Tricycle Talks

For the last 12 years, Dekila Chungyalpa has worked with religious and indigenous leaders, scientists, and policymakers to design community-based environmental and climate programs. But having grown up in the northeastern Indian state of Sikkim, surrounded by strong women who chose to walk the monastic path, Chungyalpa hasn’t always found it easy to show up as both a devout Tibetan Buddhist and a conservation scientist. In this episode of Tricycle Talks, Chungyalpa shares with Tricycle’s editor James Shaheen how she’s come to integrate her commitments to science and faith, deal with climate deniers, and head the Loka Initiative, a climate-change outreach program that empowers and uplifts religious communities. In the face of so much eco-anxiety, climate distress, and doom and gloom, it is ultimately Buddhist teachings on emptiness, impermanence, non-attachment, and compassion, she says, that sustain her.

In this episode of Tricycle Talks, Editor and Publisher James Shaheen is joined by three contributors to take a closer look at our Spring 2021 issue. First, James speaks with Zen priest and psychologist Seth Zuiho Segall, whose feature article, “The Best Possible Life,” situates ancient Greek ideals of human flourishing against Buddhist enlightenment. Seth talks about what’s lost—and what’s gained—when practices from one culture find a home in a new one. Next, James and writer Daisy Hernández discuss the Buddhist concept of mudita, or sympathetic joy, and why it matters more than ever to take pleasure in other people’s happiness. Daisy’s article “The Joy of Joy” addresses the initial skepticism she felt about the term—and how that changed as she continued to practice mudita. Finally, the poet Arthur Sze talks with James about his poem “Wang Wei,” his artistic process, selections from his National Book Award-winning collection, Sight Lines, and the relationship between poetry and meditation. Also in this issue: Roshi Pat Enkyo O’Hara’s dharma talk, “Bodhisattvas Have More Fun,” which emphasizes the delight that comes with helping others; what video games can teach us about karma, written by the head writer for the Onion, Mike Gillis; an essay by Buddhist teacher Fred Eppsteiner about the time he spent with Thich Nhat Hanh outside Paris in 1975; and a portfolio of Buryat artist Dashi Namdakov’s eerily fantastical sculptures.

The United States and the world watched in shock last month, when on January 6, a mob of Trump supporters, many of them white and motivated by racist and nativist ideologies, laid siege to the US Capitol as lawmakers were certifying the 2020 presidential election results. As the US tries to rally around unity instead of division, Tricycle has been taking stock of recent events by looking inward—at why we, as a nation, need to deal with the roots of suffering first, before we can move toward collective healing.Race-based suffering, resilience, and transformation are at the core of a new collection of “freedom stories” written by Black Buddhist voices. In our latest episode of Tricycle Talks, editor and publisher James Shaheen speaks about what it means to be Black and Buddhist in America with Pamela Ayo Yetunde and Cheryl Giles, coeditors of Black and Buddhist: What Buddhism Can Teach Us About Race, Resilience, Transformation, and Freedom.In this conversation, Yetunde, a pastoral counselor and practitioner in the Zen and Insight traditions, and Giles, a professor of pastoral care and counseling at Harvard Divinity School and clinical psychologist, examine racial ignorance and color blindness in Buddhist communities as well as how their dharma practice has helped them to reaffirm and celebrate their Blackness. Together, they reflect on how this anthology of liberation stories can offer all practitioners, regardless of race, a different way of being—of relating to ignorance, anger, trauma, fear, and pain.

When we think about Buddhism, we don’t often think about monks and nuns conjuring spells or curses to break up lovers, exorcise demons, prevent unwanted pregnancies, or kill enemies. But for over two and a half millennia, magic and healing rituals have been an integral part of everyday Buddhism. They were also key to Buddhism becoming a cosmopolitan religion, flourishing in areas beyond the Indian Buddhist heartland. The magical aspects of Buddhist history, however, have been ignored or dismissed by scholars of Buddhism and by Buddhists themselves, resulting in a distorted view of the traditions we may study and practice today. In his new book, Buddhist Magic: Divination, Healing, and Enchantment Through the Ages, Sam van Schaik, a textual historian and practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism, makes a compelling case for why we should pay attention to Buddhism’s magical heritage—and what we lose by casting it aside. Having previously worked for the International Dunhuang Project, van Schaik currently heads the Endangered Archives Programme at the British Library in London. He is the author of Tibet: A History, Tibetan Zen, The Spirit of Zen, and The Spirit of Tibetan Buddhism. In our latest podcast episode with Tricycle’s Editor and Publisher James Shaheen, van Schaik debunks misperceptions about early Buddhism by showing how magical literature can offer a more holistic and realistic view of Buddhism from the ground up. He also paints a vivid picture of the role monks and nuns may have played in the magical-gig economy as well as how we can view mindfulness meditation in a comparable way—as the magic of our current age.

