Dharmabytes from free buddhist audio
1,209 episodes - English - Latest episode: 10 days ago - ★★★★★ - 4 ratingsDharmabytes features bite-sized dharma, three times a week, from the Free Buddhist Audio archives. Themed in conjunction with our weekly full length talk podcast, these are inspiring short extracts from over 5,000 talks on Buddhism, meditation and mindfulness!
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Episodes
Discovering We Are Free
May 08, 2023 04:00 - 3 minutes - 3.12 MBBhadra explores the positive nature of spiritual death and how important it is to distinguish these opening and liberating experiences from the potentially disorientating and disturbing effect it has on our ego structure. Excerpted from the talk Turning Towards Spiritual Death with Metta given at Bristol Buddhist Centre, 2018. *** Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: On Apple Podcasts | On Spotify | On Google Podcasts Bite-sized inspiration three times every week. Subscribe to...
What About Prajna?
May 04, 2023 04:00 - 4 minutes - 3.15 MBIn this lecture to launch his book of the same name on the prajna-paramita (Perfection of Wisdom) tradition, Sangharakshita explores the meaning of hierarchy in Buddhism, and particularly the distinction between vijnana (Discriminating Consciousness) and jnana (Transcendental Awareness). Excerpted from the talk Wisdom Beyond Words, launching the book of the same title, 1993. *** Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: On Apple Podcasts | On Spotify | On Google Podcasts Bite-siz...
Enlightenment Via The Subject
May 01, 2023 04:00 - 5 minutes - 4.78 MBThere’s an inherent contradiction if you’re striving for insight in terms of seeing through the illusion of a permanent self. Dharmapriya shares a seminar quote from Sangharakshita about the philosophical underpinnings of the Bodhisattva Ideal in Triratna and the necessity of compassion in the quest for Enlightenment. Excerpted from the talk The Bodhisattva Ideal In Triratna given at the European Triratna Men's Convention at Adhisthana, 2014. Text quoted is from our archive of uned...
A Degree of Commonality
April 27, 2023 04:00 - 3 minutes - 4.18 MBHere, Subhuti speaks to the amount of effort to maintain unity across a growing spiritual community. Excerpted from the talk Adhisthana, Sanghakaya and Unity, the second talk in a series called Triratna Three Strands, Adhisthana, 2013. The three strands of Triratna are the Triratna Buddhist Order, the Triratna Buddhist Community and the Preceptors' College. *** Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: On Apple Podcasts | On Spotify | On Google Podcasts Bite-sized inspiration th...
Convention in India
April 24, 2023 04:00 - 4 minutes - 4.38 MBSubhadramati shares her experience traveling to India for the International Order Convention. Excerpted from the talk Ordination and the Unity of the Sangha giving at the Cambridge Buddhist Centre as part of a series on the Six Distinctive Emphasis of the Triratna Buddhist Community. A talk full of energy, insight and inspiration on Ordination within Triratna, given in 2016. *** Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: On Apple Podcasts | On Spotify | On Google Podcasts Bite-sized...
Communication Exercises
April 17, 2023 04:00 - 2 minutes - 2.02 MBMahamati recollects some of the teachings of our founder Urgyen Sangharakshita as part of the celebration of the fortieth anniversary of the founding of Padmaloka. Excerpted from The Meaning of Spiritual Community Revisited, given at Padmaloka Retreat Centre, 2016 *** Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: On Apple Podcasts | On Spotify | On Google Podcasts Bite-sized inspiration three times every week. Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast: On Apple Podcasts | On Spoti...
An Ever Expanding Network
April 13, 2023 04:00 - 3 minutes - 1.95 MBThis is an exploration by Saddhaloka of the distinguishing role of Sangha, spiritual community, in the development and life of the Western Buddhist Order, and, in fact, in any kind of Buddhist spiritual life. Saddhaloka here is steady and thoughtful as ever... Excerpted from the talk Creating Sangha and Changing the World given at Padmaloka Retreat Centre, 2002. *** Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: On Apple Podcasts | On Spotify | On Google Podcasts Bite-sized inspiratio...
Simply Kind
April 10, 2023 04:00 - 2 minutes - 3.01 MBAryajaya talks about the significance of Going For Refuge to the Three Jewels. Excerpted from the talk Commitment Is Key given at Cambridge Buddhist Centre, 2016. *** Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: On Apple Podcasts | On Spotify | On Google Podcasts Bite-sized inspiration three times every week. Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast: On Apple Podcasts | On Spotify | On Google Podcasts A full, curated, quality Dharma talk, every week. 3,000,000 downloads and cou...
