Zen Blog

Developing and cultivating a heart that is inclined toward generosity is not easy. 

It requires a certain vulnerability. It requires a certain faith. It requires so much dharma, really. 

It’s no mystery that Siddhartha Gautama and his wife Yasodhara (I like to call them “the collective Buddha”) taught generosity first whenever traveling to a new town or village. It requires so much generosity to practice. We have to be generous to ourselves; we have to commit to being authentic and actually undergo this purification of the heart, this journey into healing each wound of the heart and having the courage to face them.

Presence requires generosity. It requires courage. It requires a commitment to coming back into the now.

There’s a really beautiful passage where the Buddha is talking about generosity, and he says, as you’re washing your alms bowl in the river, just having the generosity of thinking of how the debris and grains of rice can feed the river life; just having this generosity that everything we do can affect others in a positive way if we have the mind to offer it that way. 

Nothing is permanent, everything is precious. Here’s a selection of some happenings—fleeting or otherwise—at Tricycle and in the Buddhist world this week.

The Winning Poems from Last Month’s Haiku Challenge

As moderator Clark Strand notes, the winning and honorable mention haiku for April’s challenge “captured the essential spirit of Nature’s most ubiquitous spring flower,” the dandelion. Read the winning poems here, and then submit your own haiku for a chance to be featured on our website and in the print magazine. 

A Short Guided Meditation on Expanding the Visual Sense

In a new short audio practice, meditation teacher Lama Karma demonstrates the use of “panoramic vision,” a relaxation technique to help us take in our environment with increased openness and clarity. This is the second of a four-part series on Open Mindfulness, a framework that explores the yogic awareness practices of Tibetan Buddhism within the contemporary context of the mindfulness movement. Listen here.

A Teaching from Thaye Dorje, His Holiness the 17th Gyalwa Karmapa

In a reflection originally published on Thay Dorje’s website, the 17th Gyalwa Karmapa writes about the miracle of human life. Though our lifetimes are fleeting on a cosmic scale, we experience them as long and adventurous. Focus on this, he says, and you will be naturally motivated to make the most of life. Read the teaching here.

A Dharma Talk on the Strength of Goodness

Meditation teacher Joshua Bee Alafia’s Dharma Talk this month focuses on dana (giving), sila (moral integrity), and bhavana (cultivation, meditation) as means for living as heart-centrically as we can. Watch this week’s talk, “The Strength of Goodness,” here.

I cry when I read the news periodically.

Graphic details of the war in Ukraine, disturbing reports of climate chaos, the racist mass shooting in Buffalo, New York here in the United States all remind me of the ignorance, hate, and violence in our world. It’s a lot to be with. 

Making space for the truth of our feelings is essential for keeping the heart healthy and finding a wise response in this complex world.

The pain is valid. The grief is valid. The anger, fear, and emotional exhaustion are all valid. 

I’ve been teaching this week in central Massachusetts, where spring is in full force: the trees are in bloom, the scent of lilacs fills the air, warm thunder showers roll through the afternoon. The other day, between retreats, I sat outside with a good friend, drinking tea and catching up about our lives.

Bill Porter (Red Pine) | Courtesy Copper Canyon Press

Marie Myung-Ok Lee | Photo © Adrianne Mathiowetz