Tricycle | Awake in the World

The cyclone that hit Bangladesh last week killed more than 3,000 people and may have left a million homeless. As sea levels rise, expect more problems like this in Bangladesh and other low-lying coastal areas (where most of the world's population lives.) A Hollywood movie has Jesus hanging out with Buddhists and fighting the caste system in India during his "missing years" between ages 13 and 30. ASEAN is coming under fire for their handling of the situation in Burma. U.S. Trade Representative and Bush appointee Susan Schwab said ASEAN has a "special responsibility" to make Burma comply with international calls for reform. And U.N. More »

Clark Strand, a contributing editor to Tricycle, has raised some hackles with his recent opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal, "Buddhist Boomers," which more or less follows up on his piece "Dharma Family Values" from the pages of Tricycle. Strand argues that Buddhists in America (referring primarily to converts from the Baby Boom) are getting older and Buddhist ranks are not being filled by young people. Buddhists should emulate other religions in getting children involved, he argues. More »

Interesting site: FreeRice will donate 10 grains of rice through the United Nations for every word you define correctly! Get to it, you word-whizzes! More »

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 »