Sensitivity to Conditions
April 06, 2023 04:00 - 4 minutes - 3.84 MBVidyatara speaks of her work supporting the Order under the framework of the Four Lineages. Excerpted from the talk Co-Creating Structures That Serve the Arising of the Bodhicitta given at the Triratna Buddhist Order Womens UK and Ireland Area Order Weekend at Adhisthana, 2014. The theme for the weekend was Appreciation of the Order as a System. *** Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: On Apple Podcasts | On Spotify | On Google Podcasts Bite-sized inspiration three times ever...
Still Friends: New Name
April 04, 2023 04:00 - 4 minutes - 4.67 MBWith humour and engaging personal stories, Padmavajra speaks to the moment in our collective history when Bhante Sangharakshita changed the name of our community from Friends of the Western Buddhist Order to Triratna Buddhist Community. Excerpted from the short talk Changing Our Name to Triratna Buddhist Community given at the Triratna International Retreat, May 2010. *** Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: On Apple Podcasts | On Spotify | On Google Podcasts Bite-sized insp...
A Sense of Purpose
March 30, 2023 04:00 - 4 minutes - 4.25 MBThe very last words of the Buddha were 'appamadena sampadetha': with mindfulness strive on! Prajnamati reflects on those two last words, drawing out the qualities of mindfulness, as taught by the Buddha, and the quality of effort that will enable us to cultivate and develop it. This are teachings just as relevant to the contemporary beginner first learning the mindfulness of breathing meditation as to the seasoned renunciants attending the Buddha's death 2500 years ago. Excerpted from ...
Vast Ocean of Boundless Depths
March 27, 2023 04:00 - 6 minutes - 4.1 MBIn this talk, Viveka explores the many, diverse faces of mindfulness practice - breaking down the ideological barriers that can so often divide when we try to figure out what, exactly, does constitute mindfulness meditation... With good humour and an emphasis on kindness in the present moment, she encourages us to broaden and deepen our ideas of awareness and of loving kindness. Rich with references - from Satipatthana to Milarepa - this is an excellent and encouraging contemporary take ...
A World of Spiritual Experience
March 23, 2023 04:00 - 5 minutes - 3.06 MBA traditional exposition of Buddhist meditation looking at why we meditate; preparation for meditation; the five meditation practices designed to counteract the five mental poisons; and the three stages of meditation. Excerpted from the talk Meditation: the Expanding Consciousness given in 1967 by Sangharakshita. *** Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: On Apple Podcasts | On Spotify | On Google Podcasts Bite-sized inspiration three times every week. Subscribe to our Free...
Awareness Wisdom
March 20, 2023 04:00 - 2 minutes - 2.6 MBVajradevi speaks to a large gathering of Order Members and Mitras Training for Ordination under a big marque at the annual Great Gathering on the theme of the Satipatthana Sutta. Reflecting on the theme of the weekend Vajradevi said: "When we’re mindful and present to what’s happening – both ‘internally’ and ‘externally’ – our responses become steady, wise, and confident. Whatever we’re doing, whether we’re meditating, working, communicating, or singing, becomes a vehicle to ‘grow’ awar...
Freedom from Pushing and Pulling
March 16, 2023 05:00 - 3 minutes - 2.92 MBExploration by Nagesvara of the beginning of the Anapansati meditation practice, namely the preliminaries and the breath. "Here, gone to the forest to the root of a tree or to an empty hut, we sit down; folding our legs crosswise, keeping the body erect, and having established mindfulness to the fore, mindful, one breathes in; mindful one breathes out. While breathing in long, one knows: 'I breathe in long.' While breathing out long, one knows, 'I breathe out long.' While breathing in...
An Inclusive Love
March 13, 2023 05:00 - 2 minutes - 1.48 MBMaitridevi talks about what the heart is like and the importance of it to the cultivation of an expansive all inclusive love for all beings and things. This talk is part of an intensive meditation retreat held at Taraloka in 2021 for women who have asked for ordination. Excerpted from the talk The Heart Unbound: Metta As a Path to Insight (4 of 13) given at Taraloka Retreat Centre, 2021. *** Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: On Apple Podcasts | On Spotify | On Google Podcas...
