Welcome to Free Buddhist Audio's Dharmabytes podcast, featuring bite-sized dharma from our website's vast audio archive. Free Buddhist Audio is an entirely user-supported project from the Triratna Buddhist Community. If you like what you hear, come and join us at www.freebuddhistaudio.com/community…

The full moon in May is celebrated as the anniversary of the Buddha's Enlightenment and his victory over the demon Mara. Sangharakshita explains what Mara represents and how he can be overcome. As well as containing much that will fascinate experienced Buddhists, this is also an excellent introductory lecture. Excerpted from the talk entitled The Buddha's Victory given in 1987. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dharmabytes-from-free-buddhist-audio/id416832097 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UHPDj01UH6ptj8FObwBfB YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FreeBuddhistAudio1967

Khemasuri explores the message of Transforming the World in The Sutra of Golden Light at Sangha Night, Sheffield Buddhist Centre 2008. Excerpted from the talk Transforming the World given at Sheffield Buddhist Centre, 2008. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dharmabytes-from-free-buddhist-audio/id416832097 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UHPDj01UH6ptj8FObwBfB YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FreeBuddhistAudio1967

Here Vajratara encourages her audience to enter a Mahayana text like one would reflect on a dream. Excerpted from the talk The Sutra of Golden Light given at Sheffield Buddhist Centre, 2008. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dharmabytes-from-free-buddhist-audio/id416832097 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UHPDj01UH6ptj8FObwBfB YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FreeBuddhistAudio1967

Taranita explores the historic and mythic origins of the Heart Sutra, the emergence of the Mahayana in the context of a Buddhist orthodoxy, emptiness, and our relationship to Buddhist concepts. Excerpted from the talk entitled An Introduction to the Heart Sutra given at Bristol Buddhist Centre 2019. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dharmabytes-from-free-buddhist-audio/id416832097 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UHPDj01UH6ptj8FObwBfB YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FreeBuddhistAudio1967

Chandana talks about the Perfection of Wisdom Sutras, a category of Sutras in the Mahayana tradition. Exerted from the talk A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Buddhist Scriptures: Perfection of Wisdom Sutras given at Manchester Buddhist Centre, 2010. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dharmabytes-from-free-buddhist-audio/id416832097 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UHPDj01UH6ptj8FObwBfB YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FreeBuddhistAudio1967

With his customary dry wit and sharp eye, Abhaya leads us on the crazy paving path through the Diamond Sutra - a text guaranteed to turn your world upside-down. Excerpted from the talk entitled The Diamond Sutra given at the Western Buddhist Order national Order weekend, 2003. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dharmabytes-from-free-buddhist-audio/id416832097 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UHPDj01UH6ptj8FObwBfB YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FreeBuddhistAudio1967

The Bodhisattvas descend, the Bodhichitta is called down, and Parami is off and rolling on her favourite subject... With a thoughtful look at Padmasambhava too, and an affectionate tribute to her own teacher, Urgyen Sangaharakshita, whose poem 'The Song of the Windhorse' forms the root text for this talk. Excerpted from the talk entitled Energy At Its Most Abundant given at Windhorse Evolution, a large and successful Buddhist team-based right livelihood business, Cambridge, 2002 *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dharmabytes-from-free-buddhist-audio/id416832097 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UHPDj01UH6ptj8FObwBfB YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FreeBuddhistAudio1967

Bodhilila speaks to verses from the Dana (Generosity) chapter from the Bodhicaryavatara. Excerpted from the talk Dana Paramita and the Bodhicharyavatara given at the London Buddhist Centre, 2011. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dharmabytes-from-free-buddhist-audio/id416832097 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UHPDj01UH6ptj8FObwBfB YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FreeBuddhistAudio1967

Jvalamalini offers suggestions to bear in mind when reading the Bodhicaryavatara, followed by a selection of guided reflections. She begins by exploring ways into the transcendental and then describes the bodhicitta, the heart of the exposition. Excerpted from the talk Reflections From the Bodhicaryavatara given at Bristol Buddhist Centre, 2016. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dharmabytes-from-free-buddhist-audio/id416832097 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UHPDj01UH6ptj8FObwBfB YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FreeBuddhistAudio1967

