The Buddhist Centre

In Triratna, learning to understand what is truly beautiful is seen as a path to Enlightenment itself. In this episode we find ourselves exploring this in an unexpected and extraordinary way at the seat of all Buddhist paths and myths, Bodh Gaya in India. Not far from the bodhi tree, where the Buddha's great achievement is said to have taken place, you'll find us deep in conversation with visitiing leaders from the Dublin Buddhist Centre about their vision of building a Buddhist retreat centre in Eire: a realm of beauty and a fitting home for distinctively Irish Dharma practice in the heart of County Clare. We hear about the retreat centre's name Shubha Vihara—The Place of Beauty—and how it sits alongside the legendary mythic names, spaces and stories of Ireland, before and after St. Patrick. We meet Brigid, Cuchulain (Setanta), and Fionn mac Cumhail as he catches the Salmon of Knowledge; and visit in our imagination Lough Derg, the ancient passage tomb of Newgrange, and the Hill of Tara—crowning place for the High Kings of Ireland. All while exploring aspects of Christianity's impact on the country's pagan spiritual history, and the role of positive warrior culture as it manifests and is transformed in both Buddhist and Irish contexts.  It's hard work building magic spaces and the team give us a glimpse into what's involved on the ground trying to transmute spreadsheets and fundraising calls into the magic of genuine community, alive with deep possibilities, where practice is—somehow—palpably rooted in the native earth and energies of a specific land and a society ready for change. Join us for an inspiring episode for the ages about a distinctively Buddhist contirbution to Irish culture.  As a bonus, we close this conversation with a recitation of the traditional Buddhist ethical precepts rendered into Gaelic. Beautiful indeed! Show Notes Support the creation of Shubha Vihara, the Irish Triratna Retreat Centre Explore key stories from Irish mythology Dublin Buddhist Centre The Windhorse Trust FutureDharma Fund *** Visit The Buddhist Centre Live (events year-round on Buddhism, mindfulness, meditation, and culture) Come meditate with us online six days a week! Theme music by Ackport! Used with kind permission.

Enter Hinterland sober bar, “the realm beyond what's known”… And meet founders Sanghadhara and Stephen Jeffreys in their cosy, cool, poetic, liminal space for a cocktail and meaningful conversation about how Buddhism and the Dharma can inform modern culture—and people's social lives—in new ways.  Hinterland has been a passion project from the start. And on this busy Friday evening on one of the busiest nights of the year in one of the hippest areas of Manchester, UK, we hear that passion come pouring through as we discuss ethical work in 2025; and how anyone can impact society by building an entrepreneurial business that is also a commercially counter-cultural social enterprise.  For any building makeover heads out there, we hear how transformative interior and graphic design can express some of our deepest values. And, of course in a sober bar, how the look and feel of a social space can also support recovery through helping us shift how we perceive and experience the world—with no alcohol required. It's clear talking with Stephen and Sanghadhara that working together can both challenge and enhance a personal friendship, taking it to the next level. And in terms of specifically Buddhist practice, what an amazing testing ground Hinterland has been for the work of attending to their mental states and trying to serve the happiness of others with their energies and their work. Join us over sophisticated hemp and root spirits and delicious vegan food to explore how a bar that attempts to blend an industrial aesthetic with animist sensibilities (through the lens of Japanese minimalism) can be a ground for depth of connection, art and Dharma. And how a drink with friends or strangers can open up a way into new possibilities in our lives when we have that sense of wanting to change… This celebratory tale of inspired Buddhist practice is the perfect podcast to help you rekindle your own new year's resolutions. Cheers!

