Dharmabytes from free buddhist audio
1,224 episodes - English - Latest episode: 3 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
Communication Problems
July 27, 2020 04:00 - 15 minutes - 8.21 MBThe Buddha's lone voice of sanity once prevented a war. Modern warfare is on a far larger scale, and could involve nuclear weapons. As we are faced with a choice between world peace and eventual disaster, Sangharakshita discusses realistic courses of action for peace activists and others. Excerpted from the talk entitled Buddhism, World Peace, and Nuclear War given in 1984. *** Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast - a full Dharma talk every week! Follow our blog for news an...
Kindly Dialogue
July 23, 2020 04:00 - 7 minutes - 4.04 MBVishvapani gave a series of talks in 2011 to promote his book 'Gautama Buddha: The Life and Teachings of the Awakened One' (Quercus, 2011). Here we have a glimpse into the Buddha’s ability to dialogue with kindness and curiousity as he radiated a force field of loving kindness in a society full of debate and discourse. Rather than getting involved in a tit-for-tat argument, the Buddha tried to understand how others think and what is of value to them. From the talk entitled The Buddha's ...
A New Type of Consciousness
July 20, 2020 04:00 - 17 minutes - 8.86 MBWhat if everyone could see the enormity of their potential and be able to grow into that potential? What if those people then created a community... and that community becomes more & more a force for good in the world? Buddhism teaches us that it is possible to transcend the notion that I exist as a fixed and separate entity in the world and in doing so release a force of unbounded, unconditional love. Jnanavaca explores these questions and more in this thoughtful and thought-provoking...
Loving Caring Intention
July 16, 2020 04:00 - 6 minutes - 5.4 MBSpreading Our Goodness Into the World Sunada shares her personal reflections on simple down home ways to be an activist in a world that at times feels like a living nightmare. How do we as Buddhists respond, individually and as a sangha? And how do we keep our sanity? . Excerpted from the talk Practice During Times of Chaos and Uncertainty given on Sangha Day at Aryaloka Buddhist Center, USA, 2017. *** Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast - a full Dharma talk every week! ...
Tough Dharma: Moving to a Deeper Place
July 13, 2020 04:00 - 9 minutes - 7.05 MBPadmavajra calls on the radical early teaching of the Buddha to activate love as skillful and wise response to those we perceive as causing us harm. The second talk in Padmavjara'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 Changing Hatred into Love - Dham...
Instant Response: Taking Responsibility
July 09, 2020 04:00 - 11 minutes - 9.21 MBThe Buddha and Ananda once tended a sick monk, neglected by his companions because of his 'uselessness'. Sangharakshita shows that people cannot be treated as 'things' in the spiritual community. From the talk entitled A Case of Dysentry given in 1982 as part of the series Incidents from the Pali Canon. *** Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast - a full Dharma talk every week! Follow our blog for news and new Dharma FBA on Twitter FBA on Facebook FBA on Soundcloud
Infinite Spaces + Boundless Awareness
July 06, 2020 04:00 - 8 minutes - 6.98 MBIt is possible to move our sense of who we are, our stories are changeable. Vidyamala invites us into the world of myth, symbol and poetry to challenge our fixed sense of self. Wouldn’t it be amazing to have a fluid sense of oneself? Responding to whatever arises with kindness, with love, with compassion, with infinite creative potential. She finishes emphasising kindness with a wonderful quote from Patrul Rimpoche: "Have a good heart and act with kindness. There is no higher teaching" ...
Letting the Words Drop In Deeply
July 02, 2020 16:00 - 10 minutes - 5.45 MBThe Perfection of Wisdom literature is filled with paradox. Santavajri shares her reflections on the rather baffling concepts presented in The Diamond Sutra and The Heart Sutra. Both relevant and incomprehensible, the true meaning goes well beyond the words themselves. Excerpted from the talk entitled Approaches to the Perfection of Wisdom given at the London Buddhist Centre’s Women's Class as part of their exploration of the Bodhisattva Ideal, 2011. *** Subscribe to our Free Buddhis...
Nothing More to Learn?