Padmavajra plunges fearlessly down into the lower realms of the wheel of life to meet the beings who inhabit - and the Buddhas who come to meet them. A sobering but strongly felt evocation of how we make the worlds with our minds - and what we might do to counteract the dangers. Excerpted from the talk On Hell and Hungry Ghosts, given at Padmaloka Retreat Centre, as Part of the series Tibetan Book of the Dead (Bardo Thodol), 2005. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dharmabytes-from-free-buddhist-audio/id416832097 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UHPDj01UH6ptj8FObwBfB YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FreeBuddhistAudio1967

Saddharaja describes the qualities of Akshobya, the great blue Buddha of the eastern quarter of the mandala - the Unshakeable One, the Imperturbable Akshobya, with a reading from the Bardo of Thodol. Excerpted from the talk Akshobya given at Padmaloka Retreat Centre, 2001 *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dharmabytes-from-free-buddhist-audio/id416832097 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UHPDj01UH6ptj8FObwBfB YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FreeBuddhistAudio1967

According to Tibetan tradition, in the bardo, an 'intermediate state' in the endless round of birth and death, we are free for an instant from that round. The Tibetan book of the Dead (Bardo Thodol) describes six of these opportunities for escape from reactivity. From the talk Psycho-Spiritual Symbolism in the Tibetan Book of the Dead given by Sangharakshita as part of the series Aspects of Buddhist Psychology, 1967. ••• Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dharmabytes-from-free-buddhist-audio/id416832097 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UHPDj01UH6ptj8FObwBfB YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FreeBuddhistAudio1967

Here Candradasa shares Ted Hughes' rendering of the Bardo Thodol, Tibetan Book of the Dead. He uses Buddhist scripture, vision literature, and poetry to tease out a sense of the Buddha's awesome vision of what life is, and how that might affect our ideas of what happens after death. Big ideas, big questions to sit with - all pointing to a practically beautiful experience of seeing things clearly in this life… From the talk Death and the Biggest Questions of All, part of the series Religion Without God, given at Portsmouth Buddhist Centre, 2012. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dharmabytes-from-free-buddhist-audio/id416832097 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UHPDj01UH6ptj8FObwBfB YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FreeBuddhistAudio1967

Bhadra takes us through the myth of Persephone and an experiential exploration of awareness to celebrate the vital contribution the bardo; the in-between state, makes towards the spiritual life. Excerpted from the talk Celebrating the In-Between given at Bristol Buddhist Centre, 2016. ••• Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dharmabytes-from-free-buddhist-audio/id416832097 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UHPDj01UH6ptj8FObwBfB YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FreeBuddhistAudio1967

Vidyamala offers ways to approach higher states of concentration in meditation and how they bloom out of paying attention to pleasant vedana that has a felt quality of openness within it. Dhyana is not random but a result of where we place our attention in each moment. Excerpted from the talk Introduction to Citta and Dhyana with Guided Meditation given at Taraloka Retreat Centre, 2019. ••• Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dharmabytes-from-free-buddhist-audio/id416832097 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UHPDj01UH6ptj8FObwBfB YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FreeBuddhistAudio1967

Here, Jnanavaca explores the Bardo of Life. Excerpted from the talk entitled Root Verses of the Six Bardos: Life given at Vajrasana Retreat Centre, 2023. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dharmabytes-from-free-buddhist-audio/id416832097 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UHPDj01UH6ptj8FObwBfB YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FreeBuddhistAudio1967

Vijayasri describes the Eight Freedoms and the Ten Endowments described in Gampopas teachings in the The Jewel Ornament of Liberation on the importance of a human birth. Excerpted from the talk entitled This Precious Human Life given at Croydon Buddhist Centre, 2015. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dharmabytes-from-free-buddhist-audio/id416832097 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UHPDj01UH6ptj8FObwBfB YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FreeBuddhistAudio1967

Arthaketu reflects on the Bardo Thodol, or Tibetan Book of the Dead, Here, he describes the hidden teachings, or termas, of Padmasambhava and how they are found. From the talk entitled Reflections on the Bardo Thodol given at Manchester Buddhist Centre, 2013. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dharmabytes-from-free-buddhist-audio/id416832097 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UHPDj01UH6ptj8FObwBfB YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FreeBuddhistAudio1967

