In the Footsteps of the Buddha pilgrimages with Shantum Seth across India and South Asia. Other spiritual journeys that transform. Mindful travel.
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Himalayan Buddhist Art 101: Power Deities
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.
This week Jeff explores a subcategory of meditational deities called power deities.
Himalayan Buddhist Art 101: Power Deities
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Interview with Buddhist Blogger Extraordinaire Reverend Danny Fisher
If you've ever puttered around the Buddhist blogosphere, you know the Reverend Danny Fisher. He's the author of the Patheos blog Off the Cushion, maintains an official website, and writes for Shambhala Sun, Buddhadharma: The Practitioner’s Quarterly, and elephantjournal.com.
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Art of Living with Venerable Metteyya at NY Insight
We just got back from an afternoon of filming Venerable Metteyya (of The Buddha documentary on PBS fame) at NY Insight and learned that he will be giving another talk there this Friday, July 13 from 7-9pm. He was speaking to Tricycle on the topic of addiction (you'll have to come back next month to see the talk) but this Friday he will be making a presentation on "The Art of Living."Read more about the event here.
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Rebuilding Bagan: Ancient Buddhist Art and Architecture in Burma
"Burma" has been quite the Western media buzzword lately. What with Aung San Suu Kyi's European tour, Rakhine's riots, and ongoing debates about which name—Burma or Myanmar—is appropriate to call the long-calamitous nation, the country's wins and woes have saturated the pages of many publications.
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Watch: Taming a Wild Horse
You can't force meditation. Though many of us think that the more effort we apply during meditation the quicker or better the results will be, this is not how meditation works. In this short animation Meditation Doctor Andy Puddicombe explains the ins and outs of applying effort during meditation.Every Tuesday we feature new teachings by Andy at our "Introduction to Mindfulness" series. Read today's teaching.
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The Art of Awareness: July Retreat with Anam Thubten
We are happy to announce Anam Thubten as the teacher for this month's online retreat. Starting today and continuing over the next three mondays, Anam Thubten invites us to explore awareness itself as simple means of exploring the unconditioned mind. His method is cheerful, straightforward and welcoming to a range of audiences by suggesting that simple practices such as Shamatha meditation can be universally beneficial. In this first week, Anam Thubten explains how the rhythm of the breath or attuning the mind to simple objects can tap into an inherent serenity that is the basis for tuning down our inner turbulence. Here's a preview of what's to come. This first week episode is open for all to view. Come participate and discuss this month's retreat!
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What is the mind, anyway?
When we're in a cloud of thinking we aren't aware of our body. Often we are not aware of our surroundings. We may even forget who we are talking with and relate to them as if we were talking to someone else.
This seems more often the case than not for many if not most of us. In his 36th verse of the 37 Practices of the Bodhisattva, Ken McLeod, in his verse-by-verse commentary, begins by asking, "What is the mind, anyway?" If we'd like to be "constantly present and aware," as the verse advises, wouldn't it be good to know what it is that is present and aware?
So, how would you define the mind? Ken has a pretty straightforward answer in this week's video, so have a look. You can view also Ken's earlier commentaries here.
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Buddha Buzz: Birthday Parties and Abandoned Dogs
Happy birthday to the Dalai Lama! His Holiness turns 77 today. Here he is greeting Ogyen Trinley Dorje, one of the two claimants to the Karmapa's throne, at his birthday party in Dharamsala.
And here he is again with some excited birthday revelers.
You can see more photographs of the festivities on his official website.
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Himalayan Art 101: Wealth Deities
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.
This week Jeff explores a subcategory of meditational deities called wealth deities. Read on to learn more about Jambhala, a popular Himalayan wealth deity.
Wealth Deities
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Wisdom from the Prison Yard: Letters from the Dhamma Brothers
The letter below is one of many included in the book Letters from the Dhamma Brothers. In these letters, the prisoners who took part in the Vipassana program at a maximum security prison in Alabama reflect on their prison experience following their meditation course. The letters are all at once moving, insightful, and profound. These prisoners' introduction to the program was captured by director Jenny Phillips in the film The Dhamma Brothers, which Tricycle screened online in March.
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Uprooting the Seeds of Anger with Jules Shuzen Harris
Jules Shuzen Harris, Sensei is the author of the article "Uprooting the Seeds of Anger" in the Summer 2012 issue of Tricycle. A dharma heir of Roshi Pat Enkyo O'Hara, Shuzen is a priest in the Soto Zen tradition, a member of the White Plum Asangha, the Zen Peacemakers Order, and the American Zen Teachers Association. He is also a practicing psychotherapist who fuses traditional Western methods with Zen teachings. He is the Vice Abbot of Soji Zen Center in Lansdowne, Pennsylvania—and has two black belts, in kendo and iaido, so look out!
