Free Buddhist Audio

Free Buddhist AudioIn this week’s FBA Podcast we hear another take on a famous Bodhisattva: “Vajrasattva: Not About Purity” by Jnanavaca given on Vajrasattva Festival Day at London Buddhist Centre on June 2009.

Direct download: podcast204.mp3
Category:FBA Podcast -- posted at: 10:54pm EDT

Free Buddhist AudioIn this week’s FBA Podcast “Vajrapani The Dharma Protector,” Vadanya introduces us to this Bodhisattva of Energy given as part of a series of talks on Stories and Symbols at Sheffield Buddhist Centre on 3rd July 2007.

Direct download: podcast203.mp3
Category:FBA Podcast -- posted at: 10:23pm EDT

Free Buddhist Audio The fires that can consume our old selves also release a new potential, the image of the phoenix evokes this transformation. In this week’s FBA Podcast “Amitabha and the Phoenix,” Vessantara explores Amitabha’s emphasis on meditation and his wisdom of discrimination. Amitabha is also associated with spiritual death. How do all these associations come together? One point of connection is the Bodhicitta. The reorientation of self and a letting go which allows for something vaster and more beautiful to inform our lives. In the first place, this might be expressed through being more empathic and compassionate to others.

Direct download: podcast202.mp3
Category:FBA Podcast -- posted at: 11:04pm EDT

Free Buddhist Audio This week’s FBA Podcast “Gazing at the Setting Sun – Amitabha and the Ordination Myth” is a previously unreleased talk by Dhammadinna looking at the process of joining the Triratna (Western) Buddhist Order in the sunset light of Amitabha, the red Buddha of the West.
Talk given in 2000 at the National Order Weekend.

Direct download: podcast201.mp3
Category:FBA Podcast -- posted at: 9:07pm EDT

Free Buddhist Audio This week’s FBA Podcast “Mindfulness As the Great Love (White Tara)” is a talk given by Vajratara at Sangha Night, Sheffield Buddhist Centre (28th August 2007), about the symbolism of White Tara, as part of a series on Stories and Symbols.

Direct download: podcast200.mp3
Category:FBA Podcast -- posted at: 9:06pm EDT

Free Buddhist Audio In this week’s FBA Podcast “Dwelling In the Presence of the Buddha” Subhuti considers the significance of Sangha day falling on the cusp of winter, and the importance of the seasons in human life. He recalls the genesis of Sangha day from the time of the Buddha, and considers it’s relevance for us here in the 21st century. Ultimately Subhuti focus on the Sangha jewels itself; its vital importance for the individual practitioner and as a real sign of hope for this world.

Direct download: podcast199.mp3
Category:FBA Podcast -- posted at: 9:43pm EDT

Free Buddhist Audio This week’s FBA Podcast by Ratnaprabha explores“How Genuine Sangha Can Be Created”.

Direct download: podcast198.mp3
Category:FBA Podcast -- posted at: 9:08pm EDT

Free Buddhist Audio This week’s FBA Podcast, is by Vidyamala titled “Can Buddhism Survive and Thrive In a Secular World?”. Based on her experience of teaching both ‘hard core’ Buddhism on the one hand and secular mindfulness on the other in various countries and cultural contexts, Vidyamala explores two opposite positions that can be taken in response to this question.

One can be ‘liberal’ and try to change Buddhism to align with popular values in society, or ‘conservative’ and try to change society to align with traditional Buddhist values.

Is there a middle way between these two extremes, where Buddhism is dynamic, accessible and attractive and yet remains true to the uncompromising and radical teachings of the Buddha?

Talk given at Manchester Buddhism Centre on 28th May 2011, as part of a series of free public talks entitled ‘Buddhism and the Big Question’.

Direct download: podcast197.mp3
Category:FBA Podcast -- posted at: 9:58pm EDT

Free Buddhist Audio In this week’s FBA Podcast, we bring you“The Messengers of the Dharma” by Vajragupta. He offers us a very accurate look at our Order from the perspective of the first three fetters.