Parami describes Avalokiteshvara; her relationship to the figure, his origins and mythology. In this talk, she helps listeners connect with his compassion and find meaning in his example of skilful action to end suffering of all beings. Excerpted from the talk Introducing Avalokiteshvara given at Glasgow Buddhist Centre, 2023. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dharmabytes-from-free-buddhist-audio/id416832097 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UHPDj01UH6ptj8FObwBfB YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FreeBuddhistAudio1967

Vishvapani has been studying, reflecting upon, and living out the Dharma life as presented by Urgyen Sangharakshita, Triratna's founding teacher, for over 40 years. To mark the fourth anniversary of “Bhante” Sangharakshita's death in 2018, this new audio essay delves deep into the heart of what Vishvapani calls a “unique and strange” intuitive approach to Buddhism that, at its best, seems to capture and vibrate with the essential vital energy of the universe. Excerpted from the essay The Organic Core of Sangharakshita's Teaching given at Triratna Buddhist Community, 2022. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dharmabytes-from-free-buddhist-audio/id416832097 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UHPDj01UH6ptj8FObwBfB YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FreeBuddhistAudio1967

Saddhanandi offers reflections on creating sangha through meaningful, authentic friendships and communication. The talk includes references to her interviews about poetry with Sangharakshita. Excerpted from the talk A Vision of Communication given at Cardiff Buddhist Centre, 2023. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dharmabytes-from-free-buddhist-audio/id416832097 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UHPDj01UH6ptj8FObwBfB YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FreeBuddhistAudio1967

An exploration of Sangharakshita's poem 'Padmaloka' in which he looks forward to his own death. It's a poem about death, rebirth and nature, and Vishvapani connects it to other poetry which it echoes. The talk was given a week after Sangharakshita's death. Excerpted from the talk Sangharakshita Foresees His Death In 'Padmaloka' given at Cardiff Buddhist Centre, 2018. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dharmabytes-from-free-buddhist-audio/id416832097 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UHPDj01UH6ptj8FObwBfB YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FreeBuddhistAudio1967

In this lovely talk following Sangharakshita's death, Ratnaguna urges us to get to know Bhante through his poetry. He then gives us a commentary on some of his favourite poems. Excerpted from the talk Getting to know Urgyen Sangharakshita through his Poetry given at Manchester Buddhist Centre, 2018. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dharmabytes-from-free-buddhist-audio/id416832097 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UHPDj01UH6ptj8FObwBfB YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FreeBuddhistAudio1967

Urgyen Sangharakshita - Bhante - who died last year, is not only the founder of the Triratna Buddhist Order and Community, but also teacher and spiritual friend to Padmavajra. Padmavajra first met him when he was 17 and in this talk he shares some of his own most cherished memories of Bhante, including his experiences of being with him in India when he returned there in the 1970's to found the Order there. Excerpted from the talk entitled Urgyen Sangharakshita: The Bodhisattva's Reply given at Sheffield Buddhist Centre. 2019. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dharmabytes-from-free-buddhist-audio/id416832097 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UHPDj01UH6ptj8FObwBfB YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FreeBuddhistAudio1967

Aryajaya explores Sangharakshita's relationship to his teachers, who form the lineage for the Triratna Buddhist Order. A lovely exploration of the experience of relationship to the Bodhisattvas of Buddhist tradition via meditations passed from teacher to disciple, evoking a wide open sense of connection to the great beauty they represent. Excerpted from the talk Sangharakshita's First Connection with His Teachers and Receiving Practices given as part of the series Themes from the Dharma Life of Urgyen Sangharakshita (Triratna International Council 2019). *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dharmabytes-from-free-buddhist-audio/id416832097 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UHPDj01UH6ptj8FObwBfB YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FreeBuddhistAudio1967

Saddhaloka explores the key aspects of any practitioner's commitment, Going Forth and Going for Refuge to the Three Jewels, evoking how Sangharakshita engaged with these formative acts as foundations of his own practice in India at the end of the Second World War. With an introduction by Dhammarati.Excerpted from the talk Going Forth And Going For Refuge as part of the series Themes from the Dharma Life of Urgyen Sangharakshita (Triratna International Council 2019). *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dharmabytes-from-free-buddhist-audio/id416832097 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UHPDj01UH6ptj8FObwBfB YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FreeBuddhistAudio1967

