Free Buddhist Audio

Continuing around the mandala, in today’s FBA Podcast we meet Amitabha in a talk by Padmasuri simply called Amitabha.

Continuing around the mandala, we enter the realm of Ratnasambhava, the golden Buddha of the South. In “A Personal Take On Upekkha, this weeks FBA Podcastby Ratnavandana. Continuing the series of personal talks on each of the Brahma Viharas from the 2015 Rainy Season Retreat, Ratnavandana shares an intensely honest, psychologically intimate, beautifully forensic history of her personal relationship to the practice of upekkha (equanimity) throughout her spiritual life. We hear about ways to assess what is going on in the subtler realms of our experience – and how to look to move beyond them so we too can live like a river…

Having now entered the mandala, we begin in the East with Akshobya on the theme of Integration with “The Five Aspects of Dharma Life – Integration”, this weeks by FBA Podcast. Subhuti delves into the fundamental principles behind Integration and invites his hearers to apply them deeply in their own lives. We begin by taking fully responsibility for our karmic agency. This talk is part of the series The Five Aspects of the Dharma Life.

For the next month or so we’ll be entering the mandala with a variety of talks and reflections from members of the Triratna Buddhist Order. We’ll begin at the beginning with “Entering the Mandala” by Vessantara for the first FBA Podcast in this series. Vessantara introduces Mandalas, in terms of personal, symbolic and specifically buddhist representations. He then invites us to enter the Mandala as a initiatory voyage of discovery and development, making reference to the System of Practice and the need to balance effort with openness. This talk is part of the series The Mandala of the Five Buddhas.

Today’s FBA Podcast is entitled “Sanghakaya and the Heart’s Release” by Maitreyi. She describes having somewhat of an epiphany on first hearing the term ‘Sanghakaya’ in a talk by Subhuti in India. It seemed to give expression to a whole direction and momentum of her life and practice, while simultaneously both deepening and opening out the mystery of the enlightened mind, expanding beyond any sense of individual consciousness or attainment. This talk is about the Sangha Jewel and it’s place in the spiritual life, given at the Manchester Buddhist Centre on Triratna Night, 14 December 2015.

Today’s FBA Podcast is a tribute to our teacher, Bhante Sangharakshita, given by Parami entitled “Revisiting the New Society”, the third talk of The Order as Practice – Shifting Paradigms retreat. Parami talks about the first verse of the Dasadhamma Sutta – “I am no longer living according to worldly aims and values.” She revisits Bhantes vision of the New Society, sharing her inspiration and love for the radical and transformative power of the Dharma.

Today’s FBA Podcast is a tribute to our teacher, Bhante Sangharakshita, given by Padmavajra entitled “Glimpses of the Mythic Life of Sangharakshita”. Urgyen Sangharakshita, the founder of the Western Buddhist Order, is many things to many people. Yet all inspiration and controversies aside, he is first and foremost a follower of the Buddha’s way and his own evocations of his personal practice give many clues as to the nature of a committed Dharma life. Here Padmavajra, one of his closest disciples, offers his own perspective on Sangharakshita as a practitioner with a rich sense of the mythic context pervading all his thinking about the Buddha and his teaching. Talk given in 2008.

We’ve been inspired to share writings and poems by Bhante Sangharakshita this month. Our FBA Podcast today, “Sangharakshita – Facing Mount Kanchenjunga”, is a delightful talk from 1991. Sangharakshita starts by reading an extract from the new volume of his autobiography, Facing Mount Kanchenjunga. He follows this by talking about and reading eight poems that he composed in Kalimpong which give a real feel for his appreciation of the place but also for his worries about the effect of logging in the mountains. The talk was given on November 28, 1991, in Croydon Buddhist Centre as part of the book launch for his autobiography. Croydon has been home to FWBO or Triratna Buddhist communities and centres since 1968. Many early talks by well known speakers were recorded, both at Aryatara, since 1979, and at the new Croydon Centre from 1981. These are now being transferred from their crumbling cassettes to digital format, as part of the Croydon Digital Archive Project, and are being made available to everyone.

We’ve been inspired to share poems by Bhante Sangharakshita this month. Our FBA Podcast today is an unusual, early, talk from Sankharakshita which will be new to most people. “Sangharakshita – Reading Poems About Friendship”. Bhante was invited by the Croydon Arts Centre, in 1990, to choose, discuss and read poems about friendship. His selection ranges from the Epic of Gilgamesh to 20th century poets and clearly shows Sangharakshitas love of poetry and his desire to share this with other people. The tape begins with an introduction by Dharmaruci, includes the Pearl Fishers friendship duet sung by Jussi Bjorling and Robert Merril and concludes with a personal reflection on Sangharakshita by Nagabhodi, as a book launch for A Taste of Freedom. Croydon has been home to FWBO or Triratna Buddhist communities and centres since 1968. Many early talks by well known speakers were recorded, both at Aryatara, since 1979, and at the new Croydon Centre from 1981. These are now being transferred from their crumbling cassettes to digital format, as part of the Croydon Digital Archive Project, and are being made available to everyone. The tape quality reflects its age, the sound is slightly distorted, but clear, during the readings and more distorted during the duet.

This week’s FBA Podcast features Ratnaghosha in a talk entitled “An Ever Widening Circle”. Given as the key note talk at Sangha Day at the Cambridge Buddhist Center, launching the Year of Spiritual Community for 2014 and laying out a vision for the Sangha.