Tricycle | Awake in the World

The following account of the ongoing Tricycle Pilgrimage to India comes to us from tour leader Justin Kelley. Here's a brief description of the tour: This classical pilgrimage will take us to the places in north India where Siddhattha Gotama, the historical Buddha, lived and taught in the 5th century BCE. We will begin the journey in Sarnath, near Benares, where the Buddha delivered his first sermon, then proceed to Bodhgaya, the site of his awakening, Nalanda, Rajgir, Vaishali, Kushinagar, the site of his death, Lumbini, the birthplace of the Buddha, Kapilavastu, where he was raised as a young man, and Sravasti, where he spent 24 rain retreats. As we navigate across northern India, through modern day Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and southern Nepal, we will deeply investigate both the historical world that the Buddha existed in as well as our inner terrain, through periods of intensive practice, discourse and engagement. More »

What does it mean to be "Awake in the World"? Tricycle and BuddhaFest are partnering to present a showcase of short films. Send in your video interpretation of 5 minutes or less on what it means to be awake in the world. Top prize is $1,000. Be creative. Be unique. Use your imagination as well as your heart. Winners will be featured at the BuddhaFest Film Festival in Washington, DC on June 14-17, as well as online here at tricycle.com.Details here. More »

An active morning and the second missed day of sitting so far this month. Boo! But: I built a small piece of furniture, even though it was missing a screw. (Image of missing screw at right.) A morning of organizing, of "getting things done," in other words, avoiding the real work. In my case that means editing an article for the May issue of Tricycle. What work did you avoid this morning? Today's Daily Dharma was on changing your relationship to pain by Jon Kabat-Zinn: More »

If you've read the Spring 2012 edition of Tricycle, I hope you have taken the time to look at the artwork throughout the magazine. There is some incredible work presented here, and over the next couple of months we will be interviewing the artists to get a better sense of the paintings and the process behind their creation. More »

Lucky day 13. With all the luck from today and all the love accumulating in advance for tomorrow, here's hoping that today is a good day to be a meditator. As for me, I'm not sure yet—I haven't had a chance to practice yet today. But I'm excited to, and I will. Over the weekend I re-read Bhante Henepola Gunaratana's book Mindfulness in Plain English. It was the first book on meditation that I ever read. I love that book. I owe a lot to it. And reading it again made me feel like I did the first time I read it: just so excited. Like a child. More »

Starting today, Asia Society Hong Kong Center's inaugural exhibition celebrates the beauty and diversity of Buddhism. The exhibition showcases important art pieces from Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller 3rd Collection as well as contemporary creations by Asian artists. Related cultural events include a public forum, lecture series, and Hong Kong's first International Buddhist Film Festival. The exhibition runs from Feb 10 to May 20, 2012.Read more at The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation site. More »

There is only one way to walk in New York City: mindfully. Actually, let me back up. You don't have to walk mindfully in New York, but if you don't you're roadkill. (In fact, the main reason that you should walk mindfully is because so many people don't.) Most of the time you have to be prepared to move quickly, to avoid other walkers, taxis, bicyclists, or a crazy person. At other times you need to exercise patience—waiting for the next subway or slowly shuffling through a bottle neck situation at Grand Central during rush hour. Either way, if you find yourself walking in New York, Peter Doobinin had some good advice in today's Daily Dharma: More »

Mindful eating has hit the New York Times! One of our sharp-eyed editors spied this article yesterday in the Dining and Wine section of the Gray Lady: "Mindful Eating as Food for Thought." In it, Jeff Gordinier writes about his visit to the Blue Cliff Monastery in Pine Bush, N.Y., where he participated in a silent, vegan, mindfully-eaten lunch, something he found to be "captivating and mysterious." (Afterward, he tweeted, "& yeah I tried this mindful eating thing @ the monastery. Very cool. But not easy. Even putting my fork down was hard!") But it's not just the New York Times who has trumpeted mindful eating. As Gordinier says in the article, More »

Dear fellow sitters: it has almost been a week since we kicked off our commit-to-sit daily meditation goal for the month of February. How is everyone doing? I began this month-long venture with the goal of sitting down on my purple zafu every morning. This has happened only once, and I find myself asking why. It isn't that the idea of sitting is incredibly daunting, or that I just can't make time to sit—it's the notion of forcing a specific time period and location into my schedule that causes a panic. The entire week I've spent practicing in my commutes to work, and they have been incredibly rewarding. Still, I raise a question regarding the sitting itself. Does the location matter? More »