Balajit gives the second of a two-part talk on the 3rd and 4th of the Noble truths. The Buddha said that the whole of his teachings fits within the footprint of the four noble truths. Balajit explores the ways in which we can change our relationship to contraction and suffering by getting to know the deepest longing of the heart Excerpted from the talk In the Footsteps of the Buddha: A Noble Path (Part II) given at Birmingham Buddhist Centre 2023. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dharmabytes-from-free-buddhist-audio/id416832097 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UHPDj01UH6ptj8FObwBfB YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FreeBuddhistAudio1967

Taranita discusses the Four Noble Truths, the Noble Eightfold Path and the Twelve Nidanas; relating them to our own experience. Excerpted from the talk entitled Heart Sutra 5 - The Four Noble Truths and the Twelve Nidanas given at Bristol Buddhist Centre, 2007. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dharmabytes-from-free-buddhist-audio/id416832097 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UHPDj01UH6ptj8FObwBfB YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FreeBuddhistAudio1967

Saraha is clear as ever in this exploration of the Four Levels of Awareness. In this excerpt, we hear about the Awareness of Reality - the awareness of things, self and people as they truly are. Excerpted from the talk entitled Introducing Buddhism the Four Levels of Awareness given at Birmingham Buddhist Centre 2015. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dharmabytes-from-free-buddhist-audio/id416832097 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UHPDj01UH6ptj8FObwBfB YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FreeBuddhistAudio1967

In this talk, Dharmaprabha explores conditioned co-production through her personal experience of living with a chronic illness. She traces the early formulations of pratitya samutpada back to the Pali canon and discusses how the four noble truths and the spiral path can guide our practice in challenging times. Excerpted from the talk entitled The Heart of the Dharma given at North London Buddhist Centre 2015. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dharmabytes-from-free-buddhist-audio/id416832097 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UHPDj01UH6ptj8FObwBfB YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FreeBuddhistAudio1967

Saddhanandi explores the effect of the Worldly Winds in our lives, and the need to know what are susceptible to. Then the need for personal instructions in the area of Dharma Practice, and where we might get that input from: reflection, a Kalyana Mitra, Reaction Practice. Excerpted from the talk entitled Milarepa: Inspiration From the Lineage Retreat (5 of 6) given at Taraloka Retreat Centre as part of the series Milarepa: Inspiration From the Lineage Retreat, 2022. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dharmabytes-from-free-buddhist-audio/id416832097 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UHPDj01UH6ptj8FObwBfB YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FreeBuddhistAudio1967

Here Subhuti expounds on the analogy of the three lakshanas as like a magical show. Using opportunities that difficulties present us with along with meditation evokes a transcendent response within us. Excerpted from the talk entitled Eight Verses for Training the Mind: Talk 4, part of the series Eight Verses for Training the Mind given at Madhyamaloka, Birmingham, 2004. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dharmabytes-from-free-buddhist-audio/id416832097 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UHPDj01UH6ptj8FObwBfB YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FreeBuddhistAudio1967

Reflecting on her favourite lines from the Paranibbana Sutta, Jvalamalini explores how to become an island in the midst of the eight worldly winds, especially how to steer through praise and blame, and fame and infamy by developing true individuality, and spiritual receptivity. Excerpted from the talk Make Yourself An Island - A Talk On the Parinibbana Sutta given at Bristol Buddhist Centre 2011. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dharmabytes-from-free-buddhist-audio/id416832097 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UHPDj01UH6ptj8FObwBfB YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FreeBuddhistAudio1967

Vajragupta introduces the 'Eight Worldly Winds' and how we can recognise and work with them. He's the author of the popular book 'Sailing the Worldly Winds' which explores the same territory. Excerpted from the talk entitled Introducing the Worldly Winds given at Oxford, 2012. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dharmabytes-from-free-buddhist-audio/id416832097 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UHPDj01UH6ptj8FObwBfB YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FreeBuddhistAudio1967

Shantigarbha explains the parable of the Burning House, from the White Lotus Sutra, and explains what he sees as the cry of inspiration it holds for taking action on climate change. Excerpted from the talk A Cry of Inspiration In the Parable of the Burning House given at Cardiff Buddhist Centre 2024. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dharmabytes-from-free-buddhist-audio/id416832097 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UHPDj01UH6ptj8FObwBfB YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FreeBuddhistAudio1967

