Dharmabytes from free buddhist audio

Here we have Kusalasara speaking about the fetter of vagueness, distinguishing it from negative types of doubt. Doubt can be used to challenge our assumptions, and has a quality of discovering what's most positive. Vagueness is a force guaranteed to prevent progress. Excerpted from the talk Breaking the Fetter of Vagueness given as part of the series 'The Taste of Freedom' Revisited at the London...

It's very hard for us to imagine vimutti, (freedom), in it's fullest and perfect sense. Sharing a funny story about watching ants from his ordination retreat, Akashamitra evokes a delightful analogy about making a commitment on a complete different level when we aspire to enlightenment. From the talk entitled Breaking the Fetter of Superficiality from the series 'The Taste of Freedom' Revisited gi...

Here Prajnamati offers gentle guidance for meditation inspired by the Anapanasati Sutta. In meditation we choose to center our attention on what arises – initially we may tighten or harden or contract which is movement out of meditation towards hindrance. There is another direction we can go, alternatively we can relax into our experience and move into the point of freedom. From the talk entitled...

How free would your life be if you gave up unreal expectations? Try to remember something too important to forget. Renunciation is where you are allowing yourself to be obedient to the call of the heart – what do you really want to say 'yes' to? One of her telling quotes is " ... there is no spiritual development without renunciation, and no renunciation without spiritual development ..." Saddhana...

Why did the Buddha compare the The Dharma-Vinaya having the taste of freedom with the great ocean having the taste of salt? It's about the direct experience of the qualities of enlightenment. The Dharma-vinaya is an uninterrupted spontaneous flow of spiritual and transcendental states. That flow may crystalise into certain teachings, but should not be identified with it. Just as the mighty ocean h...

Just as the mighty ocean has but one taste, the taste of salt, even so the Dharma-vinaya (Buddhism) has but one taste, the taste of Freedom. (from 'The Udana'). This brilliant and rousing tour-de-force on transcendental freedom is one of Sangharakshita's best-loved lectures. The Taste of Freedom  lecture was given in 1979.   ***   Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast - a full Dharma talk e...

Metta helps us to disentangle our own self involvement to be able to see the bigger picture. We can only really see things clearly with the eyes of Metta. Vijayasri looks to the life of the Buddha and how he responded to the suffering of the world with metta. This talk entitled Living with Loving Kindness was given at Croydon Buddhist Centre as part of the regular Saturday morning Sangha class, Au...

T he word 'metta' is untranslatable, not just from a language perspective, but also in that it is best experienced through our own direct experience. Vidyavachin offers reflections on the Metta Sutta in this talk given at the annual sub35 men's weekend (Young Buddhists) at Padmaloka Retreat Centre in November, 2018. The talk is entitled Radiate Love and is part of a series of the same name. *** Su...

Is there an inner attitude we can adopt that will naturally lead to the creation of Sangha? Satyadhara poses this question - and addresses it - in his talk on the second Mainland Europe Young Buddhist Convention. He shares his personal experience of being in a small Sangha near Frankfurt in Germany, and draws upon Asangha's Yogacharabhumi to explore the conditions necessary for building Sangha. Th...

Sahajatara evokes the current issues surrounding climate change and our relationship to nature in the context of Tara. From the talk Tara and the Tears of Avalokiteshvara given on the Area Order Weekend at Taralo ka Retreat 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 S...

Bhadra explores how we might revision the Triratana mandala of practice to strengthen our sense of interconnectedness with the world. From the talk Revisioning Our Relation to the World: Two Icebergs and the Mandala of Practice given at Bristol Buddhist Centre  as part of BAM – Buddhist Action Month - 2018. *** Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast - a full Dharma talk every week! Follow ou...

The development of the individual is fundamental in transforming the world but at the same time it is important to recognize that external conditions can help or hinder us in our development. Vimalavajri talks of her personal involvement in the spheres of politics, feminism and Buddhism.  Using Indra's net as a classic Buddhist image of interconnectedness, the talk explores what the dharma might h...

We have a collective inner sleep going on when it comes to climate change. In Buddhist terms we call this 'avidya', ignorance, which literally means 'not seeing' which brings out the active process of ignoring certain aspects of reality, especially those things we believe to be a threat. This short talk by Dayajoti serves as an introduction to a guided 'climate' meditation which can be listened to...

