Free Buddhist Audio

The wonderful Dhammadinna brings us this week’s FBA Podcast entitled Seven Point Mind Training. This is the first of seven talks in a series based on Atisha’s famous ‘The Seven Points of Mind Training’, and influenced both by Chekawa’s commentary and Langri Tangpa’s ‘Eight Verses for Training the Mind’. This talk was given on April 7th, 2008 and is part of the series Seven Point Mind Training.

This week’s FBA Podcast is a talk by Maitreyabandhu entitledSpiritual Death and Radical Transformation. In this rousing talk Maitreyabandhu goes into where Buddhism begins: with ourselves as we are and with the awake Buddha. But we don’t really know either ourselves or the Buddha. He emphasises that we don’t know because we so easily assume we know, or fix or lessen the goal. So what do we do? There are three approaches we need to balance and four things we have to do, to close the gap between the awake Buddha and us who are as yet unawake. Given at LBC Sangha Night, 13 May 2013.

This week’s FBA Podcast is a talk by Vessantara entitledThe Empty Boat. Early navigators were able to traverse vast distances using intuitive messages from the sun, wind, stars. Going for refuge is kind of a journey that needs ongoing mindfulness, a vision of the goal The second in a series of four talks by Vessantara exploring Going for Refuge is an accessible talk on the Insight aspect. From the four-part series, Aspects of Going for Refuge, given at the Cambridge Buddhist Centre in early 2016.

Parami delivers this week’s FBA Podcast entitledLiving In The Greater Mandala. She brings this theme alive in the most human, poetic, and inspired of ways. Her range is broad as she evokes the mandala itself, and the profound, playful path of the Bodhisattva. Calling forth Rumi and Hafiz, the great Buddhist Perfection of Wisdom texts, Keats, Yeats, Robert Hass, and Kenneth White, she illustrates what it looks and feels like to live dedicated to the wellbeing of all as the most natural thing in the world. As always with Parami, her great experience shines through in this talk – a terrific encouragement to anyone thinking of integrating this perspective of joy into the challenge of everyday life… Recorded in Adelaide, Australia, October 2015 for the 2015 Triratna International Urban Retreat.

This week’s FBA Podcast is a talk given by Vajrapriya entitledDescend with the View, Ascend with the Conduct. Vajrapriya makes the link between this saying, and Sangharakshita’s explanation of the Noble Eightfold Path as a path of Vision and Transformation; talks about what it means to ascend with the view; and to descend with the conduct; and explores the signs that we’re not keeping these two directions of practice in balance.

We are delighted to bring in Jnanavaca for today’s FBA Podcast entitled The Texture of Reality. In this talk, he explores the notions of conditioned and unconditioned reality, and the relationship between the two.

Vajratara headlines our FBA Podcast for today with a talk entitled Metta and the Path of Insight. Given on a Young Womens’ Weekend at Taraloka, she discusses how the practice of metta can be more than just the simple cultivation of loving-kindness and positive emotion, and how it can also be a window into deeper truths about the nature of reality.

From a landmark talk of the same name, our FBA Podcast today is from Parami entitled The Lineage of Inspriation. Here Parami speaks about the lineage of inspiration, one of the four lineages Sangharakshita has handed on to the Triratna Order and movement; lineages of teachings, practices, institutions and inspiration. She evokes the importance of the lineage of inspiration in this burning world, and talks about her own sources of inspiration since she came into contact with the movement in 1977, sharing quotes from a number of Bhante’s early talks which had a profound impact on her.

Explore the fascinating shift from Karma Niyama to Dharma Niyama and its significance in Buddhist teachings. Discover how ethical practices lead to spiritual awakening and joy, illuminating the connection between virtue and enlightenment. Delve into the dynamic balance of effort and transformation on the spiritual path. Uncover the complexities of Dharma Niyama as a supra-personal force and the journey towards enlightenment. Finally, learn about spiritual rebirth in the Pure Land and the vital role of ethical practices in this transformative process.

In today’sFBA Podcast Shifting to Indras Net Parami evokes the reality of interconnectedness in relation to the second Dasadhamma – My life is dependent on others. I am sustained by the gifts of others – She talks about how the experience of interconnectedness is supported by wisdom, and results in compassionate activity. This is the fourth talk of The Order as Practice – Shifting Paradigms retreat.