The scholarly monk Analayo says it is important for us, as Buddhists, to take care of nature as we take care of our own body. We have a responsibility, he says, to cause no harm and to respond to the climate crisis with mindfulness, ethics and compassion. Saddhavasini introduces a guided Karuna Bhavana for the natural world designed to bring you close to the suffering of our natural world and to cultivate the metta and compassion needed to meet and address that suffering with skillful action. Excerpted from the talk Karuna Bhanva For the Natural World, as part of the on-line Touching the Earth retreat, Aryaloka Buddhist Center, 2020. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dharmabytes-from-free-buddhist-audio/id416832097 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UHPDj01UH6ptj8FObwBfB YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FreeBuddhistAudio1967

How might we respond, as Buddhists, to the emerging environmental crises facing the planet? Gunopeta explores the implications of what happens when we open our hearts to our deep emotional response to these crises. With the aid of guided meditation, poetry, ritual, and our felt connection to nature and the holiness of place, we can learn to "touch the Earth with love." Excerpted from the talk Touching the Earth with Love given at Aryaloka Buddhist Center 2020. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dharmabytes-from-free-buddhist-audio/id416832097 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UHPDj01UH6ptj8FObwBfB YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FreeBuddhistAudio1967

One of the contradictions of modern environmentalism is that a concern for ‘nature' embodies a separation between humans and the living world. Ketumati develops a profound critique of our usual assumptions and a revised version of holistic thinking. Excerpted from the talk From the 'Nature' Delusion to the Wisdom of the Earth given at Adhisthana as part of the series Wisdom of the Earth: Philosophy and the Climate Crisis, 2023. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dharmabytes-from-free-buddhist-audio/id416832097 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UHPDj01UH6ptj8FObwBfB YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FreeBuddhistAudio1967

Shraddhavani invites us to engage with the facts about our contributions to climate change through basic activities such as eating, living in our homes and travel. She then asks us to get in touch with those seemingly simple, everyday feelings that tend to govern our choices in these areas –– the feelings of wanting, resistance and not knowing, which we as Buddhists can relate to the poisons of greed, hatred and delusion. Excerpted from the talk Transforming Our Poisons - Liberating Our Choices, which was followed by a led meditation. Part of Touching Earth: Buddhist Approaches to Care of Nature retreat at Aryaloka Buddhist Center, 2020. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dharmabytes-from-free-buddhist-audio/id416832097 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UHPDj01UH6ptj8FObwBfB YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FreeBuddhistAudio1967

How can Buddhists respond to the climate emergency? Vishvapani uses the Parable of the Burning House from the Lotus Sutra to suggest our responsibilities' and finds the values we need to guide us in the Five Precepts. Excerpted from the talk Climate Precepts In The Burning House given in Cardiff, 2019. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dharmabytes-from-free-buddhist-audio/id416832097 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UHPDj01UH6ptj8FObwBfB YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FreeBuddhistAudio1967

Dayajoti offers a short talk on climate change, relating it to basic buddhist teachings, followed by a guided 'climate' meditation. From the talk entitled Consensus Trance - Climate given at Bristol Buddhist Centre, 2015. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dharmabytes-from-free-buddhist-audio/id416832097 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UHPDj01UH6ptj8FObwBfB YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FreeBuddhistAudio1967

Lokabandhu introduces the American Buddhist activist Joanna Macy and her teaching of the 'Work That Reconnects', part of the Southampton Buddhist Centre's series on 21st Century Bodhisattvas. Excerpted from the talk Introduction to Joanna Macy and the Work That Reconnects given in Southampton, 2018. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dharmabytes-from-free-buddhist-audio/id416832097 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UHPDj01UH6ptj8FObwBfB YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FreeBuddhistAudio1967

Vaddhaka introduces David Loy and his thoughts about how to bring our Buddhist practice out into the streets and engage with the world. In the full talk he also introduces Bhikkhu Bodhi, a prolific translator of the Pali Canon and respected teacher in the East, deeply rooted in the Buddha's teachings, who returned to the USA and re-engaged with his activist roots challenging a self-oriented and withdrawn mode of Buddhist practice. From the talk entitled David Loy and Bhikkhu Bodhi, given on the World on Fire retreat at Adhisthana, 2015. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dharmabytes-from-free-buddhist-audio/id416832097 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UHPDj01UH6ptj8FObwBfB YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FreeBuddhistAudio1967

