Dharmabytes From Free Buddhist Audio

Danapriya explores how our inner world reflects to the outer world. How do we want to live in the world? How do our views impact our practice of generosity? Where do we direct the energies of craving and desire? Excerpted from the talk entitled Giving Is Enjoyable given at Croydon 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

Dayapakshini explores the relevance of the First Precept to our lives with extracts from the Abhisanda sutta, especially that of freedom from oppression to limitless numbers of beings. Excerpted from the talk entitled The First Precept given at the Croydon 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  

How can we decide between right and wrong? The Eastern criterion of ethics is psychological rather than theological: ethical behaviour is said to express higher orders of awareness. Here, Sangharakshita details the first precept, that of abstention from all forms of violence and harm towards other beings. Cultivating the positive aspect of this precept is the embodiment of maitri, love, as expressed through our deeds of loving-kindness. From the talk entitled The Principles of Ethics: Right Action given as part of the series The Buddha’s Noble Eightfold Path, 1968. *** 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

Siladevi reflects on an aspect of Buddhism that is often played down, but is nonetheless an organic part of Buddhism - that of working together with others to effect change in the world. Excerpted from the talk The Ideal Society and the Ideal Individual entitled given at Manchester Buddhist Centre during a day in commemoration of the death of Bhante Sangharakshita, 30 October 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

Is awakening near or far, is the path sudden or gradual? Dharmashalin presents Sangharakshita’s metaphor on Buddhahood being like an evolutionary process, this time with more emphasis on metta as both an essential basis and method for inviting a sudden shift towards awakening on the basis of a gradual approach. From the talk Metta As Method and Support For Breaking Through to Buddhahood given at Birmingham Buddhist Centre, 2016. *** 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

Kulaprabha recounts an episode from the Vimalakirti Nirdesa to draw out how one generates the great love in response to the suffering of beings. This is the third of four talks exploring Vasubandhu's Four Factors entitled Contemplating the Suffering of Beings given at Taraloka Retreat Centre, 2010. In his treatise Generating Bodhi Resolve, Vasubandhu describes them as able to generate the resolve to cultivate and accumulate the bases for the Arising of the Bodhicitta. You can find out more about them in Sangharakshita's books The Meaning of Conversion in Buddhism and The Bodhisattva Ideal.   *** 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

Jnanavaca discusses metta as the foundation of samadhi, taking us back to basics and reminding us to dwell with patience and acceptance in the body. Excerpted from the talk entitled Metta as the Foundation of Samadhi given as part of the online retreat Towards Insight: Three Myths led by  Jnanavaca and Maitreyabandhu at Adhisthana, 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 FBA on Facebook FBA on Soundcloud

Jvalamalini introduces us to Vasakha, a generous laywoman disciple of the Buddha. Her story from the early sangha is about the Buddhist attitude to wealth and about the effects of generosity on the donor. From the talk entitled As Garlands From a Heap of Flowers given at Bristol Buddhist Centre, 2017. *** 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

There is an unfolding process within us – in each moment we have a choice to move towards the painful and unskilful, or we can move towards liberation. Faith is the intuition that there is a way of responding to experience that moves us away from suffering and towards liberation. What most deeply matters to us? What conditions allow for the process of flourishing to happen? Dhammarati calls on the story of Milarepa to draw out the relationship between faith and virya in Dharma practice. From the talk entitled Virya - Bending Towards the Wholesome given at Glasgow Buddhist Centre, 2020, as part of their online series on the paramita of Virya. *** 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

Intelligent and thought provoking, Candraprabha shares personally about three views, or three attitudes, she's uncovered in the course of her many years of spiritual practice. A helpful exemplification of how we can investigate our underlying attitudes in relation to our ability to live a Dharma life. From the talk entitled Bodhicitta: a Personal Talk from the Moon of the Mind: Bodhicitta Great Gathering, an (online) retreat for women training for ordination and Order Members offered by Taraloka & Tiratanaloka Retreat Centres, 2021. *** 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

Vajrasakhi leads a 'cherishing' metta bhavana based on the positive precepts. Here she introduces the practice emphasizing the crucial importance of a positive and loving relationship with ourselves. From the talk entitled Positive Precepts Metta Bhavana from the Moon of the Mind: Bodhicitta Great Gathering, an (online) retreat for women training for ordination and Order Members offered by Taraloka & Tiratanaloka Retreat Centres, 2021. Listen to the full meditation on Free Buddhist Audio.   *** 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

In his truly creative and poetic way, Ananda explores how various life experiences have shaped his understanding of the Dharma-Niyama. Something is being shown to us when we are prepared to look. This short talk was given on the European Order Gathering at Wymondham College, 2013, on the theme of the gathering was 'Karma niyama in the service of the Dharma niyama'.   *** 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  

Sangharakshita explores the nature of the Buddhist spiritual community and why it is so essential to spiritual life... Excerpted from the talk entitled The Spiritual Community, part of the series Introducing Buddhism, 1966. *** 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

Maitrisara explores two kinds of action: skilful and unskilful in the light of understanding, seeing possibilities. Buddhist ethics is as much a matter of intelligence as it is good intention. From the talk entitled Perfect Action given at Birmingham Buddhist Centre, 2021, as part of the Sangha Night series on the Noble Eightfold Path. *** 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  

Amaladipa explores how losing and finding ourselves in the service of others can be a way of transforming conditioning and suffering. From the talk entitled Losing and Finding Ourselves in the Service of Others given as part of the Sangha Night series on the Noble Eightfold Path at Birmingham Buddhist Centre, 2021.   *** 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  

Dharmashalin evokes the possibility of creating a deeper, fuller and broader life through our relationship to Perfect Vision. From the Sangha night talk entitled Perfect Vision given at Birmingham Buddhist Centre, 2021.   *** 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

Bodhidasa discusses the Metta Bhavana and the way it is taught in the Triratna system of meditation. Reflecting on the Karaniya Metta Sutta and Buddhaghosha's 5th century text the Visuddhimagga, Bodhidasa explores how this core practice relates to the Bodhisattva ideal, and how we can expand, refresh and enrich our metta practice in all its stages by re-visiting the structure. From the talk entitled Beyond Boundaries given at Sydney Buddhist Centre, 2018. *** 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

This is an exploration by Saddhaloka of the distinguishing role of Sangha, spiritual community, in the development and life of the Triratna (formally Western) Buddhist Order, and, in fact, in any kind of Buddhist spiritual life. Saddhaloka here is steady and thoughtful as ever... From the talk entitled Creating Sangha and Changing the World given at Padmaloka Retreat Centre, 2002.   *** 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

Munisha talks about insights gained from traveling in her early life, including realizing she didn’t know how to get along well with others. Some years later, she discovered the Triratna Buddhist Community where friendship is a basic organizing principle around which everything is based. From the talk entitled A Life in the Sangha given on Zoom to the Stockholm Sangha to celebrate Sangha Day, in the context of the Covid 19 pandemic, November 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 FBA on Facebook FBA on Soundcloud

Kuladharini reflects on the life of the sangha at the start of the Glasgow Buddhist Centre’s annual rainy season retreat. Here she explores the cosmic and mythic significance in their current work and their approaching going forth from the city premises they have been teaching from for almost 50 years. Excerpted from the talk of the same title, Growing Very Deep Roots In the Sky, 2021. *** 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