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Fleet Maull Retreat Week 3 Begins Today!
Week 3 of Fleet Maull's online retreat, "Social Awakening: Realizing the Basic Goodness of Society," starts today! Throughout the month of May, Fleet will present a series of talks on how individuals can broaden their sense of spiritual path towards a more collective, societal level. This week's talk, "Social Virtuosity: Developing Confidence and Resilience Through the Discovery of Basic Goodness " is about learning how to settle into the fluidity that being open and trusting possesses. Through this fluidity, we will truly understand why society couldn't be anything other than innately good. Also, we will be able to establish a resilience to such an outlook, embracing our society no matter how hot and fetid its problems become.
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Buddha Buzz: More Monks in Trouble
Mainstream media has done it again. I'm sure you've heard already, but neuroscience and meditation are the new "It" couple. This week the NY Times joins the fray in an article that is essentially a roundup of the different benefits that meditation can have on the brain. In addition to citing a few studies at various universities around the country, they trot out 63-year-old Buddhist practitioner Katherine Splain, who claims that her long meditation practice helped her finish an 80-page master's thesis—when she was 60.
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Tragedy strikes an American Buddhist Community
On April 22nd, Ian Thorson, a 38-year-old Buddhist practitioner, died in a cave near Geshe Michael Roach’s Diamond Mountain University and Retreat Center in Arizona. Thorson's body was found attended by his wife, Christie McNally, Roach's former student and partner, known to the Diamond Mountain Community, and globally, as “Lama Christie.” While there hasn't yet been any major media coverage of Thorson's death and the circumstances surrounding it, the Buddhist blogosphere is commenting on it extensively.
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Snow Lion Acquired By Shambhala Publications
As of yesterday, Snow Lion is now part of Shambhala Publications. Over the years, Snow Lion has been at the forefront of Tibetan Buddhist publishing, giving a home to books by modern authors in the Tibetan lineage along with translations and commentaries of ancient texts. Though their operations in Ithaca will be shut down, Snow Lion's editors are staying through the transition and its books have been incorporated into the Shambhala Publications website. Snow Lion president Jeff Cox and co-founder Sidney Piburn have left an announcement on the old Snow Lion site:
Dear Friends,
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Fleet Maull Retreat Week 3 Starting Monday, May 14th
Beginning Monday, May 14th, Acharya Fleet Maull will begin his third of four talks on Social Awakening. The topic of his third talk, titled "Social Virtuosity: Developing Confidence and Resilience Through the Discovery of Basic Goodness" focuses on the fluidity of being present, and developing the ability to settle into this fluidity, responding to situations with trust. In responding with trust and tactful vulnerability to situations, we will be more aware of society's basic goodness. Fleet mentions that the best vision of human society isn't one that excludes problems and fears, but rather a society embracing it all. We encourage our members to join us for week 3 on Monday, to face the heat of our world and develop a greater resilience toward seeing the world as innately good.
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Himalayan Buddhist Art 101: Gods and Deities in Tantric Buddhism
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. Last week we explored Mandalas Part II, and this week we will move on to gods and deities.
Himalayan Buddhist Art 101: Gods and Deities in Tantric Buddhism
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Tricycle Talk with Zen Teacher and Author Marc Lesser
Today's Tricycle Talk is with Zen teacher and author Marc Lesser, who has written two books that you might recognize: Zen of Business Administration and Less: Accomplishing More By Doing Less (now that's a secret I'd like to know how to put into practice). Recently he's teamed up with Chade-Meng Tan, otherwise known as Google's Jolly Good Fellow, to teach mindfulness and emotional intelligence classes at Google.
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Remembering Adam Yauch
Adam Yauch, a member of the hip-hop trio the Beastie Boys, died on May 4 after a three-year battle with cancer. In addition to being a rapper, Yauch was a dedicated Buddhist. Read Tricycle's 1994 interview with him here. In this guest blog post, Tricycle friend Ambika Cooper remembers Yauch, a childhood friend of hers.
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Fleet Maull Retreat Week 2 Starts Today!
Week 2 of Fleet Maull's online retreat, "Social Awakening: Realizing the Basic Goodness of Society," starts today! Over the next month, Fleet will present a series of talks on how individuals can broaden their sense of spiritual path towards a more collective, societal level. This week's talk, "Fear & Fearlessness: Transforming Fear-Based Culture Through Bravery and Compassion " is about pushing through our toxic habit of basing life decisions off of fear, and creating a compassionate culture.
To watch this retreat, become a Supporting and Sustaining Members of the Tricycle Community.
Check out a preview for the second week below:
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Buddha Buzz: Penises, Praycations, and the Death of Beastie Boys' Adam Yauch
I'm not trying to wax philosophical here, but writing Buddha Buzz is somewhat of a metaphor for life. Sometimes it's great, sometimes it's difficult, and sometimes you're thrown situations that you're not quite sure what to do with.
Case in point: there are some strange Buddhist articles out there. Last week's highlight, for instance, was the story "Wizard arrested for raping Buddhist," which turned out to be a (poorly translated) bizarre and upsetting account of a Chinese self-proclaimed exorcist who would exorcise demons in exchange for sex.
And now there's this article from i09: "In Bhutan, friendly phalluses painted on houses scare off evil spirits." What?