How ethically sensitive are we? Could we rejoice in our ethical behaviour? Ratnaghosha gives a short talk reflecting on the practices described in the Dasadhamma Sutta: Discourse on the Ten Dhammas. Excerpted from the talk Going Forth, Going Beyond: Short Talks that was given at the Triratna Buddhist Order convention on the theme Going Forth, Going Beyond, 2022. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dharmabytes-from-free-buddhist-audio/id416832097 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UHPDj01UH6ptj8FObwBfB YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FreeBuddhistAudio1967

How can we, in our busy, everyday lives, transform our awareness and turn our minds towards awakening? Paranita talks about the practice of the 'Four Mind Turning Reflections', the four reminders that work on our minds to turn them towards liberation. We will hear about how to reflect on the preciousness of our human life, the inevitability of death, the truth of karma and the dangers of samsara, to bring about a radical shift in awareness. Excerpted from the talk Ready Or Not, One Day We Shall Die given at Sheffield Buddhist Centre, 2025. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dharmabytes-from-free-buddhist-audio/id416832097 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UHPDj01UH6ptj8FObwBfB YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FreeBuddhistAudio1967

Smritiratna portrays rejoicing not as a mood but as a choice: a deliberate act. At least potentially we all have the power to rejoice, even when we are in the pits of despair. In this excerpt, he reflects on Beethoven who chose not to give in to deafness but to end his last symphony with an ode to joy. He sings the fifth section of the Sevenfold Puja ‘Rejoicing in Merits' to Beethoven's familiar tune. Excerpted the from the talk The Power of Rejoicing given at Dhanakosha Retreat Centre, 2024. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dharmabytes-from-free-buddhist-audio/id416832097 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UHPDj01UH6ptj8FObwBfB YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FreeBuddhistAudio1967

Jvalamalini shares personally about her ‘quest for love' in the Buddhist life, specifically what does Mara say to her to divert her from the path? And is it true? Excerpted from the talk 'I Am a Serious Dharma Practitioner Dedicated to Love' given at Taraloka Retreat Centre as part of the series Daughters of the Buddha, 2025. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dharmabytes-from-free-buddhist-audio/id416832097 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UHPDj01UH6ptj8FObwBfB YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FreeBuddhistAudio1967

We are continually being bombarded with news about world problems including war, starvation, violence, inequality, climate destruction etc. One response is to just ignore these problems. Sangharakshita argues that ‘an attitude of withdrawal from public concerns to purely personal ones is not worthy of a human being'. Vimaladasa explores how we as Buddhists can bring a voice of sanity and compassion into the world and act accordingly. Excerpted from the talk entitled A Buddhist Perspective On World Problems given at Sheffield Buddhist Centre, 2025. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dharmabytes-from-free-buddhist-audio/id416832097 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UHPDj01UH6ptj8FObwBfB YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FreeBuddhistAudio1967

In the fourth part of a series of talks about the 'Going for Refuge and Prostration Practice of the Buddha Shakyamuni', Vajratara shifts the perspective from us contemplating the Refuge Tree, to the figures on the Refuge Tree contemplating us. Blessings or adhisthana is the way the Buddha responds to us, and all we have to do is tune in. How do we remain receptive? What does it feel like to be blessed and purified? What are we purified of? From the talk Contemplating the Refuge Tree 4: The Sprinkling of the Deathless given at Tiratanaloka Retreat Centre, 2022. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dharmabytes-from-free-buddhist-audio/id416832097 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UHPDj01UH6ptj8FObwBfB YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FreeBuddhistAudio1967

When we interact with others, do we truly see them as they are, beyond the stories we have built around them? Or are we often lost in our assumptions, judgments, and preconceived notions about who they are, based on our own views and experiences. Sanghagita explores how we can really learn to see others and discover that when we truly pay attention, there we find love. Excerpted from the talk Have We Ever Really Looked At Someone? Given at Sheffield Buddhist Centre, 2025. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dharmabytes-from-free-buddhist-audio/id416832097 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UHPDj01UH6ptj8FObwBfB YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FreeBuddhistAudio1967

A Spiritual Community consists of Individuals; a group does not consist of Individuals. What is individuality? How can an ordinary group support our efforts to transcend the group? Excerpted from the talk The Individual, the Group, and the Community by Sangharakshita given in 1971. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dharmabytes-from-free-buddhist-audio/id416832097 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UHPDj01UH6ptj8FObwBfB YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FreeBuddhistAudio1967