Home Retreats help us inject some of the powerful teachings of the Buddha directly into our everyday lives. This week we're joined by Balajit, Singhashri and Viveka to talk about what lies behind their latest week-long collaborative venture with The Buddhist Centre [Live] - the enigmatically titled ‘The Three Bodies of Belonging'.  In this episode we dive into the the traditional Buddhist teaching / images / metaphors / experiences of the three kayas (‘bodies'): Dharmakaya, Samboghakaya and Nirmanakaya. These are correlated respectively, via Urygyen Sangharakshita's reading of the Tibetan yogi and mystic Milarepa, with human mind, speech and physical body. The discussion that arises out of this takes in not just what it means to belong - but also questions of longing: what the heart yearns for, how we conceive of liberation itself via an embodied and relational approach to Awakening. We explore what individuality and collectivity look and feel like in the light of the trikaya - how the whole of the teaching is pointing to human potential where we have the same faculties, senses, heart, body and mind as the Buddha and everyone else who has ever trodden this path. In that sense, like Buddhism at its best, it's a profoundly hopeful, healing conversation requiring honesty, vulnerability and a new perspective on ‘self', ‘other' and our relationships in the face of the universe. How do we change our stories to allow for genuine and profoundly transformative connection in a suffering world? How might we resource ourselves to blow open wide our own “window of tolerance” for whatever arises in life and become beings with a boundless heart? Join us on the Home Retreat - live or after the fact - to discover with other seekers the luminous and boundless possibilities beyond trauma, fear, anxiety, heartbreak and all that holds us back from a true sense of belonging. N.B. The audio quality in some parts of this recording were affected by a poor connection at times. Show Notes

Mandarava has always been a maker. Her way into puppetry came initially through trying to make sense of deep family grief. Mandarava's work is brimful of magic - filtered through fairy tales, her own deep immersion in illustrative art and the realm of stories accompanying long-cherished images, both from childhood and her further adventures as a grown-up. We hear about her exploration of female figures from the Buddhist and other mythic traditions, including the resonances between old mythologies and certain kinds of visualisation meditations that feature imagery representing a rich seam of possibilities for transcendent Buddhist practice. Aryajit, animator extraordinaire, was inspired as a boy by Star Wars' retelling of classic mythology. It was a major influence on his deciding to live out the Buddhist path as “the adventure of my life”; and to help make the tradition new in his own work animating many aspects of that path. His work appears extensively on The Buddhist Centre Online, explaining and evoking in brilliant ways both the nuances of the Dharma and the life of the Buddha as a set of nested myths and stories that still resonate today when re-presented in this way. Watch any of his animations (see the show notes below!) and you can feel his own quietly passionate heart in the work.  Prasannavira from The Windhorse Trust was instrumental in helping fund Aryajit's new animated series, ‘The Legend of the Buddha'. We talk about helping shape a Buddhist context to fund creators and innovators. And how bringing up his own children within a broadly Buddhist culture informed by classic stories and images has helped him as a parent. We also hear about Prasannavira's own trove of mythic reference points, including Studio Ghibli's ‘The Tale of the Princess Kaguya'. And about his early days as a Buddhist in London, profoundly affected by modern evocations (inspired by Tibetan tradition) of the great guru Padmasambhava. There's so much to enjoy in these thoughtful exchanges: from the legacy of classic British children's television and theatre to the life of the imagination itself. We explore how stories can help us work with past trauma to figure out a realistic path through life in relation to our ideals. And the connections between new work in animation, illustration, puppetry, drawing and painting and established traditions of folk and classical Buddhist art (from India, China, Japan and elsewhere). Whether it's the value of dramatization, theatre and ritual for evoking the best of Buddhism, or how being “good” at art isn't the point - everything flows in this fun episode about how to never lose touch with the sense of wonder and creativity we have as kids, and need now more than ever. Show Notes Home Retreats by Mandarava and Nagasiddhi (with original puppetry and set design):