June 29, 2020 04:00 - 7 minutes - 4.83 MBIn describing the qualities of patience, Sangharakshita calls on a story from the Saddharma-Pundarika (The Lotus Sutra) to illustrate the necessity of spiritual receptivity. From the talk Masculinity and Femininity in the Spiritual Life as part of the series Aspects of the Bodhisattva Ideal, 1969. The full talk explores the third and fourth Perfections: kshanti (forbearance, tolerance or spiritual receptivity) and virya (energy in pursuit of the good). *** Subscribe to our Free Buddhi...
What are we Doing when we Meditate?
June 25, 2020 04:00 - 7 minutes - 4.38 MBUntangling our Views Amaragita explodes and expands notions around the practice of paying attention via awareness of the breath, using the deceptively simple exercise of taking just five breaths through the day. We hear how the practice relates to the theory of Buddhist meditation and are encouraged to choose and learn from our direct experience of how we respond to our breath in the moment. There is also a chance to try it out as you listen - and we highly recommend that you do! A movi...
The Art of Engagement and the Art of Letting Go
June 22, 2020 04:00 - 17 minutes - 16.6 MBSanghadevi shares a story on the development of enlightenment through tales of pilgrimage from the Avatamsaka Sutra, known as the Flower Ornament Scripture. This story illustrates the art of engagement and the art of letting go, combining activity with receptivity, which supports the arising of the unbounded energy of the creative mind. From the talk entitled Spiritual Receptivity and Spiritual Community given with a series of talks organised by the Cambridge Buddhist Centre, 2014, called...
The Archetype of Spaciousness
June 18, 2020 04:00 - 14 minutes - 13.4 MBDhatvisvari shares her personal journey of relating to the Mandala of the Five Buddhas. We hear about the dream she had on the eve of her ordination in which she met the white Buddha in the centre of the mandala, Vairocana. From the talk entitled Vairocana given at Cambridge Buddhist Centre, 2015. *** Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast - a full Dharma talk every week! Follow our blog for news and new Dharma FBA on Twitter FBA on Facebook FBA on Soundcloud
Restoration to Wholeness
June 15, 2020 04:00 - 9 minutes - 5.65 MBWhen the whole of oneself is present, something new comes into play - we become more than the sum of our parts. Here we have Ratnaguna describing the stages of integration and positive emotion in the Triratna system of practice. From the talk entitled The Underlying Pattern of the Spiritual Life given at Manchester Buddhist Centre on 14th April 2012. *** Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast - a full Dharma talk every week! Follow our blog for news and new Dharma FBA o...
The Faculty of Responsiveness
June 11, 2020 04:00 - 7 minutes - 5.49 MBSubhadramati delivers in this exposition on the aspect of ethics that springs out of empathy. As you reflect on others’ their suffering starts to become your suffering – it’s important to find that responsiveness and encourage it to flourish. From this, compassion bursts forth from the heart like a rose. From the talk entitled Ethics As a Path to Insight given on August 30 2014 at the European Women's Convention held at Adhisthana. The theme of the convention was "The Bodhisattva's Rep...
The Buddha Appeared at Just the Right Time
June 08, 2020 04:00 - 10 minutes - 6 MBIn this talk Shakyapada introduces the Buddha as a historical figure living in inspiring and uncertain times. He explores the culture and environment through which the Buddha travelled as he was teaching the Dharma and how his teachings were revolutionary. From the talk Spiritual Fire In the Ganges Valley given at the Croydon Buddhist Centre in March 2018 as part of our regular Saturday morning Sangha class. *** Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast - a full Dharma talk ev...
What is the Deathless?
June 04, 2020 04:00 - 12 minutes - 7.55 MBPadmasagara explores the glimpses of the Buddha's liberating vision found in the Ariyapariyesana sutta, focussing on the Buddha's description of Reality in terms of pratitya samutpada (conditionality) and his response to Brahma Sahampati's request to teach the Dhamma. The talk also explores how we can begin to realise this vision for ourselves by responding to the Buddha's exhortation: 'let those who have ears release their faith'. From the talk The Buddha's Liberating Vision given on the ...
Being and Doing
June 01, 2020 04:00 - 10 minutes - 6.59 MB“You don’t have to justify yourself by being useful. You yourself are the justification for your existence.” Sangharakshita, Wisdom Beyond Words In this talk, Vajrapriya explores how this quote by Sangharakshita might affect our spiritual life and practice. Using the terms doing and being, he suggests how we can bring greater stillness into activity, and vibrant energy into calm. From the talk The Greater Mandala of Uselessness given at Manchester Buddhist Centre, 2018. *** Help k...