Direct download: podcast196.mp3
Category:FBA Podcast -- posted at: 12:34am EDT

Free Buddhist Audio This week’s FBA Podcast, “Padmasambhava: The Lost Talk”, previously unreleased and, rather famously, given off-the-cuff at the London Buddhist Centre, Sangharakshita gives us this enjoyable and stirring evocation of the great Tantric Guru of Tibet.
Talk given in 1979.

Direct download: podcast195.mp3
Category:FBA Podcast -- posted at: 12:20am EDT

Free Buddhist Audio In this week’s FBA Podcast, “Change Is Overdue”, Maitrisara shares her thoughts on the theme of ‘A Force for Good in the World’, given in the Dharma Parlour at the 2010 Buddhafield Festival in Somerset, UK. Maitrisara lives in Oxford, UK, where she’s active in a wide range of community projects – as well as Triratna’s EcoDharma centre in the Pyrenees.

Direct download: podcast194.mp3
Category:FBA Podcast -- posted at: 12:07am EDT

Free Buddhist Audio In this week’s FBA Podcast, “Dealing with Change”, Saddharaja starts off with another story from his childhood in the 1960s about a forest fire and the effects of this upon his father, who was a forester. An example of sudden, dramatic change at work. He moves on to talk about smaller less dramatic changes in the work place which can create anxiety for Right Livelihood workers. Talk given at Windhorse Evolution.

Direct download: podcast193.mp3
Category:FBA Podcast -- posted at: 12:55am EDT

Free Buddhist Audio This week’s FBA Podcast by Vadanya is called “Fighting the Fivefold Fear”. In this talk Vadanya explores how we can turn the tables on pointless anxiety and limiting fears, and use these as fuel for our practice. Talk given on Men’s Event at Padmaloka, June 2013.

Direct download: podcast192.mp3
Category:FBA Podcast -- posted at: 12:26am EDT

Free Buddhist Audio This week’s FBA Podcast by Jnangarbha is called “The Hub of the Wheel”. This is Part 2 of a series of four talks on the Wheel of Life. This talk on The Hub was originally recorded in December 2003. It is available on Free Buddhist Audio thanks to the volunteer efforts of the Croydon Buddhist Centre Digital Archive Project.

Direct download: podcast191.mp3
Category:FBA Podcast -- posted at: 12:51am EDT

Free Buddhist Audio This week’s FBA Podcast “Buddhism, Modern Physics and the Nature of Reality” given by Jnanavaca at the London Buddhist Centre’s Open Day in May 2010.

Direct download: podcast190.mp3
Category:FBA Podcast -- posted at: 12:29am EDT

Free Buddhist Audio In this week’s FBA Podcast, “Buddhism and Science”, Manjuvajra condenses the Evolution talks into one that puts the spiritual life into the context of evolution – an update of Bhante’s Higher Evolution talks. Talk given at the Bristol Buddhist Centre, April 2013.

Direct download: podcast189.mp3
Category:FBA Podcast -- posted at: 12:44am EDT

Free Buddhist Audio This week’s FBA Podcast is a lovely talk by Vajrasakhi, current chair of Tiratanaloka Retreat Centre in Wales. In “Reality As A Way Of Life” Vajrasakhi shares her thoughts on Enlightenment as a way of living, a way of being conscious, a way of being aware, even creatively aware.

Direct download: podcast188.mp3
Category:FBA Podcast -- posted at: 12:51am EDT

Free Buddhist Audio This week’s FBA Podcast is the third talk in the LBC Buddhophany series by Subhuti titled:“Meeting the Buddha In Reality”. Subhuti concludes with a rousing call to take the Buddha’s invitation to meet him in reality. To do this we need to engage with the Buddha on the level of history and myth.

Direct download: podcast187.mp3
Category:FBA Podcast -- posted at: 12:01am EDT

Free Buddhist Audio This week’s FBA Podcast, comes from Vidyamala, speaking at Manchester Buddhist Center in 2012.