In a year of intense suffering, forgiveness may be the last thing on our minds. Some of us may be harboring resentment for family members, government leaders, or maybe the grocery store cashier who didn’t look like they were smiling under their mask this morning. But a new book encourages our capacity for reconciliation by retelling the stories of people who forgave under seemingly impossible circumstances. In Inspiring Forgiveness: Poems, Quotations, and True Stories to Help with Forgiving Yourself and Others, author Barbara Bonner recounts stories about people who found in it themselves to forgive themselves and others when the stakes were exceedingly high. A mother forgives herself after her son commits a school shooting. Eva Kor forgives the doctors who performed medical experiments on her and her sister during the Holocaust. John Lewis forgives George Wallace. The loved ones of the Emanuel Nine forgive the killer and vow to move toward love. In this episode of Tricycle Talks, Tricycle’s Editor and Publisher James Shaheen sits down with Barbara and meditation teacher Sharon Salzberg to discuss these instances of forgiveness as well as the conditions we need to forgive, and to what extent Buddhists engage with the practice. Committed to a life of Buddhist study and practice, Barbara Bonner has her own consulting practice supporting nonprofit leadership. She’s also the author of Inspiring Generosity and Inspiring Courage.

In this episode of Tricycle Talks, Tricycle’s Editor and Publisher James Shaheen sits down with Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche to discuss turning inward to steady oneself for the world, using humor to combat hurt feelings, and how patience is not passivity. Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche is a Tibetan teacher and the founder of Mangala Shri Bhuti, an organization in the Longchen Nyingtik lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. He’s also the author of eight books, including Training in Tenderness: Buddhist Teachings on Tsewa.

What is religion? Is Buddhism a religion? How about democracy? And how religious (or not) do you have to be to ask? In the latest episode of Tricycle Talks, Tricycle’s Editor and Publisher James Shaheen speaks to Jack Miles, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author and scholar of religion, about what we mean when we say something is a religion and how Miles's own life has led him back to this question time and again. Miles’s latest book, Religion As We Know It: An Origin Story, was released in 2019. In it, he explores the commonsense understanding of religion as one realm of activity among many, and how this definition serves and fails us. Miles is also the author of God: A Biography, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1996, as well as the general editor of the Norton Anthology of World Religions and professor emeritus of English and religious studies at the University of California, Irvine.

Arian Moayed is perhaps best known for his role as Stewy in the HBO series Succession. So for fans of the show, it may seem strange that for almost two decades, he’s been working to build a more empathic world through art and outreach. Arian is the co-founder of Waterwell, an organization working to tackle society’s issues through theater, art, and education. In this episode, Tricycle’s Editor and Publisher James Shaheen sits down with Arian and Sharon Salzberg to discuss the power and practice of both theater and meditation. Arian also speaks about loss and growing up as an immigrant in the United States—as well as the hard choices immigrants must make in this country. It’s part of Tricycle Talks’ Real Change podcast series based on Sharon’s new book Real Change: Mindfulness to Heal Ourselves and the World, which offers a new perspective on how activism and meditation practice can uplift each other. Their conversation is the final installment of the five-part series featuring Sharon’s book and the people in it who are creating change in their communities. Make sure to check out our episodes with Sharon Salzberg, Shelly Tygielski, and Michael Kink, and Daisy Hernández.

“Equanimity” might seem like just another Buddhist buzzword, but Daisy Hernández doesn’t think so. The author of the award-winning memoir A Cup of Water Under My Bed and the co-editor of Colonize This! Young Women of Color on Today's Feminism, Daisy is an Assistant Professor in the Creative Writing Program at Miami University in Ohio. Through her meditation practice, Daisy found refuge in her body and also discovered that it was possible to practice the Buddhist concept of equanimity—even when it felt like her life was falling apart. In this episode, Tricycle’s Editor and Publisher James Shaheen sits down with Daisy and Sharon Salzberg to discuss the personal circumstances that led Daisy and Sharon to Buddhist practice. It’s part of Tricycle Talks’ Real Change podcast series based on Sharon’s new book Real Change: Mindfulness to Heal Ourselves and the World, which offers a new perspective on how activism and meditation practice can uplift each other. Their conversation is the fourth in the five-part series featuring Sharon’s book and the people in it who are creating change in their communities. Tricycle Talks will be releasing the other episodes throughout the month. Stay tuned to hear our conversation with Arian Moayed—and make sure to check out our episodes with Sharon Salzberg, Shelly Tygielski, and Michael Kink.

Buddhism’s four noble truths start with the truth—and the inevitability—of suffering. So what does that mean for an activist? For Michael Kink, suffering became the fuel to power action for justice. The executive director of the Strong Economy for All Coalition, a labor-community organization focused on income inequality and fighting for a fair wage for all workers, Michael has been on the frontline of changemaking for decades. But Michael found that practicing Buddhism radically improved how he showed up to work. Meditation, he discovered, is something that is always helpful and always available—even in the midst of chaos. In this episode, Tricycle’s Editor and Publisher James Shaheen sits down with Michael and Sharon Salzberg to discuss how Michael’s practice empowers his work. It’s part of Tricycle Talks’ Real Change podcast series based on Sharon’s new book Real Change: Mindfulness to Heal Ourselves and the World, which offers a new perspective on how activism and meditation practice can uplift each other. Their conversation is the third in the five-part series featuring Sharon’s book and the people in it who are creating change in their communities. Tricycle Talks will be releasing the other episodes throughout the month. Stay tuned to hear conversations with Daisy Hernandez and Arian Moayed—and make sure to check out our episodes with Sharon Salzberg and Shelly Tygielski.