The mind liberated from the pressure of the will is unfolded in symbols W.B. YeatsThese days, mindfulness is everywhere. How can engaging with images - with imagination itself - take our awareness deeper and help us connect with something truly transformative? Join our guests Vishvapani and Amitajyoti to explore how a Buddhist perspective on consciousness can help move us towards a life touched more fully by a sense of creativity and freedom.  In this episode, we look at imagination within the framework of Triratna's system of practice, an approach to Buddhism that represents a naturally unfolding process of experience emerging from the dedicated cultivation of awareness and kindness: Integration, meaning embodied awareness. Positive emotion: an open, loving and empathic heart. Spiritual Death: releasing limiting attitudes, and finding a more authentic way of being. Spiritual Rebirth: the realm of imagination that brings an expanded experience of ourselves and opening to a sense of mystery Spiritual Receptivity: resting in the freedom of open, spacious awareness and creative flow Each stage here is a doorway to a more creative realm that we can access whatever our circumstances.  We also evoke the place of nature as intertwined with the life of the imagination. Resonance, empathy, connection with the world around us - with practice, these qualities in experience can be sustained as a flowing, organic, enriching state of being.  The hopeful, practical vision here - the efficacy of cultivating a heart of imagination - can give us the confidence to allow our images, symbols and myths to open us up to new ways of living. Enlightenment is the state of irreversible creativity Urgyen Sangharakshita Show Notes

Prayer to Manjushri, Bodhisattva of Wisdom May all beings experience happiness and its causes Be free from suffering and its causes, Never be parted from happiness And dwell in the condition of equanimity Ever since his introduction to Buddhism in 1976, Mahamati has been attracted to collective, collaborative contexts. He was, from the start, delighted to find a group of people with whom he could live his whole life, practising and working together with a vision for the transformation of both self and the world. This has long characterized his relationship with the Triratna Buddhist Order and with its founding teacher, Urgyen Sangharakshita, whose lecture The Meaning of Spiritual Community ignited something magic in Mahamati's life that continues to find new expression today. This vision of transformation is what Mahamati will be bringing to a major role in our community as Chair of the College of Public Preceptors, starting in November 2024. Mahamati speaks about Triratna's primary mission - and his own spiritual life - in terms of responding to suffering in the world and a vision of ‘transcendent happiness'. Understanding what that might mean - and how that works, both at an individual level and at the level of serving a spiritual community - is key.  We hear about the many-layered role of the College of Public Preceptors: its central role in welcoming new members into the Order, upholding an established lineage of practice (particularly after the death of Sangharakshita in 2018), and addressing ethical issues. What shines through most is the deeply personal lifelong connection that marks ordination into our particular community; how people are transformed through a shared sense of common project ready to meet the challenges and sorrows of the world. Happiness and the potential for it is never far away throughout the conversation as Mahamati unfolds his own sense of how that initial act of commitment - choosing to become a Buddhist - blossoms and fruits over time into a path of service and of responsibility capable of changing a life in quite profound ways. An encouraging, inspired evocation of the opportunities to serve that light up a life lived on the Buddhist path. Show Notes

