Free Buddhist Audio

Our FBA Podcast this week is a talk by Ratnaprabha entitled Sowing Seeds In the Soil of the Mind – The Alaya. The alaya, or storehouse consciousness, is the Buddhist equivalent of the unconscious mind. It is like a garden, in which every experience and action sows a seed which may later sprout and create our unfolding life. This talk describes how this relates to the six sense awarenesses, the mind as a sense, and the contaminated mind which reads everything in terms of self and not self. Mindfulness finds a creative path between leaving the alaya on autopilot, and allowing the contaminated mind to interfere and fill the garden with weeds and rubbish.

Our FBA Podcast this week is called Mind and Mental Events by Subhuti. These five omnipresent mental events (sarvatragas) constitute the basic mechanics of the mind; if you are conscious, they are present. 1. Feeling-tone (vedana) 2. Recognition (or conceptualisation) (samjna) 3. Directionality of mind (cetana) 4. Contact (sparsa) 5. Egocentric demanding (manaskara) From this we can conclude that: 1. All our experience is feeling-toned. The more conscious we are of this, the less we will react and be driven by our likes and dislikes. 2. We are always interpreting our experience with varying degrees of accuracy and depth. We can make an ongoing effort to raise the level of our experience. 3. The mind is always moving towards things. We can use cetana skilfully to move in the direction of Going for Refuge by practising the precepts etc. But we need to want to go in that direction. This talk is part of the series Mind and Mental Events (Subhuti 2001).

Our FBA Podcast this week is calledThe Buddha Beyond Siddhartha by Dassini. The first half of the talk looks at the Buddha’s early life and his battle with and the defeat of Mara. Then Dassini looks at the traditional Buddhist concept of time, and the division of time into Kalpas, inconceivably lengthy periods of time. The talk concludes by looking at the Dharma niyama, the order of conditionality through which the attainment of Enlightenment is possible. Please not that as this talk progresses there is some sound disturbance that gets louder as the talk goes on. Apologies for this.

Our FBA Podcast this week is calledAnapanasati – Contemplation of Feelings given by Guhyavajra during the 2016 Anapanasati retreat at Padmaloka. The Anapanasati meditation practice and Four Foundations of Mindfulness are woven into a system of practice which when developed and cultivated is of great fruit and great benefit. Based on the Buddha’s principal discourse on the subject found in the Anapanasati sutta of the Pali Canon, we explore our human experience rooted in the six senses; from the perspective of body, feeling and mind in the context of mindfulness with breathing. This talk is part of the series Anapanasati.

Our FBA Podcast this week is calledThe Sangha Context of the Anapanasati Teaching, a talk given by Shubha at the London Buddhist Centre’s Women’s Night Class, Nov 21st 2013. Drawing out the full sutra where the Anapanasati teaching is given speaks to the sangha context as a condition for insight.

Our FBA Podcast this week is called Inquisitive Mind, Thinking and Awakening. Here Yashobodhi talks about the relationship between thinking and insight. As long as we have a brain, we will have thoughts. Some of these thoughts are helpful. Some not so much. Becoming aware of thoughts is a good start. Whatever next?

Our FBA Podcast this week is called From View to No View by Jnanavaca on views and the need for a positive emotional engagement with those views. London Buddhist Centre in 2007

Our FBA Podcast this week is called Training in the Six Paramitas: Shila – The Essence of Ethics by Padmavajra. This is the fifth talk in a six-part series by Padmavajra exploring the Perfection of Wisdom and specifically the practice of the Six Perfections. The usual order of the practices is reversed, so here we turn to the key issue of “Ethics”. Talk given at Padmaloka Retreat Centre, 2004 as part of the series Training in the Six Paramitas.

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In this week’s FBA Podcast, Working with Energy In the Bodhicaryavatara, Suryamati explores the theme of Virya (energy) in Santideva’s Bodhicaryavatara. Talk given at Sangha Night, Sheffield Buddhist Centre on 29th April 2008. Part of a series on Great Buddhist Texts.