Tricycle | Awake in the World

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 Watt unwound some of the confusion around peaceful and wrathful deities, and this week he leads us to pristine underestanding of wisdom deities. Himalayan Buddhist Art 101: Wisdom Deities More »

As we gear up for this year's Tricycle | BuddhaFest Online Film Festival we're revisiting some of the teachings that made last year's event so special. The following video is of Hugh Byrne at BuddhaFest in Washington, D.C. on June 19, 2011. For more information on the upcoming online festival (starts May 29) check out the schedule of films and dharma talks here. Hugh Byrne is a mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), and somatic meditation teacher based in Washington DC, offering classes, consulting and retreats which give insight into pain management, and healing from trauma. More »

Who is the Angry Asian Buddhist? Nearly four years ago a blogger on the group blog "Dharma Folk" calling himself arunlikhati published a short blog post called "Angry Asian Buddhist," protesting the white-centric views of American Buddhist media and (some) American Buddhists themselves. Since then, he's become an outspoken critic of the various stereotypes swirling around the American dharma scene and an advocate of the discussion of race in our sanghas. arunlikhati now primarily blogs at "Angry Asian Buddhist", a site that has over the years proven to be no stranger to controversy. 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. Last week we explored gods and deities in Tantric Buddhism, and this week we will move the discussion onward to meditational deities. Himalayan Buddhist Art 101: Meditational Deities More »

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. More »

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. More »

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. More »

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. More »

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:   More »