Tricycle | Awake in the World

As a recent arrival at Tricycle as well as a relative newcomer to Buddhism, I’ve got a fair amount of reading to catch up on. Editor-in-chief James Shaheen recommended that I check out Rick Fields’ How the Swans Came to the Lake, which offers an in-depth history of Buddhism’s role in American life. Originally published in 1981 and last updated in 1992, Swans is a (mostly) current and always relevant look at Buddhism’s roots. In a culture saturated with pop-Eastern philosophy—toy Buddha car accessories, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and The Tao of Pooh, the now-discontinued “Om” fragrance by Gap—it’s clear that Buddhism has secured a place in the imagination of the American public. In warm, witty prose, Fields takes on the question of why and how this came to be. More »

Insight meditation teacher Gil Fronsdal has answered the top three questions from visitors to tricycle.com. They're here. BURMA: A very brief piece says Aung San Suu Kyi is ready to cooperate with the government "in the interest of the nation." Boycott Chevron. More »

An exhibition of Korean Master Jin Hyung Lee's Buddhist sculptures is happening in L.A. at Silk Roads Design Gallery, 145 North La Brea Ave., until December 16, 2007. The event is co-sponsored by Korea Sah International Buddhist Temple, 500 N. Western Ave. Check it out if you're in the area. This seated Bodhidharma (Korean: Dalma) caught my eye, but there are more than thirty pieces in the exhibition, all as beautiful as this one. More »

You may have read Bruce Wagner's essay "The Art of Reality" in the pages of Tricycle or on tricycle.com. (Bruce also had something to say about the fires in and around L.A. and San Diego in the pages of the New York Times not long ago.) In response to a recent letter to the editor regarding his essay on Dr. Castaneda, "which seems to have raised an eyebrow in one reader," Mr. Wagner had this to report: "At the invitation of Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, several practitioners of Tensegrity who worked directly with Carlos Castaneda recently conducted a sold-out workshop at the Shambhala Mountain Retreat in Colorado. More »

Many of our readers will recognize the jagged and ruminating coyote with his scraggly beard, twig ear, and inky backgrounds. This Zen master’s creator, Neal Crosbie, has been contributing illustrations to Tricycle for over twelve years. A regular feature in our cartoon space in “Letters to the Editor”, Crosbie’s vignettes show the canoe-riding coyote musing on The Big Questions: “thank you for letting me come here to talk about my mountains. they were here and now they’re gone and so forth. it is said we will soon enter nirvana. what’s the hold up?” and giving curious advice: “THE NAVAJOS WERE RIGHT: for more info see a Navajo.” For the first time Crosbie offers a collection of his wise, strange, and surprising illustrations in EVERYTHING BE OK, a book he self-published last year. With more ink Crosbie allows his sage further mountain- and cloud-filled room to animate his poetry. More »

Charles Petrie, the top-ranking U.N. official in Myanmar (at least until special envoy Gambari arrives Saturday) was ordered out of the country by the ruling junta. Why? he wrote a letter criticizing the "deteriorating humanitarian situation" in the country, thus "acting beyond his capacity" according to the junta. [The letter] concluded with a reference to the mass protests that were brutally suppressed. “The concerns of the people have been clearly expressed through the recent peaceful demonstrations, and it is beholden on all to listen,” the statement said. On Oct. More »

Don't look now but the monks are on the march again in northern Myanmar: "We are continuing our protest from last month as we have not yet achieved any of the demands we asked for," the monk told Democratic Voice of Burma. "Our demands are for lower commodity prices, national reconciliation and immediate release of (opposition leader) Aung San Suu Kyi and all the political prisoners," said the monk, who was not identified by name. He said they had little time to organize so the march was small but "there will be more organized and bigger protests soon." More »

Is that a lama behind the camera? More movies from Bhutan. Will sanctions on Burma be enough? asks Mike Nizza. Prime Minister Steven Harper of Canada met with the Dalai Lama and got China all worked up. A technical overview of the internet shutdown in Burma. Opinion from the Bangkok Post: The status quo in Burma cannot continue. More »

Op-Ed columnist Roger Cohen of the New York Times looks into the rebuilding of the Buddhas of Bamiyan. Tricycle took a quick look at this story over a year ago. Don't forget, Buddhas are still being destroyed in central Asia -- In fact, Buddhas being dynamited serve as a kind of barometer of Islamist power in a particular region. - Philip Ryan, Web Editor More »