Frederick Ranallo-Higgins

Happy Thankgiving!

Right Speech, Left Speech Practicing meaningful dialogue in a time of polarization

An excellent reminder during holiday times with family members you don't see eye-to-eye with, Emma Varvaloucas talks with John Wood and Monica Guzman about practicing meaningful dialogue. It's not easy when our fundamental moral positions are challenged by family.

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Wonhyo’s Middle Path Harmonizing truths across Buddhist traditions

Tommy Tran offers a brief biography of the 7th-century Korean Buddhist monk Wonhyo and his method of harmonizing doctrinal disputes. "No single doctrine was complete, but each revealed a facet of truth," Tran says, "Wonhyo emphasized the merits and limits of every perspective."

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My latest interview with Australian Tendai priest Jikai Tyler Dehn. Jikai is dedicated to translating all the works of Tendai founder Saicho into English. Check him out on YouTube or his website. His dedication to the dharma is inspiring.

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#AIHallucinations

AI, Karma & Our Robot Future Two artificial intelligence scientists discuss what's to come.

At Tricycle, we really appreciate Nikki Mirghafori's sobering clarity on AI and what the future holds. She recently talked to James Shaheen for a premium subscriber special event. Here, she talks with Steve Omohundro for Tricycle on AI, karma, and our robot future.

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Ed Zitron Gets Paid to Love AI. He Also Gets Paid to Hate AI He’s one of the loudest voices of the AI haters—even as he does PR for AI companies. Either way, Ed Zitron has your attention.

He’s one of the loudest voices of the AI haters—even as he does PR for AI companies. Either way, Ed Zitron has your attention.

The Art of Mindfulness A dharma teacher and pilgrimage leader recounts his first time visiting India's historic Buddhist sites with the late Thich Nhat Hanh.

A wonderful reflection by dharma teacher and pilgrimage leader Shantum Seth on his first time visiting India's historic Buddhist pilgrimage sites with Thich Nhat Hanh, adapted from the latest posthumous book by TNH called Touching Peace on Parallax Press.

Japan, ostensibly one of the least religious countries in the world, had its political order upended by the lay Buddhist organization Soka Gakkai. That is THE story about Friday's epochal shift in Japanese politics (thread follows):

Western Buddhism: The First Wave Stunning new discoveries reveal Buddhism’s first arrival in the West.

The Berenike Buddha—a 2nd-c CE marble statue in Egypt—is the earliest Buddha image found west of Afghanistan.

M. D. Usher suggests that early Buddhist communities may have been in Roman Egypt long before modern notions of “Western Buddhism.”

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Judging Bhikkhunis A landmark case for Buddhism and law in Sri Lanka

Legal scholar Benjamin Schonthal explains the recent ruling in Sri Lanka on Bhikkhuni ordination and its implications. I must admit, I underestimated the importance of the ruling, since it didn't require the Nikayas to accept anything.

We will have to wait and see how this unfolds.

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In the Presence of Gods and Spirits: Hirata Atsutane and His Collaborators <I>In the Presence of Gods and Spirits </I>brings to life the early nineteenth-century Japanese religious leader and scholar Hirata Atsutane, whose fear of Russian incursion onto Japan's soil led him ...

A new book on #Shinto and famous #Kokugaku scholar Hirata Atsutane 平田篤胤 (1776-1843) has just been published open access and free for download by the preeminent historian Dr. Ann Walthall! You can check it out here: www.fulcrum.org/concern/mono...

Trump Is Sending a Terrifyingly Clear Message America’s democratic system depends on the public’s understanding that law is bigger than politics, David Frum argues. But now, Trump is sending a clear message that he is willing to go after his enemies and undermine that system.

America’s democratic system depends on the public’s understanding that law is bigger than politics, @davidfrum.bsky.social argues. But now, Trump is sending a clear message that he is willing to go after his enemies and undermine that system.

Fragments of a Dharma Bum Collected works from Jack Kerouac’s Buddhist years show a writer seeking clarity in chaos.

Randy Rosenthal reviews a new book of unpublished writings by Jack Kerouac, a powerful force in popularizing Buddhism in the West. Rosenthal says, "We see him as an earnest fellow seeker, trying to incorporate his newfound wisdom into his art."

