Tricycle | Awake in the World

Diminutive yet striking in his signature white robes and white hat, Munindra was an enthusiastic, energetic, and immensely inquisitive Bengali meditation master who had a profound impact on people everywhere he went, even on many who never met him. Those whose lives he touched remember him not only for his erudition and expert guidance but, most importantly, for his embodiment of dharma—he lived what he taught. Through his presence and actions, Munindra made otherwise abstract ideals come alive. Living This Life Fully: Stories and Teachings of Munindra focuses on those ideals or qualities that lead to awakening: mindfulness, compassion, loving-kindness, determination, conviction, integrity, generosity, delight, curiosity, one-pointedness of mind, equanimity, relinquishment, wisdom, patience, vigor, and virtuous conduct. More »

From the introduction of Real Happiness:For thirty-six years, I’ve taught meditation to thousands of people, at the Insight Meditation Society retreat center in Barre, Massachusetts, which I cofounded in 1975, and at schools, corporations, government agencies, and community centers all over the world. I’ve introduced the techniques you’re about to encounter to groups of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, schoolteachers, police officers, athletes, teenagers, army chaplains and medics, doctors, nurses, burn patients, prisoners, frontline workers in domestic violence shelters, new moms and dads. My students come from every walk of life, ethnic background, and belief tradition. More »

Practicing for DeathWe all know that death is certain—no one ultimately evades death. What we often forget is that death can come at any time. For Buddhists, the moment of death is the most potent opportunity to practice. Indeed, it is the key opportunity to attain realization or a positive rebirth. Thus, meditation practice in Buddhism is actually practicing for death. You are practicing so that you can have mindfulness and clarity in that moment when you are dying, so you are confident you are prepared to use the experiences after death for the best rebirth possible—or even complete and perfect liberation. More »

EARTH: AN INTRODUCTIONThis book was written in an effort to better understand the relationship between society and environment, between the people and the land. A wealth of detail regarding specific interactions within an ecosystem is already being compiled through the systematic methods of inquiry utilized by the science of ecology. We humans are involved in that interaction, and what I’m after in this book is not so much the data but the condition of mind essential to a genuine human interaction with the earth. What has been lost to us that we no longer know how to speak the language earth speaks? What have we forgotten to think of say or do that, could we but remember, would restore our acquaintance once more?

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Materials for online discussion: The Yoga of Creativity: What’s the relationship between meditative practice and the artist’s journey? Anne Cushman is the author of the novel Enlightenment for Idiots, the tale of a would-be yoga teacher’s hilarious and ill-fated quest for spiritual awakening in India, which was named by Booklist as one of the “Top Ten First Novels” of 2008. She co-directs the Mindfulness Yoga and Meditation Training at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, California. Her essay “The Yoga of Creativity” in the current issue of Tricycle describes how her meditation and yoga practice helped her reclaim her creative voice as a storyteller—and explores the challenges she has faced while integrating her artistic and spiritual lives. More »