Buddhist films and discussion for the Tricycle community
Director Khyentse Norbu’s follow-up to his audience favorite The Cup is the first feature film ever shot in the tiny kingdom of Bhutan. One of Himalayan Buddhism’s most revered lamas, Khyentse (aka Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche) weaves parallel fable-like tales about two men who seek to escape their mundane lives in Travellers & Magicians.
In 1970, Jeffrey Kagel walked away from the American dream of rock ‘n’ roll stardom, turning down the chance to record as lead singer for the band soon-to-be the Blue Oyster Cult. Instead, he sold all his possessions and moved from the suburbs of Long Island to the foothills of the Himalayas in search of happiness and a little-known saint named Neem Karoli Baba.
This documentary film explores the history of Jodo Shinshu Buddhism in America through archival materials jointly maintained by the Buddhist Churches of America and the Japanese American National Museum (JANM), as well as interviews with priests who are actively serving temples in the United States.
Elemental tells the story of three individuals united by their deep connection with nature and driven to confront some of the most pressing ecological challenges of our time.
Monte Grande combines interviews and rare archival footage to explore the life and legacy of Chilean biologist, philosopher, and neuroscientist Francisco Varela. After becoming a Tibetan Buddhist in the 1970s, Varela became an integral figure in the burgeoning dialogue between modern science and Tibetan Buddhism, resulting in his cofounding of the Mind and Life institute with His Holiness the Dalai Lama and entrepreneur Adam Engle.
In the half-documentary, half-social experiment Kumaré, now playing throughout March at the Tricycle Film Club, New Jersey-born filmmaker Vikram Gandhi poses as an Eastern guru and attracts a retinue of disciples in Arizona. Disturbed by the yoga and meditation craze in the US, Gandhi journeys to India to seek an authentic spiritual teacher, only to find the swamis there to be just as phony as those in America.
In 1959, the Chinese invasion of Tibet threw open the doors to the mysterious realm of Tibetan Buddhism. Suddenly this rich, ancient tradition was propelled into the modern world. When the Iron Bird Flies takes us on an up-close and personal journey following the astounding path of one of the world’s great spiritual traditions from the caves of Tibet to the mainstream of Western culture.
Set against the rich, color-soaked backdrop of America’s rural landscapes, American Mystic is a bold documentary that braids together the stories of three young Americans who have chosen to sacrifice comforts in order to embrace the fringes of alternative religion.
When we stop resisting sadness—trying to sweeten it with phone calls, distractions, or pleasures—and just let ourselves feel it in all its heaviness, darkness, and pain, it disappears by itself, and even transforms into delight.
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