Free Buddhist Audio

Welcome to this week's FBA Podcast, " Abundant Treasures ," by the wonderful story teller, Suriyavamsa. The first of a series on the parables of The White Lotus Sutra, this talk looks at the Sutra as a whole. Suriyavamsa explores the key themes as well as how best to approach a Mahayana Sutra. Please note that there is some noise disturbance at the end of the talk due to a small and restless child...

In "Standing on Emptiness" Dhammadassin eloquently invites us into a lovely, thoughtful exploration of the traditional Buddhist path of ethics, meditation and wisdom, using poetry and the ideas of contemporary science to evoke the mystery that lies at the heart of practice. Dhammadassin's beautifully weighted talk challenges us to look at how we think and how we act, and is rooted in a moving fide...

In today's FBA Podcast, Kamalashila delivers: 'Absorption – After the Enlightenment' . How do you get used to being Enlightened? What happened to the Buddha in the weeks after his breakthrough experience? Kamalashila explores these questions in two ways – using the framework of the Western Buddhist Order's system of meditation to shed light on the process that unfolded in the Bodhisattva's mind an...

In today's FBA Podcast , Parami delivers true to form: "Energy At Its Most Abundant" on the topic of 'virya' – 'energy in pursuit of the good'. This talk was given as part of a three talk series at Windhorse:Evolution , a large and successful Buddhist team-based right livelihood business. A good, strong (sometimes even idealistic!) evocation of the co-operative spirit of Buddhist work and of spiri...

In today's FBA Podcast , we give you "The Buddha's Vision" , the last talk in the "Gautama Buddha" series launching Vishvapani's new book "Gautama Buddha: The Life and Teachings of the Awakened One". (Quercus, 2011) When the Buddha finally sat down under the Bodhi tree and saw deeply into the nature of things, what had brought him to that point? And what happened next? In his final take on the Bud...

In today's FBA Podcast , we give you the fourth talk in the  "Gautama Buddha" series titled: "The Buddha and Society" , from the launch of Vishvapani's new book "Gautama Buddha: The Life and Teachings of the Awakened One". (Quercus, 2011) The Buddha as a radical, as a holy man, as pragmatist, as tamer of demons, as visionary – in this wide-ranging, riveting talk Vishvapani gives us all these and m...

In today's FBA Podcast , Vishvapani delivers "The Buddha's Personality" , the third talk in his dynamic new series from the launch of the book "Gautama Buddha: The Life and Teachings of the Awakened One". (Quercus, 2011) Great artists have tried and failed to grasp the essence of the Buddha's character. Beyond the narrative and the drama, what was the Buddha actually like? And what can be gleaned...

Today's FBA Podcast , is the second talk in a major new series of talks by Vishvapani to mark the launch of his new book: 'Gautama Buddha: The Life and Teachings of the Awakened One' (Quercus, 2011). In "Imagining Gautama" , originally subtitled, 'Approaching The Buddha As An Historical And As A Mythic Figure', Vishvapani traces his own relationship to the Buddha, from early family connections ari...

In today's FBA Podcast , we present: "Searching for the Buddha" , the first in a major new series of talks by Vishvapani to mark the launch of his new book: 'Gautama Buddha: The Life and Teachings of the Awakened One' (Quercus, 2011). Vishvapani is a well known figure in the Triratna Buddhist Community and is a regular contributor on the BBC's 'Thought for the Day'. In this talk we meet the Buddha...

In today's FBA Dharmabyte, Punyamala delivers a rich, comprehensive talk: From Enchantment to True Delight – Reflections On Stream Entry. Here, she sets out the path from effective to Real Going For Refuge using the framework of breaking the first three fetters and gaining Stream-entry. Punyamala confidently asserts that Stream-entry is attainable in this lifetime. Using Sangharakshita's terms for...

In today's FBA Podcast , "This Way Up – Living the Spiral Path" Saraha delivers a beautiful and engaging talk seeped in the Pali Canon. Leading with the Vatthupama, Simile of the Cloth, Sutta, Saraha gives us a very detailed look into the stages of spiritual development as described in the Lokuttara Paticcasamuppada Sutta – The Spiral Path.

