Tricycle | Awake in the World

The following interview was previously published at Stories Untold: Interviews and Synthesis by Erik Campano on Patheos.com, and is adapted here with permission. Recently Patheos has been putting the spotlight on American evangelical Christians’ efforts to fight human trafficking, as well as the critique from some academics that these efforts amount to the wrongful imposition of Protestant values on “rescued victims” (in quotes because both are controversial terms). There deserves to be, however, a broader range of conversations about trafficking that widens the lens beyond American Christian anti-trafficking work to include efforts in other countries undertaken by other faith traditions. More »

Biography and autobiography in Tibet are important sources for both education and inspiration. Tibetans have kept such meticulous records of their teachers that thousands of names are known and discussed in a wide range of biographical material. All these names, all these lives—it can be a little overwhelming. The authors involved in the Treasury of Lives are currently mining the primary sources to provide English-language biographies of every known religious teacher from Tibet and the Himalaya, all of which are organized for easy searching and browsing. Every Tuesday on the Tricycle blog, we will highlight and reflect on important, interesting, eccentric, surprising and beautiful stories found within this rich literary tradition. More »

Segyu Rinpoche is the founder of the Juniper school, whose apt motto is "Buddhist Training for Modern Life." In this four-part retreat, the Brazilian-born teacher in the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism introduces us to the the four building blocks of transformation—meditation, balancing emotions, cultivating compassion, and developing insight. In his opening talk, Awakening the Mind and Meditation, Segyu Rinpoche instructs us in meditation, which he calls "the cornerstone of transformation." With his detailed instructions on posture and breathing, he emphasizes the importance of a steady and consistent practice if we're truly serious about training our minds. More »

Meditation month is wrapping up, and though I'm pretty sure I've achieved nothing, I have—I hope—developed some insight into "real happiness." The most pronounced of these is the insight that real happiness isn't so great. In fact, for anyone with half an imagination, it's opposite ("fake happiness," "conventional happiness"?) is far superior. While conventional happiness is filled with bouts of joy and connection, not to mention endless congratulations, awards and achievements, Cold Beer and Beautiful Girls, real happiness has something to do with sustained attention and—can't forget—accords with reality. More »

As we near the close of Meditation Month at Tricycle, I thought it'd be nice to leave you with some good reading. It's not easy to maintain a meditation practice for many of us. As laypeople especially, it's difficult to see ourselves through the clutter of life to the cushion. This is why it's important to make sure that our surroundings are conducive to practice. I find Thanissaro Bhikkhu's writing on this particularly helpful. As a busy layman, I need all the help I can get, and I've found the Thai forest monk's most recent book, With Each & Every Breath, particularly helpful. This is what he writes on how to optimize our surroundings for a steady meditation practice: More »

Biography and autobiography in Tibet are important sources for both education and inspiration. Tibetans have kept such meticulous records of their teachers that thousands of names are known and discussed in a wide range of biographical material. All these names, all these lives—it can be a little overwhelming. The authors involved in the Treasury of Lives are currently mining the primary sources to provide English-language biographies of every known religious teacher from Tibet and the Himalaya, all of which are organized for easy searching and browsing. Every Tuesday on the Tricycle blog, we will highlight and reflect on important, interesting, eccentric, surprising and beautiful stories found within this rich literary tradition. More »

The following is a guest post by writer and teacher Lisa Kremer.   Be mindful of the passing of time, and engage yourself in zazen as though saving your head from fire. —Dogen, 13th-century Japanese Zen master Eyes closed, the body comes into focus. I feel the touch of the ground beneath my sitting bones, the touch of my hands resting on crossed legs. The breath takes over; layers of the mind unfold. But today, on the threshold of the cave of consciousness, the walls of the cave—my body—grab hold. It is as if the vrittis (the whirling of thought and emotion) are embedded in the flesh itself. The skin, the muscle, the organs, the bones pulsate, calling me back. Look at me, my body says. Stay with me. Yes, watch me. Keep me safe. More »

The Wisdom 2.0 conference, a four-day gathering of the Silicon Valley crowd to address the intersections of spirituality, mindfulness, and technology, took place this past weekend. Author and conference attendee Jay Michaelson blogged his experiences at the summit here on the Tricycle blog throughout the weekend. Today's post covers the last day of the conference, which was yesterday. Let’s Get Real More »

The Wisdom 2.0 conference, a four-day gathering of the Silicon Valley crowd to address the intersections of spirituality, mindfulness, and technology, is taking place this weekend. Author and conference attendee Jay Michaelson will be blogging his experiences at the summit here on the Tricycle blog throughout the weekend. At Wisdom 2.0 today, I was talking with a senior dharma teacher, a veteran of the scene for thirty-odd years. “It used to be,” he told me, “that you could pretty much know everything that was going on in the American Buddhist scene. Now, it’s grown so much that that’s impossible, and it’s totally out of our control—and that’s okay.” More »