Tricycle | Awake in the World

It's possible that Hurricane Sandy was an anomaly. Or maybe, just maybe, the Earth is trying to tell us something. As more resources in both the public and private sectors are being put toward sustainable technology and awareness initiatives, our new retreat with professor and Zen teacher David Loy offers yet another way to contemplate the pressing eco-crisis. 

Often it seems like a rather daunting task— can an individual actually change the trajectory of our planet? Our December retreat, "Transforming Self, Transforming Earth: A Buddhist Ecology" offers insights into how we can (and must) take responsibility for our individual attitudes that have repercussions on much larger scales. 

Over the next four weeks, covering topics from self-delusion to the Westernization of the dharma, Loy will guide us to new ways of understanding dukkha in our modern context on both individual and collective scales, as well as give a fresh take on how the essential teachings of the dharma offer a path to healing ourselves and our planet.

In this first retreat, which is available for all to view, Loy walks us through understanding the self as a construct, the predatory nature of a consumer society that cultivates a feeling of lack, and the various forms these feelings of self lack can take, on both the personal and collective levels.

Watch a preview of this week's retreat below and click here to watch the full video.