The New Kadampa Tradition is an international association of Mahayana Buddhist meditation centers that follow the Kadampa Buddhist tradition founded by Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso.
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The World Without Us
I came across an Elephant Journal tweet that took me to this, by Jay Winston: Hell, pumping every kind of toxin into our ground, air, and water while carelessly wasting every natural resource we can find is perhaps the single most defining characteristic of human society. Nonetheless, in big-picture terms, our total effect on Mother Earth really hasn’t amounted to anything more serious than a bad case of planetary eczema or psoriasis. And, the way things are going, we won’t be bothering her for long. Take a look, it's a good, short read. More » -
Cyborg Buddha: Is what we are born with enough or could we use a little help?
Suzuki Roshi once said something to the effect of, "You're perfect as you are—and you could use a little work." Transhumanist, bioethicist, and former Buddhist monk James Hughes would agree. And that's an understatement: there's virtually nothing about us, he thinks, that can't be enhanced to improve our chances at realization: "I think the next couple of decades will probably be determined by our growing ability to control matter at the molecular level, by genetic engineering, and by advances in chemistry and tissue-engineering" he says. More » -
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China plans world's largest dam on Tibet's last great undammed river
Chinese engineers recently proposed a plan for the world's largest hydroelectric dam on the Tsangpo-Brahmaputra, considered Tibet's last great undammed river. Tibet's river systems water much of China itself, as well as south and southeast Asia, and India has raised concerns that Beijing will try and divert water away from south Asia, but this concern is probably far-fetched. China leads the world in building coal-powered plants—at the rate of one new plant every week*—and the country's need for power is great. China is the factory for a huge proportion of goods eventually sold in the United States, Europe, and all over the globe. More » -
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"The Known Universe" by AMNH/RMA
I just can't get enough of this video. Created by the American Museum of Natural History and used in the recent Rubin Museum of Art exhibition "Visions of the Cosmos", it is a journey from the Himalayas to the end of the universe, literally. If you haven't seen it, it is definitely worth the six and half minutes it takes to watch it. Watch it here. More » -
Survival of the Kindest
It's not such a dog-eat-dog after all. It turns out we may be wired to be kind. As you may have heard, Sharon Salzberg is leading our first Tricycle Online Retreat, a three-week teaching on metta, or loving-kindness, practice. In the teacher-led discussion, one retreatant points us to a University of California, Berkeley, study on sympathy and compassion. More » -
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Shelter from the Storm
[UPDATED: Link fixed.] "The storm petrel is able to survive only by taking refuge in the vast ocean that surrounds it. Rather than allowing themselves to become overwhelmed by the enormity of their environment, these fragile and diminutive birds follow the paths of least resistance. During the worst weather, they place themselves deep down in the troughs of waves, using their delicate feet to push themselves away from the moving walls of wild water next to them, and letting the howling winds shear across the crests of waves high above. This is the bird's own spontaneous dance of resourcefulness and survival, and it is only one example of the countless ways in which sentient beings take refuge." - Gary Thorp, "Shelter from the Storm." Read the complete article here. More »