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Feeling this

Buddhist Compassion on a Global Scale A new book tells the story of Tzu Chi and the Buddhist nun behind one of the world’s largest humanitarian movements.

Stanford PhD Candidate Nancy Chu reviews a new book by Hong Kong Polytechnic University's Chengpang Lee. The book tells the story of Tzu Chi and the Buddhist nun behind one of the world’s most significant humanitarian movements.

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I saw these relics at the Met and thought, "How the hell is this traveling around in a private collection?" Cheong's research paper, linked in this article, helps a lot. It was very disturbing to see these holy relics at the Met. It felt highly inappropriate, sacrilegious, and just bad juju.

Selling the Buddha Restituting the Piprahwa relics to Buddhist custodianship

A timely article by SOAS PhD candidate Conan Cheong on the recent sale of the Piprahwa relics to an Indian conglomerate. The Sotheby's debacle, when they tried and failed to auction them to the highest bidder, raises important questions on custodianship of sacred objects.

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Unfortunately Journal of Global Buddhism has been having website issues, and this article is not working for me

#BuddhistCultureWars: Buddhabros, Alt-Right Dharma, and Snowflake Sanghas This article appeared in the Journal of Global Buddhism Vol 22, No 1 (2021) and was co-authored by Ann Gleig and Brenna Artinger. Abstract While often associated with a liberal demographic, the …

This one has been around a while. I'd group them in with the Alt-Right dharma bros. An unfortunate outshoot of dharma disconnected from compassion, morality, and monasticism. Ann Gleig and Brenna Artinger have a great article on the topic

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How to Raise a Little Bodhisattva In Taiwan, a new generation of children’s books quietly transforms Buddhist family life.

Franz Metcalf @franzmetcalf.bsky.social reviews Natasha Heller's @nlheller.bsky.social new book on Buddhist picture books for children.

"These books become the material form of modern family Buddhism, giving rise to new practices rooted not in the temple but in the home."

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A Brief Introduction to Mahayana Medicine Exploring Buddhist healing through the lenses of wisdom, compassion, and ritual practice

Scholar C Pierce Salguero provides a brief introduction to Mahayana medicine.

One of my first experiences with medicine in Korea was being bloodlet by a nun to take out bad qi making me sick. That finger poke sure rid me of nausea. Still not sure about the qi.

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Ecodharma Leader Joanna Macy Has Died For more than half a century, scholar, Buddhist, ecologist, and "awake activist" Joanna Macy, PhD, worked tirelessly for personal, social, and planetary transformation.

Joanna Macy has died.

For more than half a century, scholar, Buddhist, ecologist, and “awake activist” Joanna Macy, PhD, worked tirelessly for personal, social, and planetary transformation.

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Buddhist Women Gather to Discuss Ordination, Social Justice, and Solidarity The 19th Sakyadhita Conference brought together 400 participants in Kuching, Malaysia, to address issues facing Buddhist women.

Tricycle appreciates Amy Langenberg's @amyparis.bsky.social report from the 2025 Sakyadhita Conference in Malaysia. This conference brings together monastics, academics, and laypeople to address issues facing Buddhist women. Without Buddhist women, there would be no Buddhism.

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My favorite Buddhist hungry ghost image. Insatiable in their desires, hungry ghosts wander the world for aeons bothering humans and must be placated through ritual offerings. Being reborn as a hungry ghost is not a desirable rebirth, to say the least.

That would be interesting
I'd imagine at the museum there they'd have a model or drawing of the site. But a VR reconstruction would be so interesting

This site looks amazing. It makes me want to visit it myself. The reliefs are incredible! This was no second-rate sacred stupa.

Amaravati: Origin of Origins A review of scholar Jas Elsner's book on Amaravati, an important Buddhist monument that hints at the dawn of the Mahayana

Jas Elsner's book on Amaravati hints at the early dawn of Mahayana, pushing it back to the very foundations of Buddhism. Curator Tushara Bindu Gude reviews this dense read and gets to the heart of Elsner's important findings.

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Turning Toward Grief and Learning to Feel Again Ann Tashi Slater talks with veteran CNN journalist Anderson Cooper about the precariousness of life and the questions he still wrestles with today.

Anderson Cooper @andersoncooper4.bsky.social talks with Ann Tashi Slater @anntashislater.bsky.social about the precariousness of life and the questions he still wrestles with today.

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