Tricycle | Awake in the World

When I type "Buddhist" into Google, the wise and witty search engine promptly suggests "Buddhist symbols" as the search I should perform. I wonder why? I blame Body Vows. When you think "Buddhist Punk," you may picture Brad Warner or Noah Levine. But Google Images thinks of this. Buddhist Geeks is interviewing artist and Naropa professor Robert Spellman. Cool. - Philip Ryan, Webmaster More »

Human Rights Watch says that 89% -- or 2,196 -- of the people killed by the "separatists" and "insurgents" in southern Thailand since January 2004 are civilians. They are careful to say separatist and not use the "T" word -- a good thing, since the word's overuse by the current junta in Washington has rendered it essentially meaningless. Oh, I guess there's two "T" words -- terrorist/m and torture. The obfuscated meaning of both is part of the shining legacy of the Department of Justice under Bush 2. What does it mean when nearly 90% of a separatist or insurgent group's victims are civilians? I guess I'm naive. I guess I just don't understand modern asymmetrical warfare. Of course most victims are civilians -- they're there. More »

Ajahn Punnadhammo asks: "Is there a doctrinal aspect of Buddhism that hinders action in the world?" In his most recent post, the Theravada monk goes on to offer an answer of his own: Possibly. There is the underlying sense that this conditioned realm is inherently flawed and will always be so. However, there is also a very great emphasis on compassion for all beings caught in it. And there are plenty of scriptural references to the Buddha advising on how to live a comfortable and decent life within this world, and even commenting on what we would relate to as social or political questions. The ajahn's post was inspired by Bhikkhu Bodhi's article appearing in the current issue of Buddhadharma, published by the Shambhala Sun, the Canadian bimonthly founded by the late Chogyam Trungpa Rincpoche. More »

Three bombs were discovered in Sri Lanka on Sunday, one of them in the town of Kandy along the route of a procession to honor the Buddha's Tooth Relic. The 10-day festival will go on regardless. Sri Lanka has lived with terrorism for a very long time, and the Temple housing the Tooth was damaged by a truck bomb in 1998. Meanwhile, a Buddhist delegation arrived in Sri Lanka from another majority-Buddhist country involved in a civil war, Thailand. The fighting there is getting more violent. Visitors from Myanmar / Burma are also due in Sri Lanka. Is it ironic that a Tooth Relic is held in a town called Kandy? Teeth are tough customers. More »

A lot of Buddhists have become interested in yoga in recent years. Many meditators have expressed a need to "get in touch with their bodies," while others, not so interested, find enough in the Satipatthana Sutta to keep them going for a lifetime. If you are the stretching type, you might want to check out a few cautionary tales in yesterday's New York Times. A lech with a yoga mat may just get your leotard in a twist. More »

Many people live with chronic pain with no hope of relief. But others have apparently had better luck relieving their suffering. Some notes on Vicodin and that family of painkillers from the AP: More than 200,000 pounds of codeine, morphine, oxycodone, hydrocodone and meperidine were purchased at retail stores during 2005, the most recent year represented in the data. That is enough to give more than 300 milligrams of painkillers to every person in America. I don't really know how much 300 milligrams is in terms of painkillers per person, but it sounds like a lot. I think the average dose is around 5 or 10 milligrams? No word on whether Rush Limbaugh was included in the counting. If so that might explain why the figures skew so high. More »

Interesting posts on D.T. Suzuki and Jodo Shinshu and Other-Power over at The Buddhist Nerd Haven, and a good article on China's (stage) management of Tibet courtesy of the New York Times. Also, the National Review takes note of the controversy over making Buddhism the state religion in Thailand. Funny, the NR telling Thailand, a country with an active and virulent Muslim insurgency within its borders, to exercise patience and discretion in dealing with a terrorist threat. Physician, heal thyself. More »

Members of the Amitabha Buddhist Society, a Pure Land sect, released various fish, reptiles and other critters destined for dinner plates in New York's Chinatown into the Passaic River in Paterson, New Jersey this past Sunday. Well, someone told New Jersey and the state apparatus may be irked to the point of issuing a $1,000 fine. The Amitabha folks, many of them strict vegans, were doing their part to spare the animals some extreme suffering, but the state remembers those freaky walking snakehead fish (see pic, courtesy the U.S. Dept. More »

A hundred birds brought flower offerings to Fa-yung in his cave on Niu-t'ou Mountain. More »