Tricycle | Awake in the World

In case you'd like to remind them the world cares about Tibet. Courtesy of Vichy Democrats ("still dogging Joe Lieberman until he's in his political grave.") Also see TIME magazine's China Blog, which is following the goings-on in Tibet. The Dalai Lama fears there will be a "lot of casualties" in Tibet. More »

Reuters has a day-by-day account of the "largest and most sustained protests Tibet has seen" since 1989. China warns English PM Gordon Brown about getting cozy with the Dalai Lama. And regarding his announcement that he would resign if the violence continied or esclated, the office of the Dalai Lama issued this clarification: Dharamsala, 18 March, 2008: During a meeting with some representatives of the Media this afternoon, His Holiness repeated what he told Jonathan Mirsky of the Observer, London, more than fifteen years ago that if the majority of the Tibetans in Tibet resorted to violence in their freedom struggle, he would have no option but to resign as spokesperson of the Tibetan people. On the issue of indepe More »

From the Buddhist Channel: Tibetan exile leaders took part in a hunger strike in Delhi yesterday. And Who is the Dalai Lama? More »

Though the term "Zen Monster" may bring to mind the Buddha-on-Godzilla image from Brad Warner's Sit Down and Shut Up, Zen Monster is actually a new magazine full of politics, religion, criticism, poetry, fiction, book reviews, and art. It's described as "a voice for independent poets, artists and writers outside of any hierarchical or ecclesiastical Buddhist affiliation." It's very pretty, too, thanks to designer Charles Rue Woods, a longtime friend of Tricycle. Contributors to the first issue include Norman Fischer, Philip Whalen, Susan Bee, Ann Waldman, Gary Snyder, and many more. I opened right up to a bunch of Philip Whalen epistles and Eliot Katz's Elegy for Allen Ginsberg, plus a photo of a cool sculpture by Steven Siegel, not to be confused with the smililarly named action star / tulku. More »

[Author’s note: It’s been my observation that the deepest compassion often arises from worst adversity, abandonment and neglect. It is those who suffer most who understand suffering best.] The year was 1954 and I’d been drafted into the Army and sent to Germany as part of the occupation forces. I met Ditha through a friend of hers who contracted with the Army to manage the mess hall at Friedberg Kaserne where I was stationed. As time went on, I learned something of Ditha’s past. She remembered being left one day at her aunt’s apartment in Frankfurt because, as it was explained to her, her Mother and Father had “business” somewhere that day. But they never came back to pick her up, and that’s the last she knew of them or their whereabouts. Later the Nazi’s came and took her aunt away, and Ditha became a ward of the state, housed in an orphanage. More »

From Mikel Dunham's website. More »

Here they are. More »

Danny Fisher points us to Wildmind's excellent Tibet turmoil round-up. This is a great summary of what's going on. Buddhist Jihad returns from hiatus to give us some Tibet links. More »

China defends its role in the Tibet crisis. There were even demonstrations in Beijing. And of course, China blocked YouTube. 49 people reported killed in fighting in Sri Lanka over the weekend. More »