Entitled “Awareness is Revolutionary”, she encourages us to change our minds to change the world, speaking about the life-changing power of awareness.

Direct download: podcast185.mp3
Category:FBA Podcast -- posted at: 12:00am EDT

Free Buddhist Audio This week’s FBA Podcast, comes from Lokabandhu at Buddhafield’s Green Earth Awakening event in May of 2013.

Entitled “A Buddhist Approach to Changing the World”, Lokabandhu explores how Buddhists might take on the heroic task of affecting the world for the better. After reviewing the Buddhist concept of conditionality, he draws on examples such as Dr. Ambedkar and Triratna’s paradigm of the ‘New Society’ to illustrate how lasting social and personal change might successfully be brought about.

Direct download: podcast184.mp3
Category:FBA Podcast -- posted at: 12:00am EDT

Free Buddhist Audio This week’s FBA Podcast, by Padmavajra, was given during the 2013 Young men’s retreat at Padmaloka.

Entitled “The Way of the Dharma Warrior”, Padmavajra describes the qualities of the Dharma Warrior and how Dharma Warriors are fighting in the great battle between the spiritual community and the group – fighting for the liberation of the truly human individual against the forces of mediocrity and uniformity – the battle with Mara who embodies those forces. Padmavajra concludes with David Jones’ magnificent evocation of a warrior in his poem ‘The Hunt’.

Direct download: podcast183.mp3
Category:FBA Podcast -- posted at: 12:00am EDT

Free Buddhist Audio This week’s FBA Podcast, by Vajratara, is a tour-de-force of a talk entitled “Young People, the Bodhisattva Ideal, and Padmasambhava”.

Vajratara weaves together her first contact with meditation and the Dharma (being forced to go by her best-friend’s Mum!), early explorations with drugs, her love of teaching, how to build a spiritual community, Padmasambhava, and the Bodhisattva Ideal.

Direct download: podcast182.mp3
Category:FBA Podcast -- posted at: 12:00am EDT

Free Buddhist Audio This week’s FBA Podcast, by Dhammagita, is entitled “Dads and Mums, Truth and Lies”.

Given at a Dharma Day festival talk at the West London Buddhist Centre in July 2011, here Dhammagita celebrates the Dharma – emphasising the importance of truth and authenticity – and ends with a heartfelt expression of gratitude to her own teachers.

Direct download: podcast181.mp3
Category:FBA Podcast -- posted at: 12:00am EDT

Free Buddhist Audio This week’s FBA Podcast, by Sanghamani, and given during the Buddhafield East “Buddhism and the Natural World” retreat, is entitled “May All Your Weeds Be Wildflowers”.

Sanghamani draws inspiration from the use of images in nature linked to the Buddhas Enlightenment, Maras assault, and calling the earth goddess to witness and how we can use them to help us contact our own fearlessness and confidence. She encourages us to see our weeds as wildflowers and use metta to plant new seeds in order to create our own Buddhafields. She also speaks personally about the Buddhafields as places that offer the perfect conditions for spiritual growth.

Listen out for and be patient with the creaking mast of the Rainbow Tent ship!

Direct download: podcast180.mp3
Category:FBA Podcast -- posted at: 12:00am EDT

Free Buddhist Audio This week’s FBA Podcast, by Sangharakshita explores the Sutra of Golden Light and is entitled “Nature, Man and Enlightenment.”.

We seek happiness, but often we find that our desires and aspirations are in conflict. This struggle and its resolution are symbolically portrayed in the sutra by the figures of the Monk and Drdha, the Earth-Goddess.

Talk given in 1976.

Direct download: podcast179.mp3
Category:FBA Podcast -- posted at: 2:52am EDT

Direct download: podcast186.mp3
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Free Buddhist Audio In the face of global climate crisis what can we do? How can we change the ways we think and respond to the seemingly insurmountable problems the planet faces? This week’s FBA Podcast, by Akuppa, explores the relationships and connections between “Buddhism and Ecology.”

