question

In this four-part video retreat, Elizabeth Mattis-Namgyel explores the topic she examines in her new book, The Power of an Open Question. Elizabeth is haunted and inspired by the challenges that arise for Buddhist practitioners. She is particularly focused on the Buddhist teachings on emptiness and how to bring them to life directly. Become a Tricycle Community Sustaining Member.

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

Wisdom Collection

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.

Wisdom Collection
Suffering is Optional with Gelek Rimpoche

Wisdom Collection

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.

Wisdom Collection
Green Meditation with Clark Strand

Wisdom Collection

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.

Wisdom Collection
Stephen Batchelor: Buddhism for This One and Only Life

Wisdom Collection

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.

Wisdom Collection
Ken McLeod: The Way of Freedom

Wisdom Collection

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.

Wisdom Collection
Martine Batchelor: Breaking Bad Habits

Wisdom Collection

Breaking Bad Habits 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.

Wisdom Collection
Bonnie Myotai Treace: Whole Life Offering

Wisdom Collection

Whole Life Offering with Sensei Bonnie Myotai Treace

What is It? In this 4-part video teaching, Zen teacher Bonnie Myotai Treace invites you to the Gristmill for a series of subtle koans and a cup of tea. Explore the nature of genuine offering, of attention, and the koan of water as a daily practice. Known for her poetic and innovative presentation of the dharma, Myotai Sensei's encouragment is to make a "whole life offering," moment by moment, to the mill of transformation. Water bowls for practice are available for order, and supplementary reading will be included. (July 2010) Not yet a Sustaining Member? Sign up here.

Wisdom Collection
Allan Lokos: 7 Steps to Enlightenment

Wisdom Collection

7 Steps to Enlightenment with Allan Lokos

In this 7-part video teaching, meditation teacher and author of Pocket Peace Allan Lokos teaches seven simple practices that will lead us to greater peace. Allan's "pocket practices" are teachings you can carry around with you throughout your hectic day! (August 2010) Not yet a Sustaining Member? Sign up here.

Wisdom Collection
Elizabeth Mattis-Namgyel: Power of an Open Question

Now in Session

Elizabeth Mattis-Namgyel, The Power of an Open Question

In this four-part video retreat, Elizabeth Mattis-Namgyel explores the topic she examines in her new book, The Power of an Open Question. Elizabeth is haunted and inspired by the challenges that arise for Buddhist practitioners. She is particularly focused on the Buddhist teachings on emptiness and how to bring them to life directly. Become a Tricycle Community Sustaining Member.

Now in Session
Larry Rosenberg: The Challenge of Change

Coming October 2010

Larry Rosenberg, The Challenge of Change:
Living Skillfully in an Uncertain World.

In this four-part video retreat, Larry Rosenberg will teach us how to use the dharma to skillfully navigate our day-to-day life. Far from being a remote and esoteric monastic practice, Larry's teachings are designed for the here-and-now: jobs, kids, traffic jams: the chanllenging situations we meet every day. Become a Tricycle Community Sustaining Member.

Coming October 2010

Join Now

Special Limited-Time Offer for New and Current Sustaining Members

Become a Tricycle Community Sustaining Member now and get Elizabeth Mattis-Namgyel’s new book, The Power of an Open Question, plus free e-books from Elizabeth Mattis-Namgyel and Pema Chödrön. Current Sustaining Members also eligible. You get:

Tricycle Online Retreats
Tricycle Magazine: The print edition
Tricycle: The digital edition
Free e-books from Elizabeth Mattis-Namgyel and Pema Chödrön

Click here for Special Offer details for new and current Sustaining Members

Tricycle Gallery

Dharma Stream

Ch'an Master Sheng Yen comments on two lines of the beloved poem Hsin Hsin Ming, or "Faith in Mind," by Seng Ts'an. http://bit.ly/df7QUE

3 days 10 hours ago

Check out week one of Elizabeth Mattis-Namgyel's Tricycle Retreat, "The Power of an Open Question"--it's free! http://bit.ly/aokjr8

3 days 10 hours ago

President of Russia’s only Buddhist republic to step down, may have to call on extraterrestrials for help: http://bit.ly/aT25nP

3 days 18 hours ago

"The Cup" director Dzongsar Kheyntse to direct film on dance: http://bit.ly/a4k1Pe

4 days 3 hours ago

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Trikeworthy

Fall 2010

Vol. 20, No. 1

in this issue

The Yoga of Creativity

By Anne Cushman

A couple of years ago, about a month before my first novel was due to be published—and several months into an intensive meditation training program for yoga teachers that I was co-directing at Spirit Rock Meditation Center—I had two startlingly vivid dreams.
What's Mine

By Sam Hamill

A previously unpublished poem
Meditation, Mental Habits, and Creative Imagination

By Martine Batchelor

We have to be careful not to think that meditation is about getting rid of thoughts. On the contrary, I would say that meditation helps us to creatively engage with our thoughts and not fixate on them. When people say they cannot concentrate, I say, “No, no, no! You are concentrating—too much on any one thought!”
The Call of the Abyss

By Wendy Johnson

Now in mid-June the 2010 summer harvest begins to ripen in a flood tide of Dragon Tongue beans, golden beets, and sweet basil, while 3,000 miles to the east on the Gulf of Mexico the Deepwater Horizon oil spill continues to worsen.
Buddhist History for Buddhist Practitioners

By Rita M. Gross

I am convinced that an accurate, nonsectarian study of Buddhist history can be of great benefit to dharma practitioners. As a scholar and practitioner, I have for many years worked to bring the findings of historical scholarship into dharma centers in Zen, Vipassana, and Tibetan lineages.

daily dharma

The Natural Activity of Mind

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.
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

The Ethics of Farming Animals

The way I see it, there are two ways to think about the ethics of meat eating. One is to look at the suffering of each individual animal that is killed for consumption. The other way is to take a global approach, where one is concerned with negative environmental/human consequences caused by the meat industry. [...]

The Power of an Open Question - The Sadness within Wisdom

Because the Buddha urged us to behold suffering, people often misunderstand the Buddhist path as a path of suffering. I remember reading a magazine article whose author, in reference to Buddhism, wondered by anyone would want to participate in a religion that held the view “life is suffering.” But this assumption reflected the author’s own [...]

Daily Dharma: The Natural Activity of Mind

Just as awareness is a natural activity of mind, so, too, feeling, perceiving, and thinking are natural, impersonal activities of mind. They condition judging, liking, disliking, explaining, strategizing, and rehearsing. While these are all natural activities of mind—meaning they appear due to causes and conditions— these [...]

The Power of an Open Question - Hooray for Emptiness!

We can’t write a book without an empty piece of paper, and when our schedule is empty we can do anything we want. Hooray for emptiness. Emptiness signifies possibility. Emptiness allows for more room—in fact, limitless room—for things to arise. But it doesn’t make room for things; it describes their very nature. So when we [...]

This September 11th, skip the protests

There’s a peaceful alternative offered by New York Buddhist Church and its resident minister, Rev. Nakagaki. From the Huffington Post: Liberals and conservatives have chosen sides over the Muslim community center near Ground Zero and plan to use the anniversary of September 11 as their battlefield. Abortion polemics are out; the debate over [...]

Tina Turner’s new CD: Buddhist and Christian Prayers

The big hair, shoulder pads, and snappy lyrics may be gone, but the signature Tina Turner voice remains on her new album Beyond: Buddhist and Christian Prayers, a collaboration with Dechen Shak-Dagsay (a Tibetan Buddhist) and Regula Curti (a Christian). Beyond includes a 15-track CD of Buddhist and Christian prayers and a 36 page “collectors [...]