Tricycle: How do you account for Buddhist monasticism, at least as you experienced it, as having evolved in such a uninspiring way? Sangharakshita: Initially, the Buddha’s teachings had to be preserved through memorization and oral repetition. That was more easily accomplished by full-timers. So the monks inevitably gained a sort of monopoly. The original Buddhism was a… Read More Sangharakshita: Anti-establishment Buddhism
Clark Strand is a Tricycle contributing editor. His latest book is Waking the Buddha. With headlines like “Gentrifying the dharma: How the 1% is hijacking mindfulness” and “Rebel posturing and ‘mindfulness training’ can’t cover up tech world’s awful labor standards” on Facebook courtesy of Salon.com, suddenly American Buddhists find themselves pushed to one side or the other of an age-old… Read More A Clockwork Mindfulness: Challenging Corporate Buddhism
I’m beginning to understand the connection between shunyata and compassion, or love. Primordial emptiness is Prajnaparamita, Mother of the Buddhas. In Hindu, it is Shakti, it is the Primordial Void, it is the feminine divine. Because it is formless, out of it arises all forms. If there were some fundamental form to it, that form… Read More Mother of the Buddhas
