How Buddhism Came to Éliane Radigue
Éliane Radigue, the French pioneer of musique concrète and analog electronic music, died at 94, leaving a legacy that intertwines sound art with Tibetan Buddhist practice. Her three‑hour *Trilogie de la Mort*—spanning eight years of composition for the first movement “Kyema”—maps the six intermediate Bardo states described in the *Bardo Thodol*. The work, created on her ARP 2500 modular synthesizer, reflects a lifelong quest to capture transitional moments, a theme rooted in her early exposure to avant‑garde composers and later deepened by a three‑year Buddhist retreat. In her final decade Radigue shifted to acoustic collaborations under the “Occam” project, preserving works through oral transmission rather than scores.
Doorways to Awareness
The article explains Dzogchen’s concept of rigpa—an innate, primordial awareness that precedes ego and conditioning—and argues that awakening can occur instantly when this state is recognized. It contrasts this view with other Buddhist paths that treat enlightenment as a gradual...
The Tassajara Zendo Fire and Impermanence
The historic meditation hall at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center in California was destroyed by a recent fire, consuming cushions, monks’ robes, hand‑sewn rakusus, and a rare Gandharan Buddha statue. The blaze follows a pattern of past fires on the site,...
Mediums and Mountain Ascetics
Hiroko Yoda’s new book, Eight Million Ways to Happiness, weaves memoir, history and cultural analysis to introduce readers to Japan’s contemporary spiritual landscape. Drawing on personal grief after her mother’s death, Yoda explores the fluid interplay of kami, Shinto, Buddhism...
No Borders, No Boundaries
The article uses two NASA astronauts stranded in orbit as a metaphor for the mental constraints many people experience. It introduces the concept of "regime‑space," a self‑imposed framework that binds identity to the body, brain, and a fixed sense of...
A Drunken Bee
Sunthorn Phu (1786‑1855), hailed as Thailand’s “Shakespeare,” rose from a working‑class Bangkok background to become the nation’s most celebrated poet, oscillating between court life and monastic retreats. His verses blend Theravada Buddhist ideas with vivid eroticism, portraying desire as a...
My Good Luck African Braiding Sangha
The essay frames African braiding salons as a spiritual ritual, comparing the prolonged, painful process to Buddhist tonsure and Yoruba ori practices. It explores how the act of braiding mirrors meditation, endurance, and self‑renunciation, while also serving as a communal...
The Flow of Life
In a newly translated dialogue, journalist Irmgard Kirchner interviews longtime friend Santacitta Bhikkhuni, a former avant‑garde dancer turned Theravada monastic. The conversation frames Buddhism as a healing path that dissolves delusion and attachment, using the four vipallasa to illustrate how...
‘In a Room of One Thousand Buddhas’
Monica Sok, a Cambodian‑American poet, uses her debut collection A Nail the Evening Hangs On to confront the trauma of the Khmer Rouge genocide and critique U.S. foreign policy. The poem "In a Room of One Thousand Buddhas" weaves Buddhist...
From the Academy: Yogacara
The Tricycle newsletter explores Yogacara, the “mind‑only” school of Mahayana Buddhism that emerged in 3rd‑century India and was systematized by the monk brothers Asanga and Vasubandhu. Its central doctrine, vijñaptimātratā, argues that all experience is a mental construction shaped by...
The Wisdom of Women
Erica Bassani, author of *Women in Love with the Divine*, releases a new book compiling twelve interviews with women spiritual teachers from Buddhism and other faiths. The work, born from her Women Awakening Project, explores themes of divine femininity, the...
The Duties of a Wise Ruler
The article outlines the ten *rajadhamma*—Buddhist virtues that define a wise ruler, ranging from generosity and moral conduct to self‑sacrifice, honesty, kindness, and non‑violence. It argues that these qualities are not only spiritual ideals but practical guidelines for modern leaders,...
Silent Underground
On December 1, 2025 a Triratna Buddhist monk and four sangha members meditated for twelve hours on London’s Circle line to raise funds for a new UK centre and to protest urban noise. The silent sit, filmed and shared by...
The Mindfulness of Tidying Up
Shoukei Matsumoto’s excerpt from *Work Like a Monk* frames everyday cleaning as a form of mindfulness rooted in Japanese Buddhist practice. He describes how collective cleaning in schools, temples, and even stadiums reinforces gratitude, presence, and a sacred bond with...
Future Flowers
Miranda Mellis’s new speculative novel Crocosmia imagines a post‑catastrophic world where decapitated heads of state give way to towering skyscraper flowers, symbolizing ecological renewal. The narrative follows Maya and her artist mother Jane as they navigate an anarchist monastic commune,...