Rooted in Metta
March 09, 2023 05:00 - 7 minutes - 7.09 MBRatnavandana beautifully introduces the Brahma Viharas as an integrated set of practices flowing from metta - loving kindness. Her central image is that of a tree, deep rooted and spreading its canopy wide as she evokes a profound, personal connection to the cultivation of the sublime abodes - loving kindness, compassion, joy with others, and equanimity. Excerpted from the talk Introduction to the Brahma Viharas (With Guided Meditation) given as part of the Rainy Season Retreat at ...
Savoring Experience
March 07, 2023 15:05 - 4 minutes - 2.81 MBNagabodhi speaks about the process of developing awareness throughout the day and how this relates to vedanā – or hedonic tone. He explores how if we can notice the raw experience and whether it’s pleasant, unpleasant or neutral, then we have freedom not to act in the usual habitual ways. From the talk Developing Awareness as part of the series The Two Arrows: Dukkha to Insight given at Adhisthana, 2020. *** Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: On Apple Podcasts | On Spotify...
Moving Closer to Truth
March 02, 2023 05:00 - 2 minutes - 2.24 MBIn this short personal talk, Prajnahridaya discusses the universal importance of love, a quality so vital if we want to live a meaningful life. Excerpted from the talk entitled The Rising Sun given at the Annual Sub35 Men's Weekend for Young Buddhists at Padmaloka in November, 2018. *** Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: On Apple Podcasts | On Spotify | On Google Podcasts Bite-sized inspiration three times every week. Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast: On...
Universal Redemption
February 27, 2023 05:00 - 7 minutes - 4.13 MBHow do you become a Bodhisattva? Upon the Awakening of the Bodhi Heart (Bodhichitt-otpada). In this lecture Sangharakshita defines the Bodhichitta, differentiating here between individual will and the cosmic will to enlightenment that transcends individuals. Excerpted from the talk The Awakening of the Bodhi Heart given as part of the series entitled Aspects of the Bodhisattva Ideal, 1969. *** Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: On Apple Podcasts | On Spotify | On Google Podcast...
The Flavour of Forbearance
February 23, 2023 05:00 - 4 minutes - 4.33 MBThis talk explores the emergence of the Bodhisattva Ideal in the Mahayana tradition. Nagapriya discusses the historical context in which this basic concept developed, its ties to early Buddhist texts, and what the bodhisattva's life entails, on both the mundane and cosmic levels. Here, he shares a reading on forbearance from the Bodhicaryavatara by Shantideva. Excerpted from the The Ideal of Universal Awakening given at Manchester Buddhist Centre, as part of the series Visions of Mahay...
Mountains of Merit
February 20, 2023 05:00 - 4 minutes - 5.49 MBPrakasha takes us through the verses on transference of merit and self surrender from Shantideva's Bodhicaryavatara, and communicates the feeling of completely letting go of a Bodhisattva. Excerpted from the talk Awakening Bodhicitta given at Shrewsbury Triratna Buddhist Group, 2018. *** Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: On Apple Podcasts | On Spotify | On Google Podcasts Bite-sized inspiration three times every week. Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast: On Apple Pod...
Patience is the Greatest Asceticism
February 16, 2023 05:00 - 5 minutes - 5.28 MBSahajatara offers an introduction to the six paramitas as she touches into the development of forbearance with humour, realism and dakini-inspiration. From the talk Forbearance and Energy In Pursuit of the Good given at Taraloka Retreat Centre, 2021. *** Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: On Apple Podcasts | On Spotify | On Google Podcasts Bite-sized inspiration three times every week. Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast: On Apple Podcasts | On Spotify | On Google...
Refraining from Anger
February 13, 2023 05:00 - 3 minutes - 1.91 MBMore counter-cultural stuff here, shouldn't we always express how we feel? Shantideva seems to be saying something else when he encourages us to be 'like a block of wood'... Maitrisara offers thoughts on patience and anger as described in the Bodhicaryavatara. Excerpted from the talk Like a Block of Wood, part of the series The Bodhicaryavatara, given at Birmingham Buddhist Centre, 2019. *** Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: On Apple Podcasts | On Spotify | On Google Podcasts...
One Moment of Anger
February 09, 2023 05:00 - 4 minutes - 4.01 MBThe Bodhicaryavatara is an 8th century text written by Shantideva, a Buddhist monk from the monastic 'university' at Nalanda, India. Dhammadinna offers a few thoughts on the Perfection of Patience, differentiating between types of anger and noting that Shantideva is referring to the sort of anger that is retaliatory and unskilful. Excerpted from the talk Some Thoughts on the Bodhicaryavatara given at Taraloka Retreat Centre, 2008. *** Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast: ...