Today's FBA Podcast , "Why Read the Sutta Nipata?" , by Suriyavamsa, is a thorough and engaging exploration of the why and what of suttas, how they were traditionally passed on through the ages and Kukai's description of how a sutta works on the rational, imaginative and cosmic-mythological levels. Includes beautiful readings on the themes of: skillful speech, grief and fearing death, humility, pl...

In the talk On the Hymn to Perfect Wisdom ' Kulaprabha beautifully explores these verses of devotion from 'The Perfection of Wisdom in 8000 Lines' and they apply to us, in our lives, in our world.

In celebration of the 43rd anniversary of the founding of the Triratna Buddhist Community, (formally the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order) we bring you an moving and engaging talk by Subhuti: " Awake to the Cries of the World " the keynote talk from the FWBO celebrations a decade ago. How do we respond to the suffering in the world? Subhuti speaks from his experience of years trying to answer...

Today's FBA Podcast is titled "Karma and the Consequences of Action" . The fourth talk in a five-part series from Tiratanaloka's retreat on the 'Four Mind Turnings' of the Tibetan tradition. Here Ratnadharini takes us a little closer into the often misunderstood area of karma in Buddhist thinking. She draws out the important details of the process that we call 'actions and consequences' – but her...

In The Alchemy of Love Padmavajra explores the transformative magic that is Bodhichitta practice. A short introduction to the theme here – setting the context for the series and introducing us to Shantideva, whose treatise on Bodhichitta practice (the Bodhicharyavatara) forms the basis of the wonders to be explored Talk given at Padmaloka Retreat Centre, 2004 This talk is part of the series The Al...

In Enlightenment as Experience and as Non-Experience , Sangharakshita exposes a modern disease of frustrated craving for experience. He suggests that spiritual life is better seen in more concrete ways; as growth, work, and duty. Talk given in 1975.

In this talk "This Precious Human Life" Kulaprabha skillfully points out that it's not every human life that is precious. Preciousness comes when our human life has arrived at the unique occasion of the 'Eight Freedoms' and at the right juncture of the 'Ten Endowments' – and when we have a faithful heart. Given at Taraloka Retreat Center, February 2008 this talk is one of a series of talks on the...

In "The Meaning of Parinirvana" , Sangharakshita gives a lecture celebrating the anniversary of the Parinirvana or 'death' of the Buddha. It outlines six basic meditation practices crucial to the attainment of the 'Deathless': Enlightenment. N.B. Last few words missing. Talk given in 1972 by Urgyen Sangharakshita.

In this thoughtful, sympathetic talk, "Becoming a Citizen of the Present", Srivati expounds on the most delicate of tasks in any life – how to live in the present moment. Exploring the subtle aspects of past and present, of memory and expectation, we encounter impermanence as the touchstone of our experience through storytelling (Bahiya of the Bark Garment) and the practice of writing – especially...

In this talk, "Dying to Live" Vidyamala gives a strong account of working with suffering and sorrow in life, and of transforming your experience into one characterized by contentment and a sense of meaning. From her own practice of living with chronic pain comes a sane and unsentimental perspective that affords us all a measure of genuine optimism as we meet the trials of the world: bereavements a...

In this talk, "Generating Bodhi Mind" Vajratara guides us through the second section of Tsongkhapa's short text on "The Three Principle Aspects of the Path". The verses contain some strong and striking images for what it feels like being caught in Samsara and they come to life in Vajratara's talk. She relates how she nearly came to death herself swept away by a Indonesian river and that was just a...

In this talk, "The Ideal of Universal Awakening" Nagapriya 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. This is the second talk in a five-part series called Visions of Mahaya...

"Great Compassion Penetrates into the Marrow of the Bones" – A stirring and penetrating talk by Dhammadinna around the image that a Bodhisattva's compassion runs as deep as their very bones. Nagarjuna, Milarepa and others add their voices as Dhammadinna makes an emotionally resonant but clear-eyed attempt to lay out the ground of a practice that is moving towards the development of Bodhichitta. Wh...