The Question: “What in Buddhism have you changed your mind about, and why?”
Gen X Buddhists answer
Illustrations by Yann Legendre
In 2008, Tricycle asked a group of “old Buddhist hands,” including teachers, writers, and longtime practitioners, “What in Buddhism have you changed your mind about, and why?” We got delightful, unexpected answers from the generation that founded a host of dharma centers and gave us many of the institutions that still define the Buddhist world. Today, there’s a new group of old hands settling into positions of leadership around the Buddhist world—or is there? After all, we’re talking about Generation X, the forgotten generation, familiar with being overlooked and bypassed, standing quietly by while others take the limelight, whose cultural ascendancy was over before it began.
We asked this group what they had changed their minds about, and this is what they said. Please join them and let us know what you’ve changed your mind about!
–Philip Ryan, executive editor
In 2008, Tricycle asked a group of “old Buddhist hands,” including teachers, writers, and longtime practitioners, “What in Buddhism have you changed your mind about, and why?” We got delightful, unexpected answers from the generation that founded a host of dharma centers and gave us many of the institutions that still define the Buddhist world. Today, there’s a new group of old hands settling into positions of leadership around the Buddhist world—or is there? After all, we’re talking about Generation X, the forgotten generation, familiar with being overlooked and bypassed, standing quietly by while others take the limelight, whose cultural ascendancy was over before it began.
We asked this group what they had changed their minds about, and this is what they said. Please join them and let us know what you’ve changed your mind about!
–Philip Ryan, executive editor
Cator Shachoy
I thought I would cry less. Whoops! It turns out there’s no Off button for feeling. Planning or controlling tears is ridiculous. They just come and go, the same way the ants move around the garden, then into the house, then back out again, doing their own thing. Have you ever seen toddlers lining up for snack time? What might at first appear to be a modicum of order quickly reveals itself as a complex improvisational choreography. Who’s in charge here, anyway? Tears flow every day for the beautiful and terrible things of this world. My heart quivers of its own accord, with no regard for my schedule or plans. This can be very inconvenient. Expanding, contracting, expanding like the flickering lights of the Bay Bridge toll plaza. Twinkling red and green, a magical living artwork whose mundane purpose is to avoid a traffic jam as we commute into the City. And then a traffic jam happens anyway, just a half mile down the road. Once again, I am arguing with my mother.
Cator Shachoy is a craniosacral practitioner, yoga therapist, and meditation instructor.
This article appeared in the print edition as well as online, as one reflection among many. To view the full article, click this link:
The Question: “What in Buddhism have you changed your mind about, and why?”