The Essence of Bodhicitta
February 06, 2023 05:00 - 7 minutes - 5.17 MBPadmavajra shares a story of meeting on the basis of Bodhicitta arising between people. He tells us how Shantideva takes to heart, ever more firmly, the Bodhicitta, through his lavish performance of puja and a searing confession of faults. Giving Ourselves Completely to the Buddhas - Bodhicaryavatara Chapter 2 as part of the series Shantideva's Bodhicaryavatara given at Padmaloka Retreat Centre, 2020. *** Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: On Apple Podcasts | On Spotify | On G...
Training in Patience
February 02, 2023 05:00 - 3 minutes - 2.45 MBKhemasuri describes how a person can develop patience, translated from ksanti, drawing on verses from Santideva's Bodhicaryavatara. Excerpted from the talk Gratitude to Everyone given at Sheffield Buddhist Centre 2008. *** Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: On Apple Podcasts | On Spotify | On Google Podcasts Bite-sized inspiration three times every week. Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast: On Apple Podcasts | On Spotify | On Google Podcasts A full, curated, quality...
A Fundamentally Flawed Strategy
January 30, 2023 10:50 - 8 minutes - 5.3 MBAdverse situations of our day to day lives can provide us with opportunities to transform. Pradaya explores the Seven Point Mind Training teaching of turning adverse conditions into the path of enlightenment. From the talk Base Metal Into Gold, part of the series Mind Training - The Alchemy of The Emotions, given at Sheffield Buddhist Centre, 2019. *** Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: On Apple Podcasts | On Spotify | On Google Podcasts Bite-sized inspiration three times every...
Dharmas Are Dreamlike
January 26, 2023 05:00 - 6 minutes - 3.99 MBSociety is complicated and we have all sorts of stories about that. Satyajyoti explores how our ideas and our stories create their own realities. Whatever our views are about the world influences how we experience the world. Excerpted from the talk Training In Wisdom, part of the series Mind Training - The Alchemy of The Emotions, given at Sheffield Buddhist Centre, 2019. *** Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: On Apple Podcasts | On Spotify | On Google Podcasts Bite-sized insp...
The Arising of Bodhicitta
January 23, 2023 05:00 - 3 minutes - 3.4 MBThe Enlightenment of the Buddha was an irreversible breakthrough into a new kind of consciousness for the world. All our practice flows from this endless stream of wisdom and compassion, flowing throughout the history of humanity. Dhammarati explores this momentous event, and its implications for us today. From the talk entitled The Awakening Mind given on Buddha Day Festival at the London Buddhist Centre, 2022. *** Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: On Apple Podcasts | On Spot...
This Human Situation
January 19, 2023 05:00 - 4 minutes - 3.78 MBSamantabhadri explores what it was like to meet the Buddha, the fully Enlightened human being. She then discusses 'garava' as devotion for the whole richness of our Dharma Lives, including positive emotions for all beings. From the talk entitled Turning Towards the Buddha: The True Nature of Devotion given on the Women's Area Order Weekend held at Taraloka Retreat Centre, 2022. *** Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: On Apple Podcasts | On Spotify | On Google Podcasts Bite-size...
Wisdom Comes Through Silence
January 16, 2023 05:00 - 3 minutes - 3.28 MBThe final talk in Padmavajra's wonderful series on the Dhammapada, the most popular of early Buddhist texts. All of the Buddha's core teachings are here - held in heart and mind there's more than enough in the Dhammapada to take us as far in our practice as we can imagine, and then on beyond... From the talk Flowers - Dhammapada Verses 44 to 59, part of the series The Dhammapada - the Buddha's Way of Truth, recorded at Padmaloka Retreat Centre, 2007 *** Subscribe to our Dharmabytes...
A Doorway Between Poles of Experience
January 12, 2023 05:00 - 4 minutes - 4.23 MBBhadra shares how emptiness and conditionality combine to fuel bodhicitta and create the foundations of Sangha. From the talk Absolute and Conventional Truth given at Bristol Buddhist Centre, 2016. *** Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: On Apple Podcasts | On Spotify | On Google Podcasts Bite-sized inspiration three times every week. Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast: On Apple Podcasts | On Spotify | On Google Podcasts A full, curated, quality Dharma talk, every ...