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Buddha Nature Brain: From Hatred, Greed, and Heartache to Peace, Happiness, and Love
We're down to our last two talks from this year's Tricycle | BuddhaFest Online Film Festival. Take a look at this preview from Rick Hanson's discussion of dropping down into a "home space" that he points to by infusing neuroscience, contemplative practice and psychology. His talk draws from research on mindfulness and meditation as well as experiential exercises that he shares with us.
For the full talk, take a look here.
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The Power of Grace: A Tribute to Ram Dass
Krishna Das says, “If we know anything about a path at all, it’s only because of the great ones that have gone before us. Out of their love and kindness, they have left some footprints to follow.” In this talk and special musical performance, available to all, Krishna Das pays tribute to one of the great ones from our own era, Ram Dass, a seminal figure in the modern consciousness movement, sparking spiritual journeys for many with his generation-defining book, Be Here Now. Ram Dass is also the subject of the newest film at the Tricycle | BuddhaFest Online Film Festival, Ram Dass: Fierce Grace, which started yesterday. Pick up an Online Festival Pass and watch this film and the rest of the BuddhaFest Dharma Talks. It's the final week of the Online Festival.
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Ram Dass: "This Moment is All Right"
Here's a great clip from Ram Dass: Fierce Grace, the new film at the Tricycle | BuddhaFest Online Film Festival. It's the final week of BuddhaFest, so make sure to drop by the festivities.
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Buddha Buzz: A Dog is a Pig is a Bear is a Boy
We're tackling the big issues in Buddha Buzz today: capitalism, vegetarianism, and Buddhist business.
In an article reminiscent of Tricycle's own "Occupy Buddhism: Or Why the Dalai Lama is a Marxist", GOOD magazine's Kira Goldenberg examines Western yoga's relationship to capitalism in "Bad Karma: Can Yoga and Capitalism Get Along?" The short answer to the title is no—not really—if you care about keeping the tenets of yoga intact. Goldenberg begins the piece,
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Practices to change your life: What are you waiting for?
The great thing about Ken McLeod's series on the 37 Practices of the Bodhisattva is that these 5-minute videos manage to pack in a complete teaching and include a practice you can begin right now. "What are you waiting for?" Ken asks. They may just change the course of your day if not your life.
From Ken's commentary this week on Verse 35:
Patterns of emotional reactions are expert at one thing: survival ... They may have been effective coping mechanisms in the immediate circumstances in which they formed, but they are now deeply habituated dysfunctional patterns ... To crush a reaction all you have to do is experience it completely without being consumed by it.
Watch Verse 35 below for a fuller explanation of the application of this simple but powerful practice. No promises of immediate enlightenment, however. As Ken points out, these are practices for a lifetime. Still, the pracitce itself is its own reward.
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Himalayan Art 101: Meditational Deities of Tibet
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.
This week Jeff explores two images found in the newest Tricycle Gallery, "Wrathful Deities." Visit the gallery and send images to your friends.
Meditational Deities of Tibet
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Being Awake in the World: Ven. Pannavati Bhikkhuni
In our latest Tricycle | BuddhaFest Online Film Festival talk, Ven. Pannavati Bhikkhuni explores what it means to move beyond practice and extend our awareness to take action in the world. Pannavati was raised in the Christian church and has subsequently ordained in several Buddhist traditions. Over the course of her religious journey, she has realized the important role of wakeful service. Watch her talk about how she applies wakefulness to determine what is needed in the world.
The full talk can be viewed here. Other talks and films from this year's festival are available through July 6th.
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Mindfulness of Death: Week 4 of Bhikkhu Bodhi's retreat
It's week four of Bhikkhu Bodhi's retreat on The Four Protective Meditations, and after making it through the recollection of the Buddha (week one), lovingkindness (week two), and the contemplation of the body (week three), it's time to tackle what for many of us is the most difficult subject of all: death. In the final week of Bhikkhu Bodhi's retreat he brings us face-to-face with the reality of our own mortality. "Death," Bhikkhu Bodhi says, "is the one inescapable fact of human life.
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The Intrepid Monk: A Korean Buddhist Crosses the Americas by Bicycle
Meet Daeung Sunim, a 42-year-old Korean Buddhist monk currently on a 20,000 mile bicycle journey through the Americas. Starting from Vancouver, British Columbia, last April, by the time Sunim's voyage ends he'll have biked to the eastern tip of Canada, down the east coast of the U.S., west to California, and finally south through Latin and South America to the southernmost tip of Argentina.
Sunim has limited English skills, no Spanish skills, no set itinerary and knows almost no one in the Americas. This trip marks the first time that Sunim has ridden a bicycle, and it is already wearing down from hard use. He is unable to carry as much cookware and food as he needs to ensure he can last through the exhausting days. Since he began pedaling in April, he's taken only four days of rest.
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