Tricycle | Awake in the World

Filmmakers: Fred Yi and Lauren Talley

What does it mean to be awake in the world? It's not the kind of question the average person would expect to be asked while walking down the street or while taking a break at work. But that's exactly what we asked dozens of tourists, businessmen, students, and others. Their answers offer a glimpse of what the average person—not just the philosopher or spiritual guru—thinks about spirituality, consciousness, community, and existence.

Filmmaker: Jes Therkelsen

Music is a way for Kerry Klein to experience a silence in her mind. Can she bring that space into the rest of her life?

Filmmaker: Atsushi Matsunaga and Grady Candler

Moto Na Maji (Fire & Water) documents how an extraordinary international group of religious leaders, social advocates, environmentalists, and artists gathered with local communities at the edge of the Great Rift Valley in Kenya, the cradle of humanity, to offer prayers for a new awakening of compassion and altruism. An ancient fire and water ceremony was adapted by Shinnyo-en, the Japanese Buddhist order, to be shared and to be meaningful for everyone.

Filmmaker: David Brown Poem: Rebecca Brown

To be awake means to find and be found by love. We find love in all of life, if we put the pieces together.

Filmmaker: Stacey Stone

"Awake in the World" was shot entirely on the shores of Lake Atitlan, Guatemala in 2012. The film's narrative includes various individuals living and working in this sacred area as well as a Mayan Shaman. Guatemala seemed like a perfect locationin 2012 to ask "What does it mean to be Awake in the World?" Six spiritual individuals and local imagery attempt to answer this inquiry.

Filmmaker: Chad Scheifele

"Who am I?" is a short film about a young practitioner of mindfulness who, through a series of personal encounters, discovers the true nature of existence.

Filmmakers: Rebecca Saag and John Saag

Yoga Art documents Kim Manfredi's experimental method of combining her two life passions, yoga and fine art, which had until recently been separate parts of her life.

Filmmaker: John Wassel

This is a stop motion interpretation of the famous Zen discourse from Ch'ing-yuan Wei-hsin. Through the Buddha's teaching and our own effort we can slowly understand the true nature of the world around us by overcoming our misconceptions. First believing something exists when it does not, then believing it doesn't exists when it does, and finally seeing the true nature of things.

Filmmaker: Donat Sperling

Chakra Meditation is a sensational journey and guided meditation in which we can discover our energetic nature and relax into a meditative state. The video will guide the viewer through 7 chakras, starting with the root chakra, going all the way to the crown chakra. It is suggested that for each transition into the next chakra one breaths deeply and relaxes into the present moment.

Filmmaker: Seung Ah Lee

One day while Lee was walking down a busy city street, it suddenly seemed that everyone around him was controlled by the shape of squares. It was as though the shape of squares had cast a lengthening shadow on everyone's existence, obscuring people's bright and open-ended awareness with the dreary repetitiveness of day-to-day living, and in a way that no one even noticed. But at the end of the day, life consists of both brief strokes of happiness and unexciting, gloomy series of chores.

Filmmaker: Conor Provenzano

In this experimental vision of self-knowledge, a young man cleans the mirror of his mind, showing him that his true face can be seen in everything he sees. "The Original Face" asks the question "who are you?" and begs the viewer to realize the impermanence of all forms.