Akuppa’s thoughtful introduction to the worlds of scientific and deep ecology asks us the hard questions and offers some hope for possible answers. Drawing on the work of Joanna Macy and others, he traces positive lessons to be learned from simply observing and engaging with nature’s patterns and processes – and invites us all to prepare to be awestruck as a necessary first step.

Talk given at the Western Buddhist Order Convention, 2005

Direct download: podcast178.mp3
Category:FBA Podcast -- posted at: 2:21am EDT

Free Buddhist Audio Inspiration is present because of how we live – it is not something that comes from inside of us or outside of us. This week’s FBA Podcast, by Vidhuma, looks at: “Maintaining Inspiration.”

In his usual humble, poetic, and beautifully spoken way, Vidhuma weaves his way through The Three Refuges, bringing in his favorite American poets and writers, including Walt Whitman, as he explores the theme of the convention: The Heart of the Order.

Talk given at the North American Order Convention, 2010

Direct download: podcast177.mp3
Category:FBA Podcast -- posted at: 10:49pm EDT

Free Buddhist Audio This week’s FBA Podcast, “Going for Refuge,” by Viveka, is a personable and wide-ranging look at one of the most important aspects of Buddhist practice, whose significance is upheld in every tradition.

What is it to look to the ‘Three Jewels’ as a response to our dissatisfaction? A thoughtful exploration, taking in traditional Dharma approaches and contemporary counter-cultural art forms and ways of living…

Talk given at San Francsisco Buddhist Center, 2006

Direct download: podcast176.mp3
Category:FBA Podcast -- posted at: 10:45pm EDT

Free Buddhist AudioTo appreciate the significance of the 25th Anniversary of the Triratna’s sole retreat center in America, Nagabodhi takes us back 2500 years to the time of the Buddha through the early years of the movement right up to the present day and onwards into the future.

This week’s FBA Podcast, “Reflections on Aryaloka” is an inspiring and well thought out talk including stories about Sangharakshita and Aryaloka’s early pioneers. Nagabodhi offers one man’s perspective on bringing Buddhism to the West: A story of heroism, gratitude and love for the Dharma.

Talk given at Aryaloka Buddhist Center, New Hampshire USA, August 2010

Direct download: podcast175.mp3
Category:FBA Podcast -- posted at: 10:41pm EDT

Free Buddhist Audio In this week’s FBA Podcast,“Love, Sangha and Amitabha”, Amitasuri introduces us to Amitabha: Buddha of love and compassion, looking at the love and sangha aspects of the red Buddha of the western realm. From this perspective Amitasuri reflects on our relationships and the preciousness of human life. She considers whether, with body speech and mind, there can be any more appropriate response to connecting with ourselves and each other than with love and compassion.

Direct download: podcast174.mp3
Category:FBA Podcast -- posted at: 9:26pm EDT

Free Buddhist Audio In this week’s FBA Podcast “The Tale of Maha-Kassapa” Amoghavajra asks us, what is it that gladdens your heart?

Taking us back 2,500 years to the Kingdom of Magadha in Northern India to the birth of a boy called Kassapa, Amoghavajra tells the story of how he grows up happily and as he gets older he becomes less and less worldly. Kassapa marries Bhadda who has equally renunciant tendancies. They both go forth together.

Kassapa meets the Buddha, becomes his disciple and gains Enlightenment. He is known as a superb meditator and was foremost among the bhikkus for practising austerities. According to Amoghavajra’s story, one of the teachings that the Buddha gave to Kassapa was to attend to whatever gladdens the heart.

Direct download: podcast172.mp3
Category:FBA Podcast -- posted at: 12:27am EDT

Free Buddhist Audio Be prepared for the odd surprise in our FBA Podcast today where Dhivan asks: “What Do We Really Know About the Buddha?”

