Tricycle | Awake in the World

For those living in or near New York City, there will be a Hiroshima and Nagasaki Annual Memorial Interfaith Gathering this Sunday to commemorate the tragic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It is being held in collaboration with Voices from Japan: Despair and Hope from Disaster (more info below). WHERE: Cathedral of St. John the Divine 1047 Amsterdam Avenue at 112th Street, New York City  WHEN: Sunday, August 5th, 2012. All are welcome; a contribution of $10.00 is suggested. SCHEDULE: 4:00 Cathedral Evensong Service 5:00 Visit the Exhibitions Photography from Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 1945 (supported by the Nagasaki Prefecture Government). More »

Seth Greenland is the author of The Angry Buddhist, a recently published novel set in the Californian desert that explores corruption, deception, murder, politics, and...Buddhism. Jimmy Duke, one of the book's (many) main characters, is an ex-cop whose struggle with anger issues leads him to study Buddhism with an Internet teacher called "DharmaGirl." The dramedy met with such success in France and the United States (read the New York Times' review here) that it was picked up by Showtime to turn into a TV series, which is currently in development. More »

We are on the last week of Anam Thubten's retreat, The Art of Awareness. In his final teaching, Anam Thubten brings us back to the basic wish of all beings, that of happiness. Pure awareness, unfettered by the conceptual conditioned mind is the state of joy. Unfortunately, we tend to miss the point and go on and on in search of our own misconceptions of enlightenment or nirvana. Happiness arrives when we let go of the illusion of happiness. We often hear Buddhist teachers holding the present moment as the key to waking up. In this final retreat, Anam Thubten clarifies that the present moment is not everything but is in fact a tool to grasp the great mystery, or in Mahayana terms, meeting our original face. More »

You might have noticed in Buddha Buzz a couple of weeks ago an announcement about Pema Chödrön's 76th birthday. In celebration, Pema Chödrön and her foundation put together a virtual "Practicing Peace" retreat. And it was a great success! Tim Olmsted, the president of the Pema Chödrön Foundation, is happy to share the following news: More »

The first American to have been ordained a Tibetan Buddhist monk, Robert A.F. Thurman, Ph.D., has been a personal friend of the Dalai Lama for over 40 years. The New York Times has recognized him as "the leading American expert on Tibetan Buddhism" and Time magazine named him as one of the “25 Most Influential Americans.” He is co-founder and president of Tibet House U.S., a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and promotion of Tibetan culture and civilization, and is president of the American Institute of Buddhist Studies. Dr. Thurman has translated many Sanskrit and Tibetan Buddhist texts, and is the author of 16 books on Tibet, Buddhism, art, politics and culture. He earned a Ph.D. from Harvard in Sanskrit Indian Studies, taught at Amherst College, and is now a professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies at Columbia University. More »

Today we begin the third week of exploring The Art of Awareness with Anam Thubten. This week we expand our understanding of how formless meditation practices open up our senses and allow for a nonjudgemental space to recognize a state beyond rejection or holding.  Through the simple act of awareness all of us have the opportunity to directly recognize emptiness. Samsara, he tells us, slowly collapses on its own when our meditation is not altering the mind but resting in the moment. More »

Buddhist practice and Buddhist art have been inseparable in the Himalayas ever since Buddhism arrived to the region in the eighth century. But for the casual observer it can be difficult to make sense of the complex iconography. Not to worry—Himalayan art scholar Jeff Watt is here to help. In this "Himalayan Buddhist Art 101" series, Jeff is making sense of this rich artistic tradition by presenting weekly images from the Himalayan Art Resources archives and explaining their roles in the Buddhist tradition. This week Jeff explores the four ground colors of Himalayan art. Himalayan Buddhist Art 101: The Four Ground Colors More »

One of the most urgent tasks for contemporary practitioners of any spiritual tradition, including Buddhism, is to learn how to take traditional stories seriously without taking them literally. Religious texts employ symbol, metaphor, and allegory to weave narratives that reveal truths about meaning, value, and purpose in human affairs. Although traditions tend to see their stories as historically accurate, the value of these stories does not depend on whether or not they are literally true. But in the modern period, we have come to take science and instrumental reason as the only reliable means and the model for ascertaining truth. For many, this means that they must choose between rejecting the narratives of religious tradition (atheism) or embracing one narrative literally (fundamentalism). More »

Mindfulness isn't just for Buddhists anymore; you can find it in hospitals, schools, prisons, and in some of today’s largest corporations. It is being used to help people quell their cravings, find emotional balance, eat healthier, and even to fall asleep at night. All of these things are well and good, of course, but there's a question worth considering: Is anything lost when we remove mindfulness meditation from a Buddhist context? More »