Tricycle | Awake in the World

Why do we get angry? What— exactly—happens when we act with greed, with hatred, or with delusion? If we understood the mechanisms involved with constructing and perpetuating these toxic behaviors, it would help us to avoid, abandon, or transform them, and would contribute greatly to our learning to be generous, kind, and wise instead. The matter is explained quite succinctly in the Abhidharma-samuccaya (2.1.2), a Sanskrit text attributed to the Yogacara teacher Asanga. More »

One of the more difficult parts of the Buddha’s story to reconcile with modern sensibilities is the fact that he left home, abandoning his wife and newborn son, to wander forth into the wilderness as a spiritual seeker. The interpretation of this action among the general public can be that it was a selfish act, insofar as it was oriented toward his own personal emancipation from the bonds of the human condition. More »