Akiko Takakura, one of the few survivors within 500 meters of Hiroshima’s ground zero, recounts how the atomic bomb prompted a moment of compassion and closeness with her stern father.

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In Japanese, the term mizuko, “water child,” refers to miscarried, stillborn, and aborted pregnancies. This intimate animated film depicts co-director Kira Dane’s experience of abortion, juxtaposing American culture with the Japanese Buddhist Jizo rite for grieving lost pregnancies.

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To mark the abducted 11th Panchen Lama’s 29th birthday and pressure the Chinese government to release him, leaders of Students for a Free Tibet attempt to break the Guinness World Record for most candles on a birthday cake.

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Can Grandma’s reincarnation be found in the local pet store? Eight-year-old Michelle thinks so.

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Serving as an Israeli military medic in the 1973 war, Jonathan Katzenelson experienced life’s impermanence, leading him to reject the conventional life his father wanted for him and ordain as a Tibetan Buddhist monk. For years, he’d lived a double life—dentist in the day, monk in the evening—until his father’s death freed him to live […]

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Ring in 2021 with Tricycle’s Buddhist Shorts Film Festival! This month, we’re featuring five short films documenting Buddhist diversity around the world.

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Few have heard of David Bohm, the man Einstein called his “spiritual son” and the Dalai Lama his “science guru.” Learn about the brilliant physicist’s life and his groundbreaking theories at the intersection of science and spirituality.

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Ahimsa, or non-harming, is a cornerstone of the Buddha’s teachings. It also has driven various social movements. Through interviews with activists and experts, this film explores how nonviolent action brings about radical change.

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Glimpse the lives of children raised in Buddhist monasteries by following five-year-old Hopakuli and his older brother Chorten, two novice monks living in Lumbini, Nepal, as they navigate homesickness and infuse the rigors of a monastic lifestyle with youthful joy and imagination.

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The darkhans of Buryatia, a Buddhist region of Siberia, were craftsmen and blacksmiths revered for their artistic skills and shamanistic ability. Today, Dashi Namdakov, a descendant of darkhans, is an internationally renowned artist and sculptor who infuses his work with shamanism, Buddhism, and Buryat mythology.

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Three generations of Tibetans have adopted distinct modes of resistance to the Chinese government’s occupation of their homeland. In this documentary, individuals from each generation navigate the choice between violent and nonviolent activism.

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Sabine, a Swiss actress, joins life at a small Soto Zen monastery in Japan to learn more about herself. The beautiful photography and sometimes difficult discoveries are interspersed with quotations from the eminent Zen master Kodo Sawaki.

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This three-part saga, seen through the eyes of Tao, a young woman from Shanxi province in North China, captures the social and economic changes rapidly transforming Tao’s home country as forces of globalization test her family’s relationships and upend her life.

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After losing two friends and an uncle to suicide, Zen priest Itettsu Nemoto made it his life’s mission to support those struggling with depression and suicidal behavior. My Soul Drifts Light upon a Sea of Trees follows three of the hundreds of people Nemoto has counseled as their lives are transformed by his holistic, community-based approach to suicide prevention.

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Reflecting on the parts of humanity that no crisis can take away, documentarian and activist Josh Fox journeys around the globe to learn from frontline communities fighting the ecological crisis with creativity and courage.

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An unlikely friendship develops between a drifting young jazz musician and the quirky proprietor of a Buddhist B&B in this lyrical homage to Zen and the Japanese American communities of Hawaii.

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Afghan archaeologists and villagers fight to save the ancient Buddhist city of Mes Aynak, one of the most significant archaeological discoveries of recent times, from destruction by a Chinese copper mine.

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Ring in the New Year—and new decade—with Tricycle’s Buddhist Shorts Film Festival! This month, we’re featuring five short films documenting Buddhist diversity around the world.

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In this short documentary, Dutch painter and Zen Buddhist Gert Johan Manschot reflects on his art and life. Manschot describes the events that led him to take up meditation, and as we watch him paint from his studio outside of Austin, Texas, he describes how his art and Buddhist practice have helped him find a […]

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Yearning for freedom, Michael gave up his career as a rising star in the field of abstract mathematics to become a renunciant in a Hawaiian jungle. Living in a house he made by hand, he spends his days meditating, gardening, and swimming with dolphins. He argues that another way of life is possible: one focused on developing compassion and wisdom while living lightly on the earth.

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During Nepal’s civil war, an 11-year-old monk forms an unlikely friendship with a rebel child soldier hiding in his monastery.

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In 1995 Judith Skinner started a traditional three-year Tibetan Buddhist retreat in her rent-controlled San Francisco apartment. 24 years later, she’s still on retreat. Judith reflects on her two decades spent largely in solitude.

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Caught between her Vietnamese heritage and her life in the Czech Republic, a young girl feels like a stranger in her own country. Where is home for a child raised between two cultures? 

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