A lovely talk here from the excellent Dhivan. As he sifts the information that’s come down to us, we meet several different versions of a human being as he blurs with the archetypal presence he has also come to represent. Yet whichever manifestation we prefer, more than anything this talk brings us face to face with the rich and moving legacy of a brilliant and truly compassionate individual, changing the world he took part in, stepping out of history “with the walk of a lion, the walk of a swan.”

Talk given at the Cambridge Buddhist Centre, 2008

Direct download: podcast171.mp3
Category:FBA Podcast -- posted at: 9:28pm EDT

Direct download: podcast173.mp3
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Free Buddhist AudioOur FBA Podcast today is a wonderfully entertaining talk on Perfect Vision titled: “Welsh Bats, A Vajrasattva Drugs Mule and Spanish Insight.” Here Vajrin tells a story of a wide ranging journey, including his early days at the Bristol Buddhist Centre in Long Ashton; his time as a junior doctor working in Africa; travels through India and Tibet; a visit to an Everest base camp and finally to ordination at a retreat centre high in the Spanish sierras. Along the way he manages to acquire a splendid Vajrasattva rupa and overcoming considerable obstacles, brings it home, thereby establishing a life-long association with this powerful bodhisattva of purification.

Direct download: podcast170.mp3
Category:FBA Podcast -- posted at: 8:11pm EDT

Free Buddhist AudioIn this week’s FBA Podcast, Manjuvajraa offers us insight into “Spontaneous Universal Compassion.” The last of eight talks in the series ‘Evolution and the meaning of life’, here Manjuvajra shows us the next evolutionary step – purifying the mind.

Direct download: podcast169.mp3
Category:FBA Podcast -- posted at: 10:38pm EDT

Free Buddhist AudioIn this week’s FBA Podcast, Ratnaprabha gives us: “How To Have Fun” – A Look at the Buddhist path in terms of happiness, engagement, interest and delight. A new take on the positive nidanas.

Talk given at the West London Buddhist Centre

Direct download: podcast168.mp3
Category:FBA Podcast -- posted at: 10:08pm EDT

Free Buddhist AudioIn this week’s FBA Podcast, “The Power of Empathy,” Vajrasara explores metta (loving kindness), the subtle art of listening, and Kuan Yin, the mysterious white lady of Compassion.

One of a series of talks on the theme of ‘A Force for Good in the World’, given in the Dharma Parlour at the 2010 Buddhafield Festival in Somerset, UK

Direct download: podcast167.mp3
Category:FBA Podcast -- posted at: 12:37am EDT

Free Buddhist AudioIn this week’s FBA Podcast, “Empty Cave: Reflections on Life, Practice and Enlightenment,” Saraha takes us on a journey into the snowy mountains of the Pyrenees where he engaged in a solitary meditation retreat.

He found ‘nothing but the sound of a man breathing’ and hope and direction through emptiness, beauty and the Buddha’s assertion that mindfulness is the way to freedom.

Talk given at Birmingham Buddhist Centre, October 2012.

Direct download: podcast166.mp3
Category:FBA Podcast -- posted at: 12:13am EDT

Free Buddhist AudioIn this week’s FBA Podcast, Padmavajra takes us on an amazing journey into: “The Tiger’s Cave.” This is the first in an excellent 8-talk sequence by Padmavajra on Zen Buddhism. The series is full of colourful stories and challenging insights from the lives of the great Masters of China and Japan.

This talk introduces the basics and brings us face to face with the Great Emptiness at the heart of practice.

Talk given at Padmaloka Retreat Centre, 2004

This talk is part of the series “Tangling Eyebrows with Zen Masters.”

Direct download: podcast165.mp3
Category:FBA Podcast -- posted at: 1:57am EDT

Free Buddhist AudioIn this week’s FBA Podcast, “Magic For the Modern World,” Candradasa 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 training with him – is available to all. The truly marvelous awaits…

Talk given in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, October 2012.
This talk is part of the series “Religion Without God.”

