When did you become a Buddhist and why? I began practicing Buddhism in 1997 when I first visited Plum Village in France, because I found a teacher [Thich Nhat Hanh] that was incredibly clear and inspiring, a practice that really worked, and a community that was deeply healing. 

Is your family Buddhist? I grew up in a Christian family and community. After I first went to Plum Village, my dad, a Christian minister, visited us for a Buddhist-Christian silent retreat. He then started regularly attending retreats and was inspired to cofound a local sangha that has been meeting weekly for over 25 years. He ordained into the Order of Interbeing and later became a lay dharma teacher just after I received the Dharma Lamp. So my dad has practiced wholeheartedly in both Christian and Buddhist traditions ever since I started practicing Buddhism. My mom, sister, and brother, and my nieces and nephews have all attended retreats or visited the monastery as well. 

What’s your favorite breakfast on retreat? I love oatmeal with fruit, seeds, and nuts. I also love the rice and bean congee with crispy onions and homemade pickles we would have in the monastery.

What’s your daily practice? I meditate for an hour in the mornings with my partner. Sometimes we will also practice chanting or read spiritual teachings. I also usually meditate at least one other time during the day with the online groups I lead or am a part of. 

Favorite aphorism? “Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.” –Buddha

What’s the longest you’ve gone without meditating? How do you get back on track? Probably just a few days. As a full-time dharma teacher, I offer meditation as part of my daily activities, so even if I skip regular meditation practice due to travel or illness, I can’t go more than a few days without offering it to others. I get back on track by noticing how the lack of meditation impacts my mind and body negatively, as I tend to lose perspective, speed up, and be less in touch with awe and wonder. This motivates me to return to regular practice. Having good spiritual friends who are dedicated practitioners is also a big support. 

Book on your nightstand? Ruth Ozeki’s A Tale for the Time Being.

What do you like to do in your free time? Hike, swim in a natural body of water, read, go slowly, lie in a hammock, sit in front of a fire, connect with my partner, spend time with my dog, visit with friends, cook, garden, journal, make art.

What non-Buddhist do you look to for guidance? Dr. King, Howard Thurman, Resmaa Menakem, Vandana Shiva, Bear Heart, Dorothy Day, and pretty much any mystic of any tradition or time. 

What was your first job? Teaching English in Brazil when I was 16. 

Why did you want to teach a dharma talk on the Ecosattva Path for Tricycle? Because the dharma can offer us much-needed spiritual tools to help us navigate this very precarious time of societal unraveling due to the climate crisis.

What Buddhist book has most affected your practice? While traveling in India in 1997, I read Old Path, White Clouds, a beautiful account of the Buddha’s life by Thich Nhat Hanh. I soaked it up like a sponge, reading for hours in the land where the events recounted in the book had happened millennia earlier. I was moved by the Buddha’s calm, humor, and compassion, by how human he was and by how much he loved his students. Every word on the page awoke in me the wish to follow this path for myself and touch true liberation in my own heart and in the collective mind. When I have read it again since then, I have found it just as fresh and full of new insights.

The post Visiting Teacher: Kaira Jewel Lingo appeared first on Tricycle: The Buddhist Review.

Where did you grow up? I was born in Siberia and spent the first eleven years of my life in the Ural mountain region. My family eventually moved to Moscow, which is where I went to high school.

When did you become a Buddhist and why? I started reading books on the Dzogchen tradition at about 14, but my primary interest then was Hinduism. After my first trip to India at 18, I was so impressed with Sarnath, where the Buddha gave his first sermon, and with His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s book Healing Anger, that I soon went to a Buddhist teaching event and took refuge. 

Is your family Buddhist? No, though their interest in matters of philosophy and natural healing has certainly affected my own hippie disposition.

What’s your favorite breakfast on retreat? Cereal with plant-based milk and black coffee.

What’s your daily practice? In the Tibetan tradition, one accumulates a number of daily commitments, which include daily recitations and some analytical meditations to do. An important part of my personal commitment package is Tara practice, combined with the four immeasurables (equanimity, love, compassion, and joy). 

Favorite aphorism? A quote from Sherwood Smith: “Kindness never makes anything worse, and it can often make things better.”

Favorite musician? Vienna Teng. In addition to her wonderful albums, she has a musical on the life of a female Buddha (check out The Fourth Messenger)!

What’s the longest you’ve gone without meditating? How do you get back on track? Because of the daily commitment system that exists in the Tibetan tradition, I haven’t skipped my practice since I was 21, even though it is done quite hastily on some days. 

Book on your nightstand? Blazing Splendor, by Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, and A Posse of Princesses, by Sherwood Smith.

What do you like to do in your free time? I like long walks while listening to either music or podcasts.

Who is your teacher? I have six heart teachers: the late Lama Zopa Rinpoche, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Khandro Tseringma, Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche, Garchen Rinpoche, and Lama Alan Wallace. Many others have provided invaluable guidance as well.

What non-Buddhist do you look to for guidance? Jane Goodall, Karen Armstrong, Thomas Merton, and occasionally stories about Neem Karoli Baba.

Favorite subject in school? Classic literature. I was very passionate about Dickens!

What was your first job? Social media promotion for big brands. I somehow ended up teaching meditation to fellow agency workers.

Most used emoji? 🙏

What would you do if you weren’t a Buddhist teacher? Teaching yoga nidra (yogic sleep) to help people find some rest. That’s still something I do on occasion. 

What Buddhist book has most affected your practice? There are a number of books that I’ve read again and again, but Blazing Splendor: The Memoirs of Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, as told to Erik Pema Kunsang and Marcia Binder Schmidt, stands out as the most important. The book is a collection of memories from one of the most prominent teachers of the 20th century—and the father to the influential lamas Mingyur Rinpoche, Tsoknyi Rinpoche, and Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche. By describing encounters with great yoginis and yogis, Blazing Splendor shows what advanced and sustained practice can bring, explains how to derive inspiration from the history of one’s lineage, and provides bits of advice that can enrich our practice of the nature of the mind. 

Why did you want to teach a dharma talk on the four immeasurables for Tricycle? The four immeasurables have completely transformed my life, and they are so universal that anyone can benefit from them. I also believe it’s very important to revisit the ways of teaching them that exist in the original traditions as a way to reach profound, liberating levels.

♦

This September, watch Michael Lobsang Tenpa’s Dharma Talk on the four immeasurables at tricycle.org/dharmatalks.

The post Visiting Teacher: Michael Lobsang Tenpa appeared first on Tricycle: The Buddhist Review.

Where did you grow up? In a shire in Middle England.

When did you become a Buddhist and why? In 2006, after meeting my first and main Tibetan Buddhist guru in India. I took Buddhist refuge vows from him.

What’s your favorite breakfast on retreat? Fresh coffee (if I can get it!), fruit, and/or whole wheat toast.

What’s your daily practice? On the mat: refuge, bodhicitta, recalling emptiness, mandala/offerings, guru yoga, deities and protector practices. Off the mat: compassion, patience, love, and more compassion!

Favorite aphorism? “All that glitters is not gold.” Closely followed by “Practice what you preach!”

Favorite musician? Too many to choose! When I was a teenager, I loved singing and playing piano, so I particularly like female singer-musicians like Nina Simone or Kate Bush.

Book on your nightstand? The Second Karmapa, Karma Pakshi: Tibetan Mahasiddha by Charles Manson.

What do you like to do in your free time? Meditate, dance, yoga, read, write, listen to music, go for walks in nature, sit outside a café with a magnificent cappuccino and watch the world go by.

Who is your teacher? The ultimate teacher is always the buddhadharma and one’s inner buddhanature, and the relative teacher embodies and reflects that. It’s a cliché, but life experience is the “best” and most honest teacher!

Why is emptiness important for practitioners? Both method (compassion/bliss) and wisdom (the view of emptiness) are considered crucial for attaining full awakening. Practicing the method alone can lead to compassion that is well-meaning but lacks the insight and wisdom to make it genuinely beneficial for others.

♦

Visit tricycle.org to watch Adele Tomlin’s dharma talk on emptiness. See more of Adele’s work here. 

The post Visiting Teacher: Adele Tomlin appeared first on Tricycle: The Buddhist Review.

Where did you grow up? In the San Francisco peninsula area.

When did you become a Buddhist and why? I started meditating in 1980 and discovered Buddhism with my first ten-day meditation retreat a couple of years later.

Is your family Buddhist? No.

What’s your daily practice? I enjoy basic mindfulness with breathing and other satipatthana practices.

Longest retreat? 10 months.

Who is your teacher? I have practiced with a number of amazing Asian teachers including H. W. L. Poonja in India, Pa-Auk Sayadaw of Myanmar, Buddhadasa Bhikkhu in Thailand, Nyoshul Khen Rinpoche in Nepal. I am also very grateful for my skilled and inspiring Western teachers, including Christopher Titmuss, Anna Douglas, Joseph Goldstein, and Sharon Salzberg.

Coffee or tea? I prefer teas. I like many kinds of teas . . . fine Japanese green teas and also milky ginger cardamom chai.

Why did you want to teach a dharma talk on this particular topic for Tricycle? Working with distraction and habitual thoughts supports deep concentration and leads to deep insights into the emptiness of the self. Therefore, overcoming distraction offers a rich arena for nurturing both concentration and insight practice. I find the step-wise practices offered in the early Buddhist discourses to be a convenient and easy-to-work-with systematic method for addressing distraction. I have enjoyed teaching this method in courses and retreats, and earlier this year I published a book on this subject called Beyond Distraction: Five Practical Ways to Focus the Mind.

♦

Shaila Catherine’s Dharma Talk will be published in February at tricycle.org/dharmatalks.

The post Visiting Teacher: Shaila Catherine appeared first on Tricycle: The Buddhist Review.

Where did you grow up? In the Koreatown, Hollywood, and North Hollywood districts of Los Angeles, California.

Is your family Buddhist? No.

What’s your favorite breakfast on retreat? Egg hoppers.

What’s your daily practice? Metta [lovingkindness] in action, satipatthana [mindful awareness] on the cushion.

Favorite aphorism? From my mother: “Dime con quién andas, y te diré quién eres.” (“Tell me with whom you go about, and I’ll tell you who you are.”)

Favorite musician? Julieta Venegas.

What’s the longest you’ve gone without meditating? How do you get back on track? Three or four days. To get back on track, as a monk I just have to show up to morning meditation, which doesn’t take much effort!

Book on your nightstand? How the Mind Changed: A Human History of Our Evolving Brain by Joseph Jebelli.

What do you like to do in your free time? Read nonfiction books and listen to science and philosophy podcasts. Also, eat tacos and drink coffee.

Who is your teacher? The late Dr. Bhante Punnaji.

What non-Buddhist do you look to for guidance? [The Slovenian philosopher] Slavoj Žižek.

Coffee or tea? Cold brew coffee.

What was your first job? Working at a petting zoo in Northridge, California.

Most used emoji? 🤭

What would you do if you weren’t a Buddhist teacher? I probably would have stayed in the Air Force and/or taught martial arts.

♦

In November, watch Bhante Sanathavihari’s Dharma Talk series on understanding right effort at tricycle.org/dharmatalks.

The post Visiting Teacher: Bhante Sanathavihari appeared first on Tricycle: The Buddhist Review.

Where did you grow up? My dad was a park warden, and so I was very fortunate to grow up in Prince Albert National Park in central Saskatchewan, Canada. This introduced me to my first teacher: Nature.

When did you become a Buddhist and why? Likely the same reason as everyone reading this: I was suffering with anxiety, confusion, and reactivity, and I was searching for meaning. I stumbled upon the first insight meditation retreat held in our community 25 years ago. I tasted peace that weekend.

Is your family Buddhist? We are a Métis family with mixed Swampy Cree and Scottish heritage, which I think contributes to my capacity to see different perspectives.

What’s your daily practice? My go-to practice is to combine metta [lovingkindness] and joy with settling into the breath. Then, from this base, to open awareness. And then touch into this all day, as best I can.

What’s the longest you’ve gone without meditating? How do you get back on track? If you consider “meditating” to include daily practices like compassion and mindfulness, I’d say . . . not that long. Joys or sorrows get me back on track.

Book on your nightstand? Poetry of Presence: An Anthology of Mindfulness Poems, edited by Phyllis Cole-Dai and Ruby R. Wilson.

What do you like to do in your free time? Canoe, kayak, walk, hike, and nap on warm boulders.

Favorite subject in school? Canadian literature. I still love novels.

What was your first job? Librarian assistant at our little local library.

Most used emoji? Hearts of various shapes, sizes, colors.

What would you do if you weren’t a Buddhist teacher? I’ve truly always wanted to be the person who gets to dress up as a mascot and shake hands and hug little kids at events. I got to be the beaver mascot for Parks Canada once and had so much fun. It was just channeling metta and joy all day.

♦

In October, watch Jeanne Corrigal’s Dharma Talk series at tricycle.org/dharmatalks.

The post Visiting Teacher: Jeanne Corrigal appeared first on Tricycle: The Buddhist Review.

Where did you grow up? In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, next to the Miller Brewery and the Harley-Davidson shop.

When did you become a Buddhist and why? After I graduated college I traveled to Nepal and took refuge with Lama Zopa Rinpoche. I had tried everything else, I suppose; I was grinding my teeth for years over the relationship between relativity and meaning, and it turned out Nagarjuna had the only good answer I could find.

Is your family Buddhist? No, but if you cross Catholics and Protestants you get Buddhists—or Ireland, depending.

What’s your daily practice? Trying to relax into play mind with my 3-year-old. Beyond that I mumble in Tibetan, burn things for invisible beings, and try not to get distracted.

Favorite aphorism? “Mind, there is no mind, mind’s nature is luminous clarity” from the Prajnaparamitas.

Favorite musician? I seem to be married to Sarasvati.

What’s the longest you’ve gone without meditating? How do you get back on track? I became a husband and father a few years ago. I lost track of meditation somewhere around then. Open to suggestions.

Book on your nightstand? The Tantra Without Syllables.

What do you like to do in your free time? Fire pujas.

What non-Buddhist do you look to for guidance? My mom, Shakyamuni.

What were you voted in high school? Nothing. But I ran for vice president with the slogan “¿Quién es el más macho de todos?” (Sp., “Who is the most macho of all?”) and lost.

What was your first job? Cleaning the bathrooms at home for $5 a week. Then I was an usher, a school bus driver, a delivery guy, a bartender . . .

Most used emoji? 🔱

What would you do if you weren’t a Buddhist teacher? Confidence tricks.

♦

Lama Karma’s four-part audio teaching on “Open Mindfulness” will be available in May.

The post Visiting Teacher: Lama Karma appeared first on Tricycle: The Buddhist Review.

Where did you grow up? I was born in Los Angeles, but my father took the family to Tokyo when I was 2 to finish his graduate studies. Since then, I’ve moved about 25 times to different places in the US and Japan. I feel like I’m coming home when I travel. We’ve been in Eugene, Oregon, for 22 years, the longest I’ve lived anywhere.

When did you become a Buddhist and why? I’m the fourteenth-generation ordained Shin Buddhist priest in my family lineage. My grandfather came to this country in 1935 as the twelfth-generation priest in his family. In some ways, I’ve been Buddhist for many lives, for millions of years. In other ways, it was a conscious process that began with an existential moment in my twenties. Buddhist in my mind does not refer to a thing but a becoming, a path.

What’s your daily practice? The heart of practice is to listen for the voiceless voice of boundless compassion, illuminating, enveloping, and dissolving this “I.” I set aside time every day, every morning to sit quietly to hear this voiceless voice, coming to me as the Name: Namu Amida Butsu, “I, this foolish being, entrust myself to the awakening of infinite light.”

Favorite aphorism? I have two: “In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities; in the expert’s mind there are few.” –Shunryu Suzuki

“Even the person of good karma attains birth in the realm of oneness beyond words; how much more so the person carrying the burden of great evil karma.” –Shinran Shonin

Favorite musician? Miles Davis, Kind of Blue phase.

What do you like to do in your free time? Take walks, do a little weeding in the yard.

What non-Buddhist do you look to for guidance? The Taoist classic philosopher Zhuangzi.

Favorite breakfast on retreat? Fruit cup with yogurt mixed with oatmeal, nuts, and raisins.

What were you voted in high school? Biggest Goofball.

♦

In February, watch Mark T. Unno’s Dharma Talk series, “The Heart of Great Compassion: The Path of Shin Buddhism” at tricycle.org/dharmatalks

The post Visiting Teacher: Mark T. Unno appeared first on Tricycle: The Buddhist Review.

Where did you grow up? I was born in the border region between Nepal and Tibet, high in the Himalayas. When I was 11, I moved to northern India.

When did you become a Buddhist and why? I was born into a Buddhist family, with the distinguished teacher Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche as my father and many other great practitioners as my relatives. I guess I would say that I formally became a Buddhist when I was 9. I was having panic attacks, and I felt that Buddhist practices would help. In the end, the panic attacks brought me deeper into Buddhism.

What’s your favorite breakfast on retreat? Tsampa, a roasted barley flour that you can mix with things like fresh butter, dried fruit, nuts, and milk.

What’s your daily practice? I reserve the first few hours of the morning for formal meditation and try to have moments of recognition of my experience throughout my day.

Favorite aphorism? “You’re perfect. Right now, right here.” This phrase comes from my father and stays with me during everything I do.

What’s the longest you’ve gone without meditating? How do you get back on track? When I travel, I sometimes don’t have time to do formal meditation for weeks. When the traveling is over, I make it a point to create time for formal meditation as soon as possible.

Book on your nightstand? I have two books with me at all times—one is on Mahamudra, the other one is on Dzogchen. I used to have paper copies, but now I’ve downloaded them on my phone.

What do you like to do in your free time? Physical exercise, like hiking and walking. During the pandemic, I also took up gardening.

Coffee or tea? Coffee, especially black coffee.

Most used emoji? 🙏

What would you do if you weren’t a Buddhist teacher? I might have become a scientist.

♦

Join Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche this January for Tricycle’s Meditation Month. Sign up at tricycle.org/mm22 for a free 31-day meditation challenge featuring weekly guided practices.

The post Visiting Teacher: Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche appeared first on Tricycle: The Buddhist Review.

Why did you want to give a dharma talk on a new paradigm for science and religion in the 21st century? I feel science and religion have come to an impasse, each entrenched in a belief system they refuse to question and test. To rise to the challenges of the modern world, we must integrate our deepest scientific and spiritual insights. The dominant triad of materialism, hedonism, and consumerism must be replaced with pluralism, genuine well-being (eudaimonia), and an ethical way of life rooted in nonviolence and benevolence.

Where did you grow up? Primarily southern California but also Switzerland, Scotland, Germany, and Israel.

What’s your daily practice? Devotional practices—guru yoga, the four immeasurables, bodhicitta—and Dzogchen.

Favorite aphorism? Dromtönpa’s advice: “Give up all attachment to this life. Let your mind become dharma.”

Longest you’ve gone without meditating? Not a day since I moved to India in 1971 to study Tibetan Buddhism.

Longest retreat? A series of six-month retreats between 1980 and 1984, and four six-month retreats since.

Book on your nightstand? Not on my nightstand but close to my heart day and night: Düdjom Lingpa’s The Vajra Essence.

What do you like to do in your free time? Meditate.

Who is your teacher? I’ve trained under many Buddhist masters, but H. H. the Dalai Lama has been my root lama since 1971.

What non-Buddhist(s) do you look to for guidance? The psychologist and philosopher William James, the philosopher Hilary Putnam, and the physicist John A. Wheeler.

First job? Lecturer in Tibetan Buddhism, culture, and language at UC, Santa Barbara.

What would you do if you weren’t a Buddhist teacher? Buddhist contemplative full-time.

♦

This September, watch B. Alan Wallace’s Dharma Talk series, “A New Paradigm for Science and Religion,”at tricycle.org/dharmatalks.

The post Visiting Teacher: B. Alan Wallace appeared first on Tricycle: The Buddhist Review.