Wisdom Aspect of Enlightenment
January 09, 2023 17:00 - 3 minutes - 3.45 MBSantavajri explores the Perfection of Wisdom as a practice of uniting awareness through meditation. From the talk Approaches to the Perfection of Wisdom given at the London Buddhist Centre, 2011. *** Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: On Apple Podcasts | On Spotify | On Google Podcasts Bite-sized inspiration three times every week. Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast: On Apple Podcasts | On Spotify | On Google Podcasts A full, curated, quality Dharma talk, every...
Coming Into Relationship
January 05, 2023 05:00 - 4 minutes - 4.27 MBEveryone is going through life’s ups and downs. Shubha shares a personal experience of working with resistance and through sitting with it, something new and significant arising. From the talk All-Accomplishing Wisdom given at London Buddhist Centre, 2011. *** Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: On Apple Podcasts | On Spotify | On Google Podcasts Bite-sized inspiration three times every week. Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast: On Apple Podcasts | On Spotify | On Go...
Gravitational Pull of the Unconditioned
January 02, 2023 05:00 - 4 minutes - 2.56 MBFor most people, continual spiritual effort is required to counteract the 'gravitational pull' of mundane existence. However, there is a point on the path of ethics, meditation and Wisdom beyond which the Transcendental becomes the dominant influence, and one has 'entered the stream'. From Triratna’s founder Sangharakshita, excerpted from the talk Stream Entry: the Point of No Return, as part of The Higher Evolution series, 1969. *** Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: On Apple P...
Freedom from the Fear of Losing Ourselves
December 29, 2022 05:00 - 4 minutes - 5.92 MBAlokadhara investigates how fear arises in dependence upon the delusion of there being a fixed, separate self and how the spell of that delusion can be broken by a clear seeing into the true nature of the five skandhas. Excerpted from the talk entitled Not Mine, Not I, Not Self - Unbinding the Tentacles of Clinging - the Way to Fearlessness given on Men's Event at Padmaloka Retreat Centre, 2013. *** Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: On Apple Podcasts | On Spotify | On Google P...
Dwelling Independently, Not Clinging to Anything
December 26, 2022 05:00 - 3 minutes - 4.92 MBThere is always change, even when we are still, there is some sort of change happening. Prasadavati continues to explore the refrain from the Satipatthana Sutta. Today's focus is the core element "letting go of clinging" as being central to all mindfulness practice. Excerpted from the talk Letting Go of Clinging given at Taraloka Retreat Centre during a retreat for women training for ordination entitled on The Path to Insight, 2019. The full talk includes a mindful movement session to...
The Finger Pointing to the Moon
December 22, 2022 15:09 - 4 minutes - 3.27 MBClinging to religious observances is a fetter, a hindrance to Enlightenment. Amidst the complexity of Buddhist teachings, we can discern a distinctive essence lying behind the various historical forms which developed to convey the Buddha's oral message. Excerpted from the talk The Nature and Development of Buddhism, Sangharakshita, 1968. *** Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: On Apple Podcasts | On Spotify | On Google Podcasts Bite-sized inspiration three times every week. S...
Clinging to Aspects of Practice Separates Us
December 19, 2022 05:00 - 4 minutes - 4.07 MBWhatever we’re doing, whether we’re meditating, working, communicating, or singing, becomes a vehicle to ‘grow’ awareness. Mindfulness becomes panoramic and we live with immediacy and creativity. How do we relate to different aspects of our practice? How do we relate to the practice of others? Vajradevi encourages us to be on the lookout for attachment to views regarding our Dharma practice and the tendency to compare ourselves, furthering the divide between self and other. Excerpted from...
We Are Beautifully Flawed
December 15, 2022 05:00 - 3 minutes - 4.02 MBLife is a delightful, complex, messy business. How do you respond to the existential human predicament? Do you wonder how best to balance your spiritual longings while honouring our ordinary human life? Here, Manjunaga offers reflections on the tendency to skip over the messy bits of ourselves (aka spiritual bypassing) as occupational hazard in the spiritual life. Excerpted from the talk The Universe Is Expanding: Soulful Reflections On the Human Predicament given at the Birmingham Budd...
A Deeper Imaginative Experience
December 12, 2022 05:00 - 2 minutes - 2.96 MBSamantabhadri explores our deeper imaginative experience of the physical world, of beauty and of the transcendental. This arises in ritual and devotion through more subtle experience of the body, speech and mind and thus within gesture and movement, words and mantra, atmosphere and transcendental presence. Excerpted from the Being with the Transcendental through Imagination and Ritual as part of the series Ritual and Imagination Retreat 2022, recorded at Taraloka Retreat Centre during a ...
