Attending to the Fullness of Life with Ross Gay

Attending to the Fullness of Life with Ross Gay

Author: Tricycle: The Buddhist Review September 27, 2023 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) Delights, demonstrating that the sources of delight are indeed endless—and that they multiply when attended to and shared. For Gay, delight serves as evidence of our interconnectedness, and it is inextricable from the fact of our mortality. With characteristic humor and grace, he chronicles his everyday encounters with joy and delight, from the fleeting sweetness of strangers to the startling beauty of the falsetto to the unexpected joys of aging.  In this episode of Life As It Is, Tricycle’s editor-in-chief, James Shaheen, and meditation teacher Sharon Salzberg sit down with Gay to talk about the relationship between delight and impermanence, how he understands faith, and how delight has restructured how he pays attention. Gay also reads an essay from his new collection.

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
Abortion and Buddhist Ethics with Katy Butler [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 47:36
When journalist Katy Butler first committed to the Buddhist precepts, it didn’t occur to her to consider her two abortions in their light. Now, fifty years later, she has come to understand abortion in the context of har…
A Safe Place to Fall Apart with BJ Miller [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

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…
Becoming Thay with Adrienne Minh-Châu Lê [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 41:37
Thich Nhat Hanh was one of the most influential figures in contemporary Buddhism, from his founding of the Order of Interbeing and the Plum Village Tradition to his popularization of Engaged Buddhism. Yet his background…
A Meditator's Guide to Buddhism with Cortland Dahl [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:18:13
Cortland Dahl is a Buddhist scholar, translator, meditation teacher, and contemplative scientist based in Madison, Wisconsin. In his new book, A Meditator's Guide to Buddhism: The Path of Awareness, Compassion, and Wisdo…
Breaking Bias with Anu Gupta [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 53:10
Anu Gupta is an educator, lawyer, research scientist, and meditation teacher, and his work focuses on harnessing mindfulness and compassion practices for social change. In his new book, Breaking Bias: Where Stereotypes a…
I'm Mindful, Now What? with Andrew Holecek [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:08:12
Mindfulness has become ubiquitous as a practice. Yet according to meditation teacher Andrew Holecek, mindfulness is not enough to meet the challenges of the modern world. Holecek is a teacher in the Tibetan Buddhist trad…
US Poet Laureate Ada Limón on Returning to Wonder [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 57:58
Ada Limón is the 24th Poet Laureate of The United States and the author of six books of poetry. Her most recent project, You Are Here: Poetry in the Natural World, is a collection of poetry that she edited in collaborati…
'There Is No Enemy' with George Mumford [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 56:19
It can be so easy to get trapped in feelings of jealousy and envy, particularly in the context of competitive environments. According to meditation teacher George Mumford, one of the best practices for working with envy…
Transforming Grief into Wisdom with Sister Dang Nghiem [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 55:29
Born in Central Vietnam at the height of the Vietnam War, Sister Dang Nghiem grew up singing made-up songs to comfort herself and express her suffering. After moving to the US, she began writing poetry at the encourageme…