A Safe Place to Fall Apart with BJ Miller

A Safe Place to Fall Apart with BJ Miller

Author: Tricycle: The Buddhist Review October 16, 2024 Duration: 52:40
When BJ Miller was a sophomore in college, he climbed atop a commuter train and was immediately electrocuted, causing him to lose both legs and half an arm. In the aftermath of his own near-death experience, he turned to the arts to make sense of his injuries and to grapple with questions of disability and what it means to live a good life. Miller is now a palliative care physician and the cofounder of Mettle Health, a multidisciplinary group providing support for people confronting illness, disability, and death. He previously served as the executive director of San Franciscos’s Zen Hospice Project and the founder of the Center for Living and Dying. In this episode of Life As It Is, Tricycle’s editor-in-chief, James Shaheen, and meditation teacher Sharon Salzberg sit down with Miller to discuss how he’s come to view recovery as a creative act, how studying art history and architecture radically shifted how he thinks about disability, what he’s learned from Buddhist approaches to death, and how working with dying patients has changed the way he lives his own life.

In a world full of noise, Tricycle Talks offers a different kind of conversation. This podcast from the team at Tricycle: The Buddhist Review sits down with insightful teachers, authors, and practitioners to explore how ancient wisdom meets modern complexity. Host James Shaheen, the magazine's editor-in-chief, guides these discussions with a curious and grounded presence, often joined by co-host Sharon Salzberg for the "Life As It Is" series, which focuses on integrating practice into daily routines. What you'll hear isn't abstract theory, but tangible reflections on navigating life's big questions-from dealing with anxiety and loss to cultivating compassion and clarity in a distracted age. Each episode feels like a thoughtful dialogue, peeling back layers on meditation, ethics, and what it means to live an examined life. It’s a natural extension of the award-winning work Tricycle is known for, translating the depth of Buddhist thought into accessible, personal audio. Listening to this podcast provides a pause, a moment to reflect alongside voices who have dedicated their lives to the path, offering practical insights that resonate long after the conversation ends.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

Tricycle Talks
Podcast Episodes
Meeting Crisis with Compassion with Oren Jay Sofer [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 53:13
What is the role of contemplative practice in times of crisis? And how can meditation actually support us in meeting the greatest challenges of our time? Oren Jay Sofer takes up these questions in his new book, Your Hear…
Becoming the New Saints with Lama Rod Owens [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:03:06
Lama Rod Owens is an author, activist, and authorized lama in the Karma Kagyu School of Tibetan Buddhism. In his new book, The New Saints: From Broken Hearts to Spiritual Warriors, he draws from the bodhisattva tradition…
How to Save Time (By Doing Nothing) with Jenny Odell [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 51:10
In her first book, How to Do Nothing, writer and artist Jenny Odell examined the power of quiet contemplation in a world where our attention is bought and sold. Now, she takes up the question of how to find space for sil…
Actor Michael Imperioli on Patience, Practice, and Liberation [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 42:40
Michael Imperioli has a knack for playing mobsters and villains. Best known for his roles as Christopher Moltisanti on The Sopranos and Dominic Di Grasso on The White Lotus, the Emmy Award–winning actor has made a career…
Attending to the Fullness of Life with Ross Gay [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 43:53
In 2016, poet Ross Gay set out to document a delight each day for a year. After he published The Book of Delights, his friend asked him if he planned to continue his practice. Five years later, he began The Book of (More…
“Don’t Despair of This Falling World” with Jane Hirshfield [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 54:26
When poet Jane Hirshfield first arrived at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center nearly fifty years ago, a Zen teacher told her that it was a good idea to have a question to practice with. She’s been asking questions ever since.…
A Different Kind of Healing with Anthony Back [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 46:34
As a young oncologist, Anthony Back turned to Buddhism as a practical way of processing the suffering he encountered each day. Over time, his practice has become an essential support to his work in accompanying patients…
Being Human and a Buddha Too with Anne C. Klein [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 51:07
When Anne C. Klein (Rigzin Drolma) first read that everyone, including her, was already a buddha, she was so shocked that she put down the book she was reading. Now, as a professor of religious studies at Rice University…
From Despair to Possibility with Rebecca Solnit [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:03:13
These days, with catastrophe after catastrophe, it can be easy to turn to despair and to believe that there is nothing we can do. But writer Rebecca Solnit is determined to change that narrative. Over the course of her c…
Writing in the Bardo with Tenzin Dickie [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 46:15
When Tenzin Dickie was growing up in exile in India, she didn’t have access to works by Tibetan writers. Now, as an editor and translator, she is working to create and elevate the stories she wished she had had as a youn…