Letting Go of Reactivity
December 08, 2022 05:00 - 4 minutes - 3.08 MBFor over 30 years, Jnanaketu has been trying to explore what it means to live in the light of the Buddha’s teaching. For him, it’s been a matter of turning over every stone: a path of honest enquiry. He's talking about where his confidence in the Dharma comes from. Excerpted from the talk Still Trying to Kiss the Joy As It Flies given at Birmingham Buddhist Centre, 2018. *** Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: On Apple Podcasts | On Spotify | On Google Podcasts Bite-sized inspir...
We Are Already Enough
December 05, 2022 05:00 - 4 minutes - 4.39 MBVajrasara explores sufficiency, attitudes around plenty, and the creative spiral of abundance. From the talk Enough Is More Than Enough given at Buddhafield Festival, 2011. *** Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: On Apple Podcasts | On Spotify | On Google Podcasts Bite-sized inspiration three times every week. Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast: On Apple Podcasts | On Spotify | On Google Podcasts A full, curated, quality Dharma talk, every week. 3,000,000 download...
Friendship is a Verb
December 01, 2022 05:00 - 3 minutes - 4.46 MBJayaraja describes how we develop a robust sense of self through friendship, through love, through repair, allowing us to fully let go. From the talk The Fires and the Black River of Loss given at Buddhafield Festival, 2018. *** Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: On Apple Podcasts | On Spotify | On Google Podcasts Bite-sized inspiration three times every week. Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast: On Apple Podcasts | On Spotify | On Google Podcasts A full, curated,...
The Ethics of Love
November 28, 2022 04:00 - 2 minutes - 1.66 MBBuddhist ethics is practical, it’s to do with engagement with the world. Parami is an ideal guide for this sort of material, steeped as she is in study and practice engaged within the light of the 'Bodhichitta', and the Bodhisattva Ideal itself. From the talk entitled The Awakening Heart given at Taraloka Retreat Centre, 2006. *** Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: On Apple Podcasts | On Spotify | On Google Podcasts Bite-sized inspiration three times every week. Subscribe to...
Relying on the Dharma as Embodied
November 24, 2022 04:00 - 3 minutes - 3.56 MBBeing a disciple doesn’t require an emotional allegiance, but a spiritual one. Dhammadinna speaks about Sangharakshita as a spiritual friend while exploring the topic of discipleship in the Triratna Buddhist Order. We don’t go for Refuge to Bhante, we Go for Refuge to the Buddha, Dharma and Aryasangha. Excerpted from talk entitled Discipleship given at the Triratna Buddhist Order Women's UK and Ireland Area Order Weekend at Adhisthana, 2014. *** Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast...
Cultivating Wholesome Friends and Companions
November 21, 2022 04:00 - 4 minutes - 1.71 MBPadmasuri shares the story of Hatthaka who wanted all his friends to meet and hear the Buddha, and then was praised by the Buddha for having many wonderful spiritual qualities. From the talk The Buddha Was a Friend As We Can Be a Friend at the Cambridge Buddhist Centre, 2013. *** Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: On Apple Podcasts | On Spotify | On Google Podcasts Bite-sized inspiration three times every week. Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast: On Apple Podcasts | O...
Maturing the Heart
November 17, 2022 04:00 - 2 minutes - 1.66 MBIn a sutta from the Udana, Meghiya overestimates his spiritual development and sees the goal in terms of his own individual, personal development. Vadanya shares some reflections on the Meghiya Sutta on the theme of learning about yourself in solitude as well as in relationship to others in the Sangha. From the talk Meghiya and The Path - Beyond Individualism given at Sheffield Buddhist Centre, 2007. *** Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: On Apple Podcasts | On Spotify | On Google...
Conversion of a Troll
November 14, 2022 04:00 - 5 minutes - 5.21 MBRatnaprabha is a brilliant storyteller. Here, he shares the Alavaka Sutta where an troll tries to trick the Buddha with a series of spiritual questions, which the Buddha answers with calmness and clarity, converting the troll to become a Dharmapala, a protector of the Dharma. From the full talk entitled The Story Hatthaka given at Stockholm Buddhist Centre, 2007, as part of a two-part series with the companion talk: The Four Sanghraha Vastus. *** Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podca...