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Fleet Maull Week 2 begins Monday, May 7th
Beginning Monday, May 7th, Acharya Fleet Maull will begin his second of four talks on Social Awakening. The topic of his second talk delves into why we as individuals, and the society that we establish, base so many of our decisions off of fear. To explain, Acharya Maull brings in Ken Wilbur's integral theory of human culture into his talk, focusing on the "four quadrants" of our society: interior, exterior, individual, collective. Acharya Maull will be asking us how we can use this model to transform this fear-based culture into a more open-hearted place of being. Please join us on Monday to learn more!
Week 1 of the retreat is available to all members of the Tricycle Community. The remaining 3 weeks are open to Supporting and Sustaining Members of the Tricycle Community.
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Himalayan Buddhist Art 101: Mandalas Part II
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 a weekly image from the Himalayan Art Resources archives and explaining its role in the Buddhist tradition. Last week we looked at Mandalas, and we continue the exploration this week with Mandalas Part II.Himalayan Buddhist Art 101: Mandalas Part II
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Tricycle Talk with UPenn Professor Justin McDaniel
Today's Tricycle Talk is with Justin McDaniel, a Religious Studies professor at the University of Pennsylvania. A former Buddhist monk who identifies as both a Buddhist and a Catholic, he's got a Buddhist-related academic background of champions: a Master of Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School and a M.A. and Ph.D. in Sanskrit and Indian Studies, also from Harvard.
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Tricycle Film Club for May: The Marathon Monks of Mt Hiei
Marathon Monks of Mt Hiei is a compelling documentary that captures the final leg of Tendai Buddhist monk Tanno Kakudo's 1000 day kaihogyo. The documentary is based on a book written by John Stevens also titled Marathon Monks of Mt Hiei. Here is some information from John Stevens' book that will help bring the documentary into perspective:
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Fleet Maull Retreat begins today!
Week 1 of Fleet Maull's online retreat, "Social Awakening: Realizing the Basic Goodness of Society," starts today! Over the next month, Fleet will present a series of talks on how individuals can broaden their sense of spiritual path towards a more collective, societal level. This week's talk, "Showing up Together: Enlightenment as an Irreducibly Social Phenomenon" is about defining "Social Awakening," and establishing a firm commitment to sit.
Week 1 of the retreat is available to all members of the Tricycle Community, the remaining 3 weeks will be open to Supporting and Sustaining Members of the Tricycle Community.
Check out a preview for the first week below:
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Buddha Buzz: Mobs, Politics, and...Lemurs
Buddhist monks were all over the international news this week, and most of it was not good.
Last weekend thousands of Sri Lankans, led by Buddhist monks, stormed a mosque in Dambulla, Sri Lanka, destroying furniture and exposing themselves. The day before, the mosque had been firebombed by an unknown person. Sri Lankan officials have now promised to demolish and relocate the mosque, which the monks alleged had been built illegally on sacred Buddhist ground. Mosque board members responded that the mosque had been there for 50 years—30 years before the area was declared a Buddhist sacred zone.
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Himalayan Buddhist Art 101: Mandalas
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 a weekly image from the Himalayan Art Resources archives and explaining its role in the Buddhist tradition. This week we explore mandalas.
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"Social Awakening: Realizing the Basic Goodness of Society," an Online Retreat with Acharya Fleet Maull Starts Monday, April 30
Please welcome the beginning of May with a new Tricycle Online Retreat by Acharya Fleet Maull, "Social Awakening: Realizing the Basic Goodness of Society." Starting Monday, April 30 you can find the retreat here.
"In this online meditation retreat, we will explore a contemplative path to social enlightenment or collective awakening," Maull says, "which calls us to transcend individualism and work together to create a more peaceful and sustainable society grounded in the realization of the innate goodness of all beings as well as the basic goodness of human society itself."The first session of the retreat is available to all members of the Tricycle Community. The following three weeks are open to Supporting and Sustaining Members. Hope to see you there!Here is a preview of Week 1:
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Tricycle Talks: Tsoknyi Rinpoche and Sharon Salzberg
In this week's Tricycle Talk Tsoknyi Rinpoche speaks with Sharon Salzberg about topics from his new book Open Heart, Open Mind: Awakening the Power of Essence Love. What is "essence love"? Is everybody capable of experiencing love? How can we, in Rinpoche's words, "combine grown up mind with childlike heart"? Listen below. This talk is a preview of what's to come Thursday, May 17 at InsightLA in Los Angeles, where Tsoknyi Rinpoche will be in conversation with Sharon Salzberg about Open Heart, Open Mind. Learn more about that event and register here.
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The Most Organized Man in America: Video Teaching with Andrew Mellen
As promised in last week's Tricycle Talk with Andrew Mellen, today we have for you a video teaching with the most organized man in America. Think the state of your living space isn't connected to your Buddhist practice? Think again.
Watch Mellen work his magic on my desk below—and see me cower under the principles of the organizational triangle. The video is full of advice on how to approach cleaning your own living space, so best of luck in your own organizational endeavors! I'm happy to report that in the two weeks since my desk got organized that it is still...almost as clean. (What can I say? Like spiritual practice, staying organized requires both diligence and the formation of new habits. And that doesn't happen all at once, you know!)
We hope you enjoy watching, and let us know if you'd like to see more Tricycle videos!
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