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Back Issues
Is Buddhism’s teaching on nonattachment a directive to disengage from relationships? A Pure Land priest explains that in her tradition, it is impossible to awaken without them.
by Reverend Patti Nakai | photographs by Pete Saloutos
A lay practitioner reveals one of the most liberating decisions of her life: celibacy.
By Mary Talbot
Following his father’s death, Tricycle’s features editor reflects on the importance of our care for one another.
By Andrew Cooper
A Thai forest monk explains why a healthy body image is not what you think it is.
By Thanissaro Bhikkhu, Illustrations by Beppe Giacobbe
The “present moment” is on everyone’s lips nowadays. But do we really know what we mean by it? The philosophers of antiquity help us get underneath the cliché.
By Jack Petranker | Photography by Tonje Thilesen
On the eve of the 10th anniversary of the Indian Ocean Tsunami, a psychologist who volunteered to help survivors in Thailand recalls her staggering confrontation with death and considers how a Buddhist country coped with the truth of impermanence.
by Ronna Kabatznick | photographs by Philip BlenkinsopContributors include Ronna Kabatznick, Reverend Patti Nakai, and Philip Blenkinsop.
By The Editors
A selection of letters sent by Tricycle readers
By The EditorsA letter from Tricycle’s editor, James Shaheen
By James Shaheen
Good and Wise Friends, do not listen to me explain emptiness, and then become attached to emptiness. Above all, do not cling to emptiness. If you meditate with a vacant mind, you will become fixated on a blank emptiness. Good and Wise Friends, the emptiness of the physical universe can embrace the shapes and forms […]
By Huineng
As a factor of the Buddhist path, faith (saddha) does not mean blind belief but a willingness to accept on trust certain propositions that we cannot, at our present stage of development, personally verify for ourselves. These propositions concern both the nature of reality and the higher reaches of the path. In the traditional map […]
By Ven. Bhikkhu BodhiSuch is the benevolence of Amida’s great compassion, That we must strive to return it, even to the breaking of our bodies; Such is the benevolence of the masters and true teachers, That we must endeavor to repay it, even to our bones becoming dust. ♦ Hymns of the Dharma-Ages, 59.
By Shinran
During the Gembun era (1736–40), a fire broke out at the neighboring Numazu post station. I sent two of my monks and our old servant Kakuzaemon to find out what was happening. Kakuzaemon came running back, gasping for breath, and made the following report. “Ahh, there is nothing as terrifying or as hateful as fire! […]
By HakuinGod’s joy, wrote Rumi, moves from unmarked box to unmarked box. I remember my sister’s husband, after her stroke, complaining “Liz is a box. It says on the outside Liz, but she’s not there, not the Liz I married.” “Is she simple,” our daughter wondered, noting how the sheer weight of loss had rendered my sister speechless. But […]
By Margaret Gibson
When you wake in the morning, you may notice a brief period when you’re between sleep and waking, when you’ve left the dreams of the night but haven’t yet entered into the identities and plans of the day. The gap may be extremely small, but if you pay attention you can catch it and prolong […]
By Stephan Bodian
What is the true self? It’s brilliantly transparent like the deep blue sky, and there’s no gap between it and all living beings. ♦ From The Zen Teachings of Homeless Kodo. Reprinted by arrangement with Wisdom Publications, Inc.,www.wisdompubs.org.
By Kodo Sawaki RoshiConsider, for a moment, the word understand and its synonyms. To stand under. Something is “there” above us and we are below, underneath, looking up. We reach “up” and try to “grasp” it, “catch” it, “capture” it. The origin of the synonym comprehend is “to seize or lay hold of, to hang on to.” And […]
By Lisbeth Lipari
Q&A with a Buddhist filmmaker
By Alex Caring-Lobel
A Tibetan teacher shares his advice for achieving mental strength in the 21st century.
By Phakchok Rinpoche
Eight Tibetan verses teach us why putting yourself first means you’ll always end up last.
By Kadampa Geshe Langri Thangpa, translated and with commentary by Jeffrey Hopkins
A modern-day Zen master reflects on three generations of irreverent teachings.
By Joel Agee
The Buddha accepted full ordination for women. But in the centuries since, they have been barred from this legacy. Two nuns help revive the female monastic line.
By Emma Varvaloucas
How to beat your mind at its own game
By Kittisaro
An Indian-American tries to preserve what he cannot understand.
By Hawa Allan
Tricycle takes a quick look at recent Buddhist books.
By Max Zahn
A parting shot from The Shinnyo Center
By The Editors
How a Buddhist took the harm out of her diet
By Noa Jones
Searching for the source of China’s legendary river
By Bill Porter
A Buddhist considers her water consumption during a time of drought.
By Wendy Johnson
Can we awaken in this very life?
By Andrew Olendzki
A Buddhist chaplain for all faiths
By Pamela Gayle White
How a Buddhist took the harm out of her diet
By Noa Jones
Searching for the source of China’s legendary river
By Bill Porter
A Buddhist considers her water consumption during a time of drought.
By Wendy Johnson
Can we awaken in this very life?
By Andrew Olendzki
A Buddhist chaplain for all faiths
By Pamela Gayle White