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The Buddhist Review
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Personal ReflectionsMagazine | Feature
Growing Ground
Cultivating compost in the murky depths of a monastery toilet, Steve Krieger learns to break down his raw material, inner and outer.
Faith in Awakening
Are faith and empiricism compatible? For Thanissaro Bhikkhu, they are inseparable components of an authentic Buddhist practice.
Fearsome Roots in a Quiet Forest
David A. Taylor tracks the elusive ginseng plant from the menacing forests of ancient China to the misty slopes of the Smoky Mountains.
The True Human
Tracy Cochran visits with transreligious visionary Frederick Franck at his “oasis of sanity.”
Personal ReflectionsMagazine | Feature
Fifteen Weeks of Dharma Dating
Anne Cushman goes undercover in the Buddhist branch of the online dating world
Departments
National Voice: Ko Un and the poetry of Korea
THE THREE WAY TAVERN: SELECTED POEMSKo Un; Clare You and Richard Silberg, TranslatorsBerkeley: University of California Press, April 2006184 pp.; $45.00 (cloth), $16.95 (paper) BECAUSE OF THE RAIN: KOREAN ZEN POEMSWon-Chung Kim and Christopher Merrill, TranslatorsBuffalo:…
TeachingsMagazine | Dharma Talk
An Ear to the Ground
Uncovering the living source of Zen ethics
Letters to the Editor Summer 2006
LETTER OF THE WONDERFUL LAW Kudos to you all for the special section in the Spring 2006 issue, “The Lotus of the Wonderful Law.” The articles are scholarly and have as their basic intention the furthering…
Books in Brief
PORTRAITS OF TIBETAN BUDDHIST MASTERS Don Farber, text by Rebecca McClen Novick University of California Press, 2005 191 pp.; $29.95 (cloth) Photographer Don Farber has been chronicling Buddhist life since…
Personal ReflectionsMagazine | In Memoriam
The Kindest of Friends
Richard Gere remembers his teacher Ribur Rinpoche.
MeditationMagazine | Interview
Ordinary Struggles
Clark Strand speaks with Bishop of the Buddhist Churches of America Socho Koshin Ogui on the subtle concept of practice in the Pure Land tradition
The Merry Greis
Pioneering neuroscientist, renowned pianist, and inventor Dr. Manfred Clynes takes Eliot Fintushel on a tour of his enterprising world
What’s the Opposite of Jealousy?
Jorge N. Ferrer questions the Buddhist allegiance to monogamy.
New Books: Rude Awakenings
Rude Awakenings: Two Englishmen on Foot in Buddhism’s Holy Land By Ajahn Sucitto and Nick Scott Published by Wisdom Publications www.wisdompubs.org In this excerpt, Nick and Ajahn are welcomed to India by beggars, taxi-drivers, and some…
From the Bottom Up
Is science rewriting emptiness with the emerging field of complexity theory? Here's what Buddhists can learn from ants, atoms, and physics.
Real Dead: The definitive translation
The Tibetan Book of the Dead Gyurme Dorje, translator; Graham Coleman and Thupten Jinpa, Editors. New York: Viking, 2005 535 pp.; $29.95 THE TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD is the most celebrated and widely read work…
Take it on Faith?
WESTERNERS PLAY FAST and loose with the Buddhist notion of faith, says frequent Tricycle contributor Thanissaro Bhikkhu. While the Buddha did encourage a healthy skepticism, he nonetheless taught faith. In this issue’s “Faith in Awakening” (page…
Land of Illusions
Land of Illusions In this scene from AMY TAN‘s latest novel, the cynical ghost of murdered San Francisco socialite Bibi Chen tells the story of her friends’ trip to Burma. CROSSING THE BORDER into Burma, one…
Non-Zen Elements
Tales of an eccentric garden guru
Tantric Trailblazers: A gathering of mystics
HOLY MADNESS: PORTRAITS OF TANTRIC SIDDHASThe Rubin Museum of ArtNew York, through September 4, 2006 THERE HAS BEEN a growing misconception in recent years—thanks…
TeachingsMagazine | Parting Words
Becoming Unbound
FOR NEARLY TWO THOUSAND YEARS, these brittle birch bark scrolls and others like them sat in clay pots in Afghanistan. In the mid-1990s, smuggled out from under the nose of the Taliban, they made their way…
Roadhouse Yogi
Country music trailblazer Jimmie Dale Gilmore sets his dharmic insight to a Texas beat
Buddha Buzz
Buddha Buzz: The Game of Life The number of English-language Buddhist board games in the world doubled in size in recent months, to an astounding . . . two! You now have your choice of rainy…
Contributors Summer 2006
Eliot Fintushel profiles Dr. Manfred Clynes for this issue in “The Merry Greis”. He writes: “Soldiering away at profitless things—that’s the life of the artist. Squint and tickle—maybe it’s something, and maybe it’s nothing—it hardly matters.…
Guitarist Sings Praises of Eastern Medicine
Alejandro Escovedo is making music again, with a little help from his friends...and acupuncturist
TeachingsMagazine | Thus Have I Heard
Keep Your Balance
Acting with wisdom and compassion requires a steady mind.
IdeasMagazine | Sangha Spotlight
Question Everything
An unconventional Sri Lankan monk attracts a crowd in Yellow Springs, Ohio
Chasing Happiness: The pitfalls of the consumer life
THE PARADOX OF CHOICE: WHY LESS IS MORE Barry Schwartz New York: Harper Perennial, 2005 304 pp.; $13.95 (paper) I’M AN INEPT COOK, and so grocery stores tend…
MeditationMagazine | On Practice
The Truth About Gossip
If you don't have anything nice to say. . .
Personal ReflectionsMagazine | Insights
A Way of Being
Finding happiness is mostly a matter of perspective.
Who Are You? Getting to the true answer
THE DIAMOND IN YOUR POCKET: DISCOVERING YOUR TRUE RADIANCEGangajiBoulder: Sounds True, 2005280 pp.; 22.95 (cloth) THIS IS AN EXCEEDINGLY CLEAR and accessible book about the realization of our true nature and what gets in the way…
Found Dharma Talks
Poet Gening Lentine gleans higher meaning from life's little instructions
Get Outta My Head
Meditating at an Indian ashram, ELIZABETH GILBERT struggles to keep it together with no help from her brain. The following morning, I arrive right on time for the 4:00 a.m. meditation session that always starts the…
