Lumbini will never be a Buddhist Mecca
The BBC has an article today that asks: “What happened to the dream of a Buddhist Mecca?” The article is about development in Lumbini, Nepal, the birthplace of the Buddha. It’s a common question these days…
Buddha
The historical Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, was a prince who lived about 2,600 years ago. After leaving his palace and discovering the realities of sickness, old age, and death for the first time, he resolved to understand and transcend suffering. He awakened under the Bodhi tree in modern day Bodhgaya, India, and began to teach the four noble truths, and the path to liberation from samsara—the cycle of birth, suffering, and death.
This week on tricycle.com
Last week, Gene Smith was honored with the opening of the Gene Smith Library at the Minorities University in Chengdu, China. Smith had left the university his collection of Tibetan texts. In the Summer 2011 issue…
Thailand Culture Ministry moves to ban tourists’ Buddha tattoos
If you were planning to get a tattoo of the Buddha during an upcoming trip to Thailand, you may want to reconsider. Thailand’s Culture Ministry has called on all Thai tattoo parlors to refrain from giving…
This week on tricycle.com
The jury is still out on whether it’s acceptable for Buddhists to enjoy a glass of wine now and again. While we wait for the verdict, some of us are in the mood for a little…
Dr. Stuart Lord, President of Naropa University, visits Tricycle
We were very lucky to welcome Dr. Stuart Lord, the President of Naropa University, to the Tricycle office this morning. In just under two years at the university, Dr. Lord has transformed the school in fundamental…
Angulimala and Tantric Buddhism
The British scholar of Buddhism Richard Gombrich has a seemingly endless supply of insightful readings of texts that we as Buddhists assume we know through and through. Take Angulimala (please). The standard story is one of…
Tricycle visits Bhikkhu Bodhi at Chuang Yen Monastery
Earlier this week, some Tricyclers were lucky enough to make it up to Carmel, New York in order to visit with Bhikkhu Bodhi at Chuang Yen Monastery. Chuang Yen is a Chinese Chán monastery, and my…
Fake Monks and Buddha Thievery
Has anybody read the Bangkok Post lately? Seems like the paper is absolutely determined to expose all Buddhist fraud and thievery these days. First, in “Bogus Monks exploit Buddhism,” we learn of foreign monks immigrating to…
A Sutra Noir: The Big Awakening
Nearly thirty years ago, Tricycle’s features editor, Andrew Cooper, wrote a fine piece of Buddhist humor that made the rounds in various Buddhist publications. It is an imagined Buddhist sutra told in the voice of a…
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