Direct download: podcast164.mp3
Category:FBA Podcast -- posted at: 1:55am EDT

Free Buddhist AudioIn this week’s FBA Podcast, “The Blissful Mind,” Vajradevi explores bliss, happiness, joy and their relationship to the Buddhist path. What stops us feeling happy more of the time? Is there a difference between freedom of desire and freedom from desire?

Last of a series of four talks entitled ‘The Powers of the Mind’ given at the Cambridge Buddhist Centre in April 2011.

Direct download: podcast163.mp3
Category:FBA Podcast -- posted at: 11:49pm EDT

Free Buddhist AudioIn this week’s FBA Podcast, Vadanya delivers an engaging and rich talk titled: “The Great Hidden Treasures of Padmasambhava.”

Direct download: podcast162.mp3
Category:FBA Podcast -- posted at: 1:44am EDT

Free Buddhist AudioIn this week’s FBA Podcast, we bring you a classic talk by Sangharakshita: “Art & The Spiritual Life.” “Art is the organisation of sensuous impressions that express the artist’s sensibility and communicate to his audience a sense of values that can transform their lives.” Using his own definition, Sangharakshita investigates the relevance of art and the artist to higher evolution.
Talk given in 1969 as part of the series “The Higher Evolution.”

Direct download: podcast161.mp3
Category:FBA Podcast -- posted at: 11:16pm EDT

Free Buddhist AudioIn this week’s FBA Podcast,Ashvaghosha: India’s Great Buddhist Poet” Dhivan introduces Ashvaghosha, the Buddhist poet of 2nd c. AD India. Two of his works survive: a poetic re-telling of the Buddha’s life-story (‘The Buddhacarita’ or ‘Acts of the Buddha’), and ‘Handsome Nanda’, about the conversion of the Buddha’s sensuous and wife-loving cousin to the Dharma.

Here Dhivan shares some of his own translations of Ashvaghosha from Sanskrit and Pali sources, in this accessible and humorous introduction to some fine Buddhist poetry.

This talk given at Cambridge Buddhist Centre, 20 August 2009, on the occasion of the launch of Urthona magazine, issue 26.

Direct download: podcast160.mp3
Category:FBA Podcast -- posted at: 10:03pm EDT

Free Buddhist AudioIn this week’s FBA Podcast, Maitreyabandhu brings us “Poetry East: Sasha Dugdale Interview.” Sasha Dugdale is a poet and translator. She worked for the British Council in Russia in the 1990s where she set up the Russian New Writing Project with the Royal Court Theatre. Since her return in 2001 she has translated new plays for the Court, the RSC and other theatre companies. Her recent translations of Elena Shvarts’ poems Birdsong on the Seabed were shortlisted for the Popescu Prize and the Academica Rossica Award. Her third book of poetry Red House appeared in August 2011 and is published by Carcanet Oxford poets.

“One of the most original poets of her generation”
Paul Batchelor, The Guardian.

PoetryEast.net

Direct download: podcast159.mp3
Category:FBA Podcast -- posted at: 12:47am EDT

Free Buddhist AudioIn this week’s FBA PodcastLife – For A Limited Time Only,” Suriyavamsa begins with the inevitability of death and some of our habitual attitudes to death and suffering, reading from contemporary poets. He brings out the Buddhist perspective that life and death are not separate, but parts of the same process.
This talk was given at Parinirvana Day 2010 at the Glasgow Buddhist Centre.

Direct download: podcast158.mp3
Category:Dharmabytes -- posted at: 7:14pm EDT

Free Buddhist AudioIn this week’s FBA PodcastDeath And The Buddhist,” Danavira is very funny, can do poetic and profound, tends to the chaotic in his style, and has a particular genius for this kind of thing; this kind of thing being talking about death. The whole talk is a kind of respectful joyride through the hardest subject of all – sit back and enjoy a thoroughly adult treat that’s likely to blow the heart wide open.

Talk given at Padmaloka Retreat Centre, Men’s Event 2000

Direct download: podcast157.mp3
Category:FBA Podcast -- posted at: 7:29pm EDT

Free Buddhist AudioIn this week’s FBA PodcastReflections on Vajrasattva: Purity, Confession and Death,” Dhammadinna shares her thoughts on Vajrasattva. His purity is not any sort of purity that can be attained – he is beyond space and beyond time. He is a very positive, profound, beautiful figure encouraging us to turn towards our innate purity, our Vajrasattva nature, so that we can wake up to the fact that in our deepest nature we’ve never been impure.

This talk was given as part of the Vajrasattva Festival Day at the London Buddhist Centre on Sunday 13th February 2010.

Direct download: podcast156.mp3
Category:FBA Podcast -- posted at: 7:58pm EDT

Free Buddhist AudioIn this week’s FBA PodcastTriratna Buddhism,” Vadanya tells the story of Sangharakshita and the new Buddhist Order and movement he founded. He talks about the early days of the FWBO and demonstrates the radical nature of the movement that has now become the Triratna Buddhist Community.

Direct download: podcast155.mp3
Category:FBA Podcast -- posted at: 7:35pm EDT

Free Buddhist AudioIn this week’s FBA Podcast , “The Individual and Community” Dhammarati talks about the Order as the basis for the New Society. Basing his talk in part on the lectures where Sangharakshita originally introduced the idea of the New Society, which also includes interesting material on the Order, specifically the distinctions between Public and Private Ordination and what they represent.

Dhammarati then goes onto to explore the central importance the Triratna Buddhist Order places on communication and connection as a means of personal transformation and the basis from which we influence the world. This gives us the significance of the Triranta Buddhist Order as a community of individuals trying to change themselves and have a positive impact on society making them a nucleus of a new society.

Talk given in a seminar at Dharmapala College, 2010.

Direct download: podcast154.mp3
Category:FBA Podcast -- posted at: 7:07pm EDT

Free Buddhist AudioThis week’s FBA Podcast , “Dreaming Angels” is a rousing and challenging talk by Vajratara given on the December 2012 National Order Weekend for women. The full title is “Dreaming Angels Each Imbued with the Mysteries of the Other – Why the Triratna Buddhist Order is Needed and What It Can Do.”

Vajratara begins her talk by evoking the social revolution of Dr Ambedkar. A revolution, she says, which is still needed to overthrow unhelpful attitudes in society, free the disadvantaged and give meaning to those who long for a higher life. She explains how the Triratna Buddhist Order can be in the first rank of the fighting forces in this revolution by referring to the Five Pillars of the Order.

Direct download: podcast153.mp3
Category:FBA Podcast -- posted at: 7:02pm EDT

Free Buddhist AudioIn this week’s FBA Podcast , “Buddhism: A Force for Good in the World” Vajragupta explores the potential of the Buddha’s teachings to transform society, starting with seeing how the Dhamma has helped millions of people who’ve suffered under the Hindu caste system change their lives. He asks how we’ve done in bringing this part of Bhante’s vision into being in the last 40 years, and encourages us to take opportunities to change society, including helping activists in positive change, and bringing a Buddhist perspective to current social debates.

Direct download: podcast152.mp3
Category:FBA Podcast -- posted at: 7:59pm EDT

Free Buddhist AudioIn this week’s FBA Podcast , “Buddhism and Peace” Parami thoughtfully asks: What is peace? And what does peace mean for Buddhists? Is it just the absence of war and conflict; guns and screaming?

Or is it also the deep silence that arises when the mind and heart are in harmony – a positive state of mind that can be cultivated both personally and collectively, where good and evil don’t exist as concepts?

This talk was given by Parami at Manchester Buddhist Centre on 30th July 2011 in the series Buddhism and the Big Questions.

Direct download: podcast151.mp3
Category:FBA Podcast -- posted at: 7:10pm EDT