Tejopala likens the current global climate crisis to a village with a fire that threatens everyone in it and asks what a community of monks living in such a village might do in such circumstances. He also draws on the advice given by Urgyen Sangharakshita in his talk given in 1984 called 'Buddhism, World Peace and Nuclear War' as to how Buddhists should act to address an overwhelming existential t...

Our FBA Dharmabyte today is by Sangharakshita entitled The Dangers of Habits and Routines . In this brilliant and accessible approach to the essence of Buddhism, Sangharakshita shows that Buddhism starts with the mind. Mind can be reactive, symbolised by the Tibetan Wheel of Life, or creative, as when one follows the Seven Factors of Enlightenment, described here in detail. From the talk Mind: Rea...

Our FBA Dharmabyte today, Deeply Deluded , is by Mahamani from a talk entitled Mind Creates World given as part of the London Buddhist Centre's week-long series exploring Mind Reactive / Mind Creative for the 2018 Urban Retreat. There is a way to work with our mental states that takes us out of the reactive mode of being into progressive spiritual development. Our minds clouded by aversion, cravin...

O ur FBA Dharmabyte today is called Dana as Practice . Here Samachitta puts the practice of generosity under the microscope in this engaging talk on the first paramita. When we perform an act of generosity, what exactly is happening? How does it relate to the development of Wisdom? Is there such a thing as purely mental generosity and how effective is it? This talk explains the 'why', 'what' and h...

Today's FBA Dharmabyte is by Suryagupta , the new chair of the London Buddhist Centre. Entitled A Set of Wonders this excerpt is from the talk 40 Years of the LBC: Looking Back and Looking Forward on what Buddhism has to offer to individuals, communities and the world at large. Given at London Buddhist Centre on the occasion of their 40 th anniversary, June 2018. *** Subscribe to our Free Buddhist...

Sangharakshita  gives us today's FBA Dharmabyte - an introduction to Jamyang Khyentse Rimpoche, one of the foremost Tibetan Buddhist teachers of his time. Although a  Nyingma  master, Jamyang Khyentse was a chief exponent of the  Rime movement , which brought together the different Tibetan schools to create a more unified tradition. Sangharakshita met him in 1957 and received several initiations f...

The missing memoir years of Sangharakshita's life story has been told by Khantipalo in his book, Noble Friendship . Khantipalo and Sangharakshita spent a year together in India receiving meditation instruction from Yogi Chen, a meditation master in the Cha'an tradition. Sangharakshita describes Yogi Chen as having an intense inner life, full of visions, psychic experiences, and a penetrating insig...

In today's FBA Dharmabyte we meet Jagdish Kashyap, Sangharakshita's first teacher, the Theravadin scholar/monk with whom he lived and studied Pali, logic and Buddhist philosophy at Benares. After higher ordination, on the advice of Jagdish Kashyap, Sangaharakshita moved to the Himalayan border town of Kalimpong, to work for the good of Buddhism. E xcerpt ed from the talk entitled Jagdish Kashyap b...

In o ur FBA Dharmabyte today we are introduced to Kachu Rimpoche by Vajratara one of Sangharakshita's eight main teachers . Kachu Rimpoche  was a man of great learning, renowned as a deep meditator and visionary, and a gifted sculptor. Rimpoche went out of his way to befriend Sangharakshita. In 1960, on Jampyang Khyentse's recommendation, Kachu Rimpoche initiated Sangharakshita into the practice o...

Our FBA Dharmabyte today is entitled 'Not to be Defined'  by Jnanavaca . Excerpted from the talk Is A Guru Necessary ? Jnanavaca revisits one of Sangharakshita's classic talks from 1970 and gives his contemporary reflections on its abiding relevance. This was given as part of the London Buddhist Centre Dharma Night Series, Bhante Classics , September 2012. *** Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio...

We are pleased to present today's FBA Dharmabyte entitled 'Engaging with Sangha as Teacher', excerpted from Saddhanandi's talk Spiritual Transmission and Lineage given at the Triratna Buddhist Order Women's Convention , Wymondham 2007. Here Saddhanandi revisits Sangharakshita's own take on the problems faced by practitioners in a contemporary spiritual community. And, with the help of a good sprin...

In today's FBA Dharmabyte, 'These Texts Were Meant to be Understood', Shraddhapa talks about his work translating the Ratnaguna Samcayagatha, a profound Mahayana Sutra from Sanskrit into English. You can find this text at Shraddhapa's website here . If you want to financially support Shraddhapa's important work you can donate here . From the talk For Heroic Spirits Intended - Translating Sanskrit...