I was born in Oxford, England, in 1946, and I’ve been a practicing Buddhist for 40 years. I began training with Zen, practicing with the Venerable Myokyo-ni, a teacher from the Rinzai school, at the Buddhist Society in London. This was my practice for more than five years, before travelling to Sri Lanka in 1980. Here I lived for three years as a Theravada monk under the guidance of the Venerable Dhammaloka Maha Thera. It was while I was in Sri Lanka that my spiritual breakthrough took place in 1981, and it is this that forms the framework of my first book, A Record of Awakening, published in 1999.
There is an interview made for television by conscious.tv that covers this period of my training. There is also an edited transcription version on this website.
On my return from Sri Lanka I matured my practice by essentially living on my own for a number of years in east London. At the time of my breakthrough in Sri Lanka my teacher told me I should travel and begin to teach, but it was to be around 20 years before I took that role when I began leading retreats at centres of the Triratna Community in the UK and abroad. My association with this movement came to an end in 2006, and the DharmaMind Buddhist Group started independently the following year.
Other books:
Blue Sky, White Cloud
The Five Pillars of Transformation
Dharma Mind Worldly Mind
A Question of Dharma
On July 31st 2015, Āloka peacefully passed away. His funeral service was in the Birmingham Buddhist Centre on August 13th. He wrote this farewell letter before he died and asked that it be read out at the funeral as his final words to his Sangha and Dharma friends.
Summary and Transcript of this interview
Interview recorded 8/9/2014
YouTube Video Chapters:
00:00:00 - Introduction to Aloka David Smith
00:04:59 - The Path of Self-Development
00:09:35 - Seeking Guidance and Support
00:14:11 - Trusting Intuition and Taking a Leap of Faith
00:18:57 - The Experience of Cutting Open and Revealing Reality
00:23:46 - Breaking Up the Illusion of Self
00:28:21 - Burrowing Into Who You Are
00:32:51 - Choosing a Path to Self-Improvement
00:37:21 - The Natural Process of Awakening
00:42:35 - The Difference Between Commitment and Willfulness
00:46:57 - Letting go of distractions and finding stillness
00:51:24 - Cultivating Inner Strength and Patience
00:56:07 - Surrendering to the Support of the Divine
01:01:00 - Equilibrium and the Collapse of the Conditioned Mind
01:06:32 - Revelation of Reality in the Dhammakaya
01:11:55 - Understanding Quantum Physics Beyond Objectivity
01:16:33 - The Advancing Host
01:21:17 - The Nature of Experience and Unattachment
01:25:35 - The Paradox of Non-Dual Enlightenment
01:30:20 - The Subtleties of Enlightenment
01:34:49 - Breaking Taboos in Buddhism
01:39:55 - The Need for a Teacher and Emotional Support
01:44:10 - The Evolution of Buddhist Practice in the West
01:48:14 - The Importance of Traditional Form and Practice
01:52:46 - Practices and Techniques in Zen and Theravada
01:57:35 - The Rejection of True Nature in Buddhist Practice
02:01:42 - The Importance of Authentic Teachers
02:06:13 - Authenticating Awakening and Seeking Approval
02:11:03 - The Importance of Humility on the Spiritual Path
02:15:56 - Being Challenged and Avoiding Complacency
02:19:55 - Conclusion and Farewell