Wisdom is Seeing with the Eye of Appreciation
May 28, 2020 04:00 - 15 minutes - 14.2 MBNirvana is described as great bliss, that arises when grasping at self and other has vanished. A stream of uninterrupted creative activity, the Buddha is the supreme example of this. Here Padmavajra offers a deep dive into the Dhammapada, verses 277-279, on impermanence, dukkha and insubstantiality. From the talk entitled Seeing with Insight - Dhammapada Verses 277 to 279 which is part of the series The Dhammapada - the Buddha's Way of Truth given at Padmaloka Retreat Centre, 2007. This...
A State of Pure Happiness
May 25, 2020 04:00 - 6 minutes - 3.94 MBIn answering the question 'What is Buddhism?', Sangharakshita identifies higher evolution - the development of higher states of consciousness - with the twelve links in the progressive trend of the Buddha's teaching of conditioned co-production. In this excerpt we hear about the unification of all our emotional energies in the state of bliss. May all beings be well and happy, without fear, without jealousy, may they be full of love, faith and joy. Positive emotion is an essential part o...
Love Underpinned by Wisdom
May 21, 2020 04:00 - 7 minutes - 4.22 MBUpekkha is a fire in the heart that is steady and constant. Dayajoti gives us a beautiful description of the wisdom aspect of metta, that being upekkha, equanimity. From the talk entitled Suffering and Joy - Compost For Love given during the setup for Buddhafield Festival 2013 (theme 'Fire in the Heart') on the Four Brahma Viharas. *** Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast - a full Dharma talk every week! Follow our blog for news and new Dharma FBA on Twitter FBA on Faceb...
An Intuition In Us
May 18, 2020 04:00 - 16 minutes - 13.4 MBVajradevi explores aspects of faith, including faith and receptivity, the relationship of confidence and doubt in our own practice. She goes on to look at how faith and wisdom relate, including right view and how 'faith is wisdom, but not fully realised.' From the talk Recap On Sati (mindfulness) & Exploring the Faculty of Faith as part of the series Pathways to the Beautiful Mind: Bristol Rains Retreat. Bristol Buddhist Centre, 2019. *** Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast...
Faith: Not Just Sentiment
May 14, 2020 04:00 - 7 minutes - 6.22 MBSaccanama offers this glimpse into the meaning of faith from the Buddhist perspective through personal examples from his life and practice. From the talk entitled Faith: the Key to the Mystery of Life given at Sangha Night at the Birmingham Buddhist Centre. *** Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast - a full Dharma talk every week! Follow our blog for news and new Dharma FBA on Twitter FBA on Facebook FBA on Soundcloud
Entering Each Other’s Worlds
May 11, 2020 04:00 - 11 minutes - 7.5 MBAnother cracking talk from Vajratara exploring Metta as a path to insight. What happens when Metta passes through the fires of sunyata? Insight isn’t a cold, detached featureless state. Insight has it’s own positive character – increasing awareness of others and spontaneous compassionate activity. From the talk entitled Metta and the Path of Insight given on a Young Womens' Weekend at Taraloka, 2013. *** Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast - a full Dharma talk every week! ...
More Mud: Bigger, Beautiful Lotuses
May 07, 2020 04:00 - 9 minutes - 7.1 MBHere we have Parami introducing the most archetypal of all the archetypal Bodhisattvas, the 1000-armed Avalokitesvara. At his heart he holds the chintamani, the jewel of human potential. All of us have this potential within us, just as the lotuses coming up out of the mud. When you find that which fills your heart, share the love! From the talk launching the 2015 Triratna International Urban Retreat live in Adelaide, Australia. Her theme - and the theme of the whole retreat - is Living In ...
Fearlessness in the Face of Hopelessness
May 04, 2020 04:00 - 8 minutes - 4.86 MBCandraprabha, current Chair of Tiratanaloka Retreat Centre, offers her reflections on different aspects of compassion. From the talk entitled Green Tara, she who embodies the quintessence of compassion. In good humor she reveals much about her own practice of cultivating fearlessness and courage in the face of hopelessness. Given at Cambridge Buddhist Centre as part of the series Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, 2019. *** Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast - a full Dharma talk eve...
The Human Realm on the Wheel of Life
April 30, 2020 04:00 - 19 minutes - 10.9 MBOn the Wheel of Life, the whole person is symbolised by a boat with passengers, the five skandhas. Ratnaprabha focuses especially on our habit energies, and our habitual preferences. Are we ruled by our likes and dislikes? Is there a creative response? How to the five Buddhas fit in? From the talk Likes and Dislikes given at West London Buddhist Centre, 2017. *** Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast - a full Dharma talk every week! Follow our blog for news and new Dharma ...
Craving in the Modern World
April 23, 2020 04:00 - 13 minutes - 11 MBPadmavajra takes a deep look at the marvellous, terrifying, visionary world of the Bardo Thodol, or 'Tibetan Book of the Dead'. In this episode, we plunge fearlessly down into the lower realms of the wheel of life to meet the beings who inhabit - and the Buddhas who come to meet them. A sobering but strongly felt evocation of how we make the worlds with our minds - and what we might do to counteract the dangers. From the talk On Hell and Hungry Ghosts, part 2 of the 8-part series Tibetan...
Vajrasattva, death and the hell realm
April 20, 2020 04:00 - 10 minutes - 6.45 MBA story from Kalimpong Sangharakshita shares a story from Kalimpong about being woken up in the middle of the night to a very strange occurrence – he saw a dear friend who had passed several years earlier standing in a deep pit next to his bed. His response was to chant the Vajrasattva Mantra. Excerpted from the talk Between Twin Sala Trees, part of the series Incidents from the Pali Canon, 1983. This lecture is a series of reflections based around the Buddha's Parinirvana ('death'), str...
Insecurity + Competition
April 16, 2020 04:00 - 20 minutes - 12.4 MBThe wheel of life shows the six realms corresponding to six kinds of mental states that can result from our actions. How can we recognise these states in everyday life and what can we do to live with a more fully human life? In this Dharmabyte, Satyajyoti offers this personal talk introducing the realm of the titans and her transformation of competitiveness into appreciation. Excerpted from Three Personal Talks: Realms of the Wheel where Satyajyoti, Pete and Dharmamayi share their pers...
The Wheel of Life as a mirror
April 13, 2020 04:00 - 11 minutes - 7.19 MBSangharakshita describes in all its wealth of detail, the Wheel of Life. It’s really a painting but a mirror, giving one successively more profound insights into oneself, and revealing the next step in escaping the endless round. From the talk entitled The Symbolism of the Tibetan Wheel of Life, part of the series Creative Symbols of the Tantric Path to Enlightenment, 1972. *** Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast - a full Dharma talk every week! Follow our blog for news an...
Permeating the Shell
April 09, 2020 04:00 - 7 minutes - 5.92 MBAkashamitra introduces a series of podcasts ('Budcasts') at the North London Buddhist Centre on the theme of the Eight Ways of the Noble Ones with a talk on vision. Why does it start the path? Have we already had path of vision experiences? From the talk entitled Perfect Vision - How Far Can You Go? Given at North London Buddhist Centre, 2020. *** Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast - a full Dharma talk every week! Follow our blog for news and new Dharma FBA on Twitter ...
Working Together to Hold Suffering
April 06, 2020 04:00 - 13 minutes - 11.5 MBSaraha speaks to several themes from the Sigalaka Sutra. Firstly, friends are helpful, stand by you, give you time. Secondly, those who serve and support society, do we treat them as real people? Do we (as a society) look after them when they are ill? Our Buddhist Centres are here to bring peace, love, and agency with the ability to hold suffering close to your heart. The Sigalaka Sutta guides us on how to treat our fellow human beings. From the talk entitled Your Liberation Is Bound Up wi...
Live Like a River Flows
April 02, 2020 04:00 - 11 minutes - 9.05 MBRatnavandana offers a personal sharing of her reflections on a six month solitary retreat where she was focussing on the Heart Sutra. With Avalokitesvara as her guide, she was hoping to deepen her understanding of the emptiness of the five skandhas as well as exploring how to bring all the ordinary everyday activities of life into the realm of the sacred. This excerpt includes a reading evocation on the Five Buddha Mandala. From the talk Glimpses of Emptiness given on a retreat for m...
Good Friends Reflect Us Back
March 30, 2020 04:00 - 9 minutes - 6.07 MBMaitreyi shares the story of Meghiya to illustrate the importance of having strong friendships on the spiritual path. From the talk entitled Sanghakaya and the Heart's Release given at Manchester Buddhist Centre, December 2015. *** Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast - a full Dharma talk every week! Follow our blog for news and new Dharma FBA on Twitter FBA on Facebook FBA on Soundcloud
Keeping Good Company
March 26, 2020 04:00 - 9 minutes - 7.91 MBHere Padmasuri shares stories of friendship between the early Buddhist nuns and the Buddha. Featuring glimpses into the lives of Mahapajapati, Patajara, Dhammadinna, Kisagotami, Mitta, Queen Mallika. Many of these women would have gone forth for friendship, a sort of cradle of friendship, in which the truth teachings would be held and practiced. Just so then, so now. Exerpted from the talk The Buddha Was a Friend As We Can Be a Friend, the fourth and final in a series of talks to mark the...
Armed with Love Flowers
March 23, 2020 04:00 - 9 minutes - 5.74 MBHere Karunadhi introduces us to the Red Rite of Fascination. Friendship emerges from love for our friends, but also can evoke strong attachment. Communication and the samgrahavastu (means of unification) of loving speech are the antidote for grasping and projection. Excerpted from the talk Spiritual Friendship and the Red Rite of Fascination as part of the series Spiritual Friendship and the Tantric Rites given on a joint Tiratanaloka and Buddhafield retreat for women training for ordin...
Sangha Doesn’t Happen By Chance
March 19, 2020 04:00 - 8 minutes - 5.7 MBSuryamati reminds us that the spiritual life is difficult to practice on one’s own. Here we here the story of Meghiya where the Buddha advises that spiritual friendship is needed for the heart’s release. How do we be a sangha member? How do we help others in their practice of sangha? Here, we get an introduction to the teaching on the Samgrahavastus, the four means of unification. From the talk entitled Building the Buddhaland given at Sangha Night, Sheffield Buddhist Centre, 2013, as ...
A Perfected Universe, A Perfected Self
March 16, 2020 04:00 - 10 minutes - 6.77 MBA very interesting introduction to the mandala here from Garava - the idea, the myth, the image, the symbol, the experience. His own practice as an artist affords him a respectful and generous perspective, from which we are able to simply sit back and learn. Excerpted from the talk Entering the Mandala given at Padmaloka Retreat Centre, 2001 *** Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast - a full Dharma talk every week! Follow our blog for news and new Dharma FBA on Twitter F...
The Mandala Unifies Disintegration
March 12, 2020 04:00 - 8 minutes - 5.21 MBWe can find mandalas everywhere – in the East, in the West, in art, literature, even in dreams. Mandalas represent a resolution, or the beginnings of a resolution, of a conflict between the conscious and the unconscious. Sangharakshita explores the symbolism of the mandala, circles of symbolic forms, found in the The Tantras (special scriptures of Vajrayana Buddhism) as a symbol of psychological and spiritual integration. Excerpted from the talk entilted The Mandala – Tantric Symbol of I...
The Vajra: Two Meanings in One
March 09, 2020 04:00 - 8 minutes - 6.72 MBWe often get ideas about the symbolism of the vajra as being tight and willful. The language of determination can do that! Jvalamalini looks at the importance of clarity of purpose for simplicity and meaning in life, and the powerful symbol of the vajra. This diamond-thunderbolt symbol is really more about integration then it is about powering through obstacles regardless of what the rest of our being is up to. From the talk entitled Vajra: Symbol of Integration given at Bristol Buddhist...
Diamond Thunderbolt Way
March 05, 2020 05:00 - 10 minutes - 6.72 MBCandradasa takes a personal look at aspects of magic in the East and West, considering its place in Buddhist history and practice and also its meeting with Christianity at the time of the Renaissance. What emerges is a picture of how magic defined in various ways can be a powerful metaphor for the everyday work of Buddhist meditation and ethical practice - with the enchantment of love and wisdom fused the only one we need. The Buddha is the Master of Enchantments and his path - a magical tra...
Journey of Internal Transformation
March 02, 2020 05:00 - 13 minutes - 10.4 MBThe 'Vajrayana' means 'the way of the vajra'. Satyalila explores and explains how the vajra symbolizes the capacity to transform our darkest and most difficult experience into the liberated energy of awakening. She describes her personal experience of this and concludes with an exploration of the five Buddha mandala as a way of bringing powerful diverse energies into creative, harmonious relationship. From the talk Imagination, the Vajrayana & Us, part of the series Imagination, the Buddhi...
Dakini as Shapeshifter + Protector
February 27, 2020 05:00 - 9 minutes - 5.46 MBKarunasara takes us into the timeless world of the Dakini Vajrayogini, with an explanation of the symbolic meanings found in Tantric imagery and visualization of her, as well as an overview of her spiritual qualities. From the talk The Symbolic Meaning of Vajrayogini given at Aryaloka Buddhist Center, 2010. *** Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast - a full Dharma talk every week! Follow our blog for news and new Dharma FBA on Twitter FBA on Facebook FBA on Soundcloud
The Strength of Nothing Hidden
February 24, 2020 05:00 - 11 minutes - 8.8 MBWe often think that our best defense is to protect ourselves with a barrier between ourselves and the world. On the contrary, the dakini has the complete realization that in the end there is nothing to defend. In enlightenment all we were ever defending was a pattern of defensiveness, you realize there was nothing to defend. From the talk entitled The Dakini & the Skull Garland by Subhadramati given at London Buddhist Centre, 2020. Tantric Buddhism is concerned with the direct experience...
Untimely Flowers
February 20, 2020 05:00 - 8 minutes - 5.41 MBHere by Sangharakshita recounts one of the stories from the Mahaparinibbana Sutta, that of The Episode of Untimely Flowers. Reflections based around the Buddha's Parinirvana ('death'), stress the importance of impermanence. From the lecture entitled Between Twin Sala Trees as part of the series Incidents from the Pali Canon,1983. *** Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast - a full Dharma talk every week! Follow our blog for news and new Dharma FBA on Twitter FBA on Faceboo...
The Buddha is Eternal
February 17, 2020 05:00 - 11 minutes - 9.33 MBIn this talk on the Buddha's parinirvana, Vadanya explores how we can use our imagination to have a real living connection with the Buddha, and how we can make our own future potential for enlightenment a source of strength and guidance in our present lives. From the talk Is the Buddha Dead - For Us given at a Men's Event, Padmaloka Retreat Centre, October 2011, as part of the series entitled Parinirvana Day. *** Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast - a full Dharma talk every ...
Return Journey
February 13, 2020 05:00 - 11 minutes - 6.33 MBAryajaya tells the story of The Myth of the Return Journey from the Lotus Sutra in illustrating the meaning and symbolism of Vajrasattva who is associated with purity and the time of death. From the talk entitled Vajrasattva given at Cambridge Buddhist Centre, 2019. *** Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast - a full Dharma talk every week! Follow our blog for news and new Dharma FBA on Twitter FBA on Facebook FBA on Soundcloud
The Beauty of the Moment
February 10, 2020 05:00 - 9 minutes - 5.31 MBThe Buddha was a human being who by his own efforts discovered the path towards Enlightenment and was able to communicate this path for others to follow. His life is full of stories that that are of relevance for those of us today who wish to follow the path towards Enlightenment. Manjurava from a talk entitled Stories of Awakening: Parinirvana given at Cambridge Buddhist Centre, 2019, as part of Sub35s. This human life is precious an opportunity to awaken but this body is impermane...
The Buddha's Last Journey
February 06, 2020 05:00 - 17 minutes - 10.8 MBThe Maha Parinirvana Sutra contains a fairly detailed account of the Buddha’s last months of his earthly life. It follows him step by step -- where he went, who he met, how he discoursed, what teaching he gave. By the time he embarked on his last journey he knew he was going to pass away. Being the Enlightened One, he remained calm, reflecting on his last words, his last teaching. Excerpted from the talk The Tantric Symbolism of the Stupa by Sangharakshita,1972. *** Subscribe to our F...
Death is Uncharted Territory
February 03, 2020 05:00 - 10 minutes - 7.71 MBThere is something profoundly natural and ordinary about death, and yet something quite mysterious. Where do we go? What actually happens? Who or what are we when alive? Nothing changed, from the Buddha’s point of view. Vimalavajri offers reflections on the ultimate unknown, the ultimate mystery, death, inspired by the glimpses of awakening depicted in the Mahaparinibbana Sutta. Excerpted from the talk entitled The Way to the Beyond given at Bristol Buddhist Centre, 2016. *** Subscrib...