Buddhist meditation practices take many forms.

For Tricycle Meditation Month, we are making available for free three video Dharma Talk series from the Zen, Tibetan, and Theravada traditions to give curious meditators a sense of how the different schools approach the dharma. Each is packed with practical meditation advice and offers accessible teachings that anyone, regardless of background, can find helpful.

  • Practicing with Zen Koans in Your Everyday Life with Zen Master Bon Yeon (Jane Dobisz)
    Meaning “public case,” Zen koans are brief and puzzling stories or sayings from historical Zen masters. In this Dharma Talk series, Zen Master Bon Yeon, guiding teacher at the Cambridge Zen Center, provides clear instructions for practicing with koans and explains how they can precipitate insight by engaging our “don’t know” mind.
  • The Healing Power of Innate Love and Wisdom: Meditations from Tibet for Westerners with Lama John Makransky
    Lama John Makransky, associate professor of Buddhism and Comparative Theology at Boston College and Tibetan Buddhist teacher, aims to make meditation practices from Tibet accessible to a Western audience in this series of talks. The meditations he teaches can train us to disrupt entrenched patterns of thought in order to find a greater capacity for joy and compassion within ourselves and others.
  • Mindfulness of the Body with Ralph Steele
    Ralph Steele brought his background as a therapist and a Buddhist teacher in the Theravada tradition together to found the Life Transition Institute, a retreat center in Santa Fe, New Mexico that offers specialized classes for youths, families, and people of color. His Dharma Talk series delves into embodied mindfulness, concentration, and insight practices, and offers advice for dealing with physical discomfort along the way.