We are sitting in an East End art studio talking about death. The London tube rolls by outside, surfacing momentarily from tunnels dark as Hades, trundling its occupants inexorably on to somewhere. You can hear at intervals its soothing, almost womb-like background rumble and hush as a reminder of sorts - fitting sound as backdrop to this conversation with Buddhist artist Hugh Mendes, whose celebrated series ‘Obituaries' we are exploring in a new online ‘Story' space: ‘The Impermanence of Everyone'. Explore the work of Hugh Mendes and watch the accompanying film about the Buddhist aspects of his work Far from being grim or at all didactic, these canvases light us up when we see them: whether with recognition of a famous face; startled apprehension that this is the artist's dead father not long after the moment of death; or fascination at the mysterious techniques of oil painting and how on earth it survives and thrives as a medium in the contemporary art world. Mendes - ordained Buddhist name, Paramabodhi (“Supreme Enlightenment“) - loves painting, loves meditating, and loves teaching both. His practice - as artist and Buddhist - is fused in the ongoing contemplation of impermanence as a core aspect of whatever it is we mean when we say “reality”.  Equally at ease immersing himself in the Satipatthana Sutta, with its exercises contemplating the decomposition of our own body as a corpse, or becoming deeply absorbed in the physical act of painting for hours on end every day, Mendes is usually in touch with something both intimate and detailed, vast and universal. We hear about his time teaching art in in San Francisco, where he also co-founded the San Francisco Buddhist Center in the city's Mission District. His years of training and counter-cultural experiment at Chelsea Art school in the 1970s, where he booked the Sex Pistols for one of their first ever gigs. And his return to London following the death of his father to focus on art practice and, latterly, public Buddhist teaching at the London Buddhist Centre.  We also discuss the challenges for both Buddhism and art of reaching a more diverse group of people - finding ways to cross class, racial, gender and financial boundaries. One of Mendes' great heroes in this is the Indian Buddhist leader and author of the Indian Constitution, Dr. Bimrao Ambedkar. It's fascinating to watch the artist very much at home in his studio, surrounded by inspirational figures mythic and human, all looking back at him as he tries to capture both their own versions of themselves and our culture's gaze as they exit life and are being memorialized. We get to dwell with Mendes as he continues his decades-long meditation on the elusive nature of selfhood and identity that slips in and out of light and shadow yet may - sometimes - be beautifully and usefully reflected in the eye of the beholder. Show Notes The Impermanence of Everyone: In Studio With Buddhist Artist Hugh Mendes (Paramabodhi)  + Follow Hugh Mendes on Instagram Visit Hugh Mendes' website Satipatthana Sutta: The Foundations of Mindfulness Find out more about Dr. Ambedkar Follow us on YouTube and Instagram *** Visit The Buddhist Centre Live (events year-round on Buddhism, mindfulness, meditation, and culture) Come meditate with us online six days a week! Theme music by Ackport! Used with kind permission.

Kamalashila is dying. So are we - we are dying. Really.  In this recent conversation with Kamalashila following his diagnosis of terminal cancer - and in the closing guided meditation reflecting on death - this is the core theme to which we keep returning: the value of familiarising ourselves with our impermanence: dying and death are going to happen to every single one of us. As Kamalashila says, “Taking it out of the taboo cupboard”. We hear Kamalashila's perspective starting out on what he refers to in his cancer blog as “A Voyage into the Unknown”. What it's like to be in relationship to other people's responses as he himself comes to terms with what's happening. What he is carrying with him by way of reflections on a path of Buddhist practice, regrets in relationship to his own Dharma life and community, and thoughts on the nature of sangha itself.  Exploring how, as Buddhists, as humans, we can work effectively with the intimations of our own mortality that are there if we only choose to look. We revisit the themes of previous conversations: modes of Buddhist practice and ways of seeing community; the effect of landscape as a space of practice; the ongoing life of a particular spiritual context (the Triratna Buddhist Order) and his sense of sometimes being “a square peg in a round hole” within it. We hear Kamalashila's sense of Triratna's history, its up and downs, its many gifts, its changes for better or worse, its historical dynamics, its tensions and contradictions - all with a temperamental leaning towards personal agency in practice, trust in community, and finding unity through diversity.  The exchanges here are grounded in Kamalashila's present experience - but his thoughts on the past are naturally part of it. And as anyone who knows him might expect, we are never too far from his sense of depth connection to the importance of playful, curious, committed meditation practice and teaching, one of the great love's of his 50+ years as a Buddhist. Whether he's talking about life back in the London of his childhood or the nature of agnosticism in relation to the teaching of Padmasambhava, Kamalashila is always a good companion in attending to what matters. This is a fascinating and generous hour of engaged conversation - followed by a beautiful 20 minute gently guided reflection on how our bodies and our consciousness (parsed by Kamalashila as “manifesting a world”) might, in time, come into relationship with our own dying and death. Show Notes Follow ‘A Voyage into the Unknown': a blog by Kamalashila Online classes and retreats with Kamalashila (with teaching archive) Read Kamalashila's thoughts on his diagnosis and upcoming meditation teaching Some previous podcast conversations with Kamalashila: Kamalashila's Quarterly No.1 Kamalashila's Quarterly No.2 - On Landscape And Experiment Kamalashila's Quarterly No.3 - On Gonzo Psychogeography and New Beginnings The Magic Of Meditation with Kamalashila Parami & Kamalashila Talk About Meditation Satyaraja and Kamalashila Talk About Meditation Other links: Read free digital editions of ‘Crap, I've Got Cancer' by Suvarnaprabha Amitasuri on her work as a Buddhist chaplain Watch Seamus Heaney reading his poem ‘Mint' Follow us on YouTube and Instagram *** Visit The Buddhist Centre Live (events year-round on Buddhism, mindfulness, meditation, and culture) Come meditate with us online six days a week! Theme music by Ackport! Used with kind permission.

In this latest episode of the Buddhist Centre podcast, we are delighted to welcome back Tejananda, one of the most experienced meditation teachers within the Triratna Buddhist Community. Tejananda will be bringing insights from decades of practice to his upcoming Home Retreat on The Buddhist Centre Live, ‘Emptiness and Compassion: The Divine Abodes', starting March 29th.  The retreat is part of a trilogy (so far!) exploring the Buddhist concept and experience of ‘emptiness' (shunyata - pointing to the lack of an “objectively” fixed essence or selfhood in anything). This time around we are approaching the great field of contemplation and reflection from the meditative perspective of the 'divine abodes' (brahma viharas)—unconditional love, compassion, joy, and equanimity–all seen as pathways to liberating the mind. By cultivating these beautiful qualities, Tejananda says, we can find a larger context for our afflictive emotions—craving, hatred, and ignorance—and in the process gradually find unveiled the uncultivated, unlimited, and unconditional nature of them as ways to engage with ourselves, with other beings and with reality itself.  Tejananda is interested in a non-abstract, earthed, experiential relationship to ‘emptiness', and in the transformative power of compassion for our consciousness. The ensuing conversation opens a seam of truly rich material: from constructed realities (yes, we talk about the Apple Vision Pro and Meta Quest) to how we can work with difficult emotions, to the relief of resting in a developing experience that we are fundamentally okay. Even as we are all subject to impermanence in the luminous emptiness of this reality, “Let there be unconditional love” is Tejananda's quietly encouraging rallying call.  This is a fascinating glimpse into the work waiting for us when we close our eyes in meditation, experience more fully sensed and in potentially higher resolution than any fancy-pants headset can render!

Join us for a ‘90s story of inspired Buddhist practice in Missoula, Montana - of great friendship, fierce love, burnout and life lessons learned in the fire of idealism and spiritual adventure. There's nothing quite like going through a big experience together - and Tipu's was a very big one for so many people as a new Buddhist community took root in the United States. Founders Buddhapalita and Varada witness to the joys, trials, sacrifices and lasting consequences of starting the first (east) Indian restaurant and explicitly ethical Buddhist ‘Right Livelihood' business in a small midwestern city. Old friends and colleagues, Aryadrishti and Viriiylila, bring their own accounts of fortitude, loss, abandonment and resolution to the reunion. Grief and cherishing, naivety and wisdom go hand in hand as we hear the tale of Tipu's Tiger and how much it still means all these years later. Listen to this beautifully, sometimes achingly, resonant conversation about the good that survives long after a shared project has fallen away. Listen closely, hang onto the tail of the tiger, and you can still almost taste the best chai and channa this side of Mumbai… Recorded in Ahuatepec, Mexico, October 2023. Show notes Tipu's Chai (the legacy business, no longer owned by Buddhapalita and Varada) Wolf Water Resources (Aryadrishti's subsequent ethical engineering business) This week's guests Aryadrishti Buddhapalita Varada Viriyalila *** Visit The Buddhist Centre Live (events year-round on Buddhism, mindfulness, meditation, and culture) Come meditate with us online six days a week! Theme music by Ackport! Used with kind permission.

Our guests this week come together for a thoughtful, provocative conversation occasioned by Vishvapani‘s recent article for Tricycle Buddhist review looking at the arresting, perhaps astonishing, fact that one of the most powerful people in the UK – Home Secretary Suella Braverman - is also faithfully involved as a Buddhist practitioner within the context of the Triratna Buddhist Community. Candradasa is joined by Lokabandhu, deputy mayor of Glastonbury, UK, Vajratara from Tiratanaloka Buddhist Retreat Centre for Women, and Vishvapani, writer and broadcaster, to explore the perspectives and frameworks within which we see and experience the world and discuss how Buddhism and politics relate.  Buddhism offers a deeply transformative path of ethical practice that does not engage at the level of specific politics. Instead it calls for the radical re-orientation of our being in light of a recognition of the roles impermanence, deeply complex conditionality, and interdependence play in our sense of personal and societal happiness. So how does such a broadly environmental approach to the mind and reality itself sit in relation to political views that often tend to individual and collective rigidity, polarization, and the fragmentation of community?  The panel evokes what we as Buddhists have to contribute in the face of diverse dangers that threaten society as we know it: challenges to liberal democracy, consequences of current responses to climate change, and a growing mental health crisis afflicting millions around the world. We open up the idea of Buddhists as a potential force for good, an active body within the wider community made up of people who live and act as examples of compassion and sanity in the world. Members of a ‘new society' who might take leading roles without being compromised by division and the application of personal or group-based power. Is it all a pipe dream, or is this a tantalising, achievable possibility? At the very least, how can Buddhist approaches to life that actively envision the wellbeing of people and communities influence our personal engagement with political culture in ways that are of broad benefit? Join us for a podcast of ideas, values, and considered reflection on the most tricky of areas. This is how we can harmoniously talk about politics with each other - as full members of society spanning different cultures, perspectives and views. Show notes Suella Braverman Is the UK's Buddhist Home Secretary and a Right-Wing Culture Warrior by Vishvapani (Tricycle Buddhist Review) Vishvapani's episodes of the BBC's ‘Thought for the Day'  Mindful Cities Initiative Buddhism, World Peace, and Nuclear War by Sangharakshita (Free Buddhist Audio) The Nucleus of a New Society by Sangharakshita (Free Buddhist Audio) What Is Buddhist Activism? (The Buddhist Centre Podcast) Sangharakshita, Dr. Rewatta Dhamma, Sogyal Rimpoche, and Thich Nhat Hanh in conversation (Clear Vision Archive)  Doctor Bhimrao Ambedkar as a Buddhist social activist (The Buddhist Centre Online) The Rest Is Politics podcast episodes with Yuval Noah Harari:  Crisis and Tragedy in Israel The Dangers  of AI and the Future of Humanity This week's guests  Lokabandhu as Deputy Mayor of Glastonbury Vajratara at Tiratanaloka Buddhist Retreat Centre for Women Wise Attention by Vishvapani (website) Mindfulness In Action (website) *** Visit The Buddhist Centre Live (events year-round on Buddhism, mindfulness, meditation, and culture) Come meditate with us online six days a week! Theme music by Ackport! Used with kind permission.

Alfoxton House in Somerset, England has a long and rich history stretching back over 1000 years. It was mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086, and is where the young William Wordsworth, his sister Dorothy and their great friend Samuel Taylor Coleridge helped birth the radical new Romantic movement during a magical year there in 1797. In June 2020, a new Triratna Buddhist community received the keys to this astonishing property set within 52 acres of ancient woodland complete with herds of red deer grazing the hillside. This week on the Buddhist Centre podcast we hear from that community - and particularly from film director and Alfoxton community member Hartley Woolf on his affecting and poetic documentary capturing a year in the life of the inspired band of souls who have taken on the ambitious task of renovating a once great estate.  Following the seasons, Hartley's film reveals the changes in the land and the travails of this huge building project, weaving connections between the poetry of the Romantics, physical work and spiritual practice. We hear how in the midst of knocking down walls and rebuilding foundational structures, Hartley treaded the sometimes difficult path between being both a member of his community and a filmmaker. And catch a glimpse of the shared wonder that emerges as relationships are forged in a project based on the deepest values of awