Go Off the Path OR Why I Read, "tricycle | The Buddist Review"

This is the fourth week in my "Going off the Path: Magazine Series" as inspired by The Happiness Project.  In a previous post, I mentioned this magazine was chosen at the suggestion of a friend (and fellow blogger, Traveler for Good) who had seen it at Whole Foods, and thought it would fit my quest.

Even before I started reading the contents, I found myself wondering why the magazine is called, tricycle. I figured it had to have something to do with the number three and a tricycle having three wheels, but after that I was stumped. Sadly, I could not find the answer in the magazine or on the publication's website. My Dad also tried to figure it out one night when I was on the phone with him; even though he could not, I was really excited to hear that he liked this magazine project so much that he is considering trying it himself this summer. We will have to compare strategies. Anyway, back to the search for the meaning of tricycle. Last night, I finally thought in a Google search kind of way - unfortunately as I type I cannot remember what words I used - still I have the answer: tricycle, the magazine is published by The Tricycle Foundation. On their website (but why it is not on the publication site is beyond me) is the straightforward sort of answer I was seeking:

Why "Tricycle?"

A three-wheeled vehicle aptly evokes the fundamental components of Buddhist philosophy. Buddhism itself is often referred to as the “vehicle to enlightenment,” and the tricycle’s three wheels allude to the three treasures: The Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, or the enlightened teacher, the teachings, and the community. The wheels also relate to the turning of the wheel of dharma, or skillfully using the teachings of the Buddha to face the challenges that the circle of life presents.

Back to tricycle the magazine, which is a quarterly publication that I found quite interesting. One thing that I have discovered in reading these various publications is that each magazine editor handles advertisements differently. For instance, with some magazines it is a zillion full page ads before one even gets to the Table of Contents, while others sprinkle there ads throughout, but for tricycle a majority of the content articles were supplemented (disrupted) by some sort of ad. These ads were everything from e-retreats, to books, to Samadhi Cushions where one is encouraged to find you seat (meditation cushions, benches, incense, gongs, etc.). Perhaps if I had the right meditation seat, my brain would stop racing. As silly as this probably sounds, just in case the last statement was not ridiculous enough for you, the layout gave me a feeling of over-stimulation (Ala ESPN.com). I was already trying to read material that was new to me in a lot of ways, and to have my attention drawn elsewhere was problematic. I rationalized that this is probably how they afford to offer the magazine, but still the approach was a turn-off to me. Apparently a byproduct of this project is that I have become hyper-critical of magazine layouts, which is unfortunate.

Again, back to the content of tricycle. There were more than a couple concepts/processes that my over-anxious personality found difficult to wrap my brain around, but I still found a lot of new information.

Here's what I learned:

• ABACUS, a financial planning firm, has opened an office in New York City. Their financial advice is based on Nobel-prize winning research and the Buddhist practices of awareness, simplicity, equanimity, and non-harming. The headline for the ad: How Would Buddha Occupy Wall Street.

• Two new expressions: is-ness and was-ness. Here is how it can be used in context: The only place where there is something, is-ness is only now. How could there be anything else? Anything else is was-ness or will-be. Is-ness is only now. And you, therefore, can only be now. And you, therefore, can only be now. You cannot be in the past. That's dead. You cannot be in the future. It hasn't come. You can only be now.

• By never having had Ghee, clarified butter, I am missing out on the essence of the sun. If I find it, I need to be aware of hydrogenated vegetable fat labeled as ghee, which has infiltrated the Indian market with its artery hardening transfats. Yummy!
  
  
• I had to skip the article entitled, "Vegetable Nirvana." I blame a childhood game of categories on a road trip with my parents in which my parents went back and forth for at least 30 minutes naming (making up) every type of bean in existence.
  
• The Internet has changed the world. Now let it change your practice. Attend an E-Retreat.
  
• Mindfulness is not about hitting someone in the mouth, but rather it helps us deal with difficult emotions. It suggests the possibility of finding the gap between a trigger event and our usual conditioned response to it, and using that pause to collect ourselves and change our response. Or as a book I am reading helped me understand - I am a hailstorm and Danny is a turtle. Crap!
  
• First Beatlefest (attended back in high school), next Buddhafest? June 20-23 in Arlington, Virgina.
  
• The expression: Commit to Sit. I fear Danny is going to use this one with me.
  
• As a life-long Presbyterian, I am well versed on forgiveness; but I have never heard this explanation: "Forgiveness is giving up all hope of a better past." (Jack Kornfield)


• Humility is the ground zero of spirituality.
  
• Mesaynak is an ancient Buddhist city in Afghanistan that is being superficially excavated before being turned over to the Chinese for copper extraction.
  
• Virtue can be thought of as having the heart of two people. You are able to feel and give more. You have extra compassion and empathy. It also implies courage.
  
• You have time to say you don't know how. Why don't you take that time to go learn?
  
• There is a blog called, "Taste of Chicago Buddhism." The author once gave a series of lectures called, "The Major Dudes in Buddhism," inspired by the Steely Dan song, "Any Major Dude Will Tell You."
  
• When you're not connected to the clarity and kindness of presence, we're all too likely to fall into more misunderstanding, more conflict, and more distance from others and from our own heart. A tool to combat that RAIN:
• Recognize what is happening
• Allow life to be just as it is
• Investigate with kindness
• Non-identification
  
•  Compassion puts us directly in touch with the human condition. It is the difference between a faith that opens us to life and all its complexities and a faith that forces us to close down to protect what we cannot or will not question.

While the last magazine (Garden & Gun | Soul of the South) led to a new category (Things I have never seen (and will probably never see again) in a magazine) this one also lent itself to a new category:

What Resonated with Me:

• In an interview with an artist who is approaching 80, she was asked what her thoughts are on death and dying. Her response: "as for dying, what can I say, I hope that whichever way it comes, I'll be able to do it well."
  
• I especially enjoyed the article on Mindfulness. Here are a couple tidbits:
• Mindfulness practice isn't meant to eliminate thinking but aims rather to help us know what we're thinking when we're thinking it, just as we want to know what we're feeling when we're feeling it.
• It's never too late to turn on the light, or turning off an old tape doesn't depend on how long it has been running.

• The concept of having a Meditation Practice - this one particularly focused on calling up difficult emotions.
• The perception alone makes the feelings more manageable.
• If you find your+self (Spike inserted the + sign, I decided to leave it) thinking I will always feel this way, or if I were stronger/more patient/smarter/kinder I wouldn't feel this way, return to the simple truth of the moment-sitting and being aware of your breath.
  Ding, ding ding! I meditate during yoga, but I have never been able to do it otherwise. I really want to try.
  
•  Balancing Emotions, one of the "four building blocks of Buddhist training" (the other three practices are Meditation, Cultivating Compassion, and Developing Insight) is definitely something I could work on.
• A single word, or even a look, from another person can trigger a range of emotions that consume us for hours, weeks, or longer. This is especially true for someone as sensitive as me.
• When our emotional energy rises, it is difficult to dissipate it at will.
• We tend to convince ourselves that if outer circumstances were to change - things would be better. Guilty.
  
•  Forgiveness Practice
• As you're breathing feel all the barriers that you've erected and the emotions you've carried because you haven't forgiven yourself or others. Let yourself feel the pain of keeping your heart closed.
• Gently repeat to yourself, "I remember the many ways that I have been hurt, wounded or harmed. And I know that it was out of another's pain, confusion, fear, anger. I have carried this pain in my heart long enough. To the extent that I am ready, I offer you forgiveness. You who have caused me harm, I offer my heart-felt forgiveness. I forgive you." 

•  Civil Conversations Project, launched in 2011 to restore nuance and context to the most complex issues of our day, from abortion rights to same-sex marriage.
• It's more about how we can live together while we disagree about these things that are so personal.
• In fact, I worry a lot about the language of civility, because I think it sounds too nice, and I don't think this is about being nice at all. I think it's about being adventurous and taking risks. When I read this, I found myself thinking about our revolutionary, founding fathers. While their words were elegant and well-stated they were not concerned with being nice. Is it possible for lawmakers to find more of a balance between civility and honesty to get the message across?
•  Gabe Lyons, Christian Evangelical Pastor, asks why the hell are we focusing on gay marriage all the time? Why aren't we focusing on ourselves? He would rather focus on troubled marriages in his own community than whether same-sex marriages are okay.

• Life is always throwing monkey wrenches into the machinery of your calculating mind. Or as my family is always telling me, stop worrying so much.

While I started this project with the goal of four magazines in four weeks, it morphed into four magazines in five weeks. I think I may take a bit of a hiatus, but after that I will read one of Danny's Triathlete magazines cover to cover. I was recently asked, what could this magazine possibly cover for a full issue yet alone a monthly publication? I did not have a good answer, but perhaps after I read it, I will. Or as Danny said while he trains for his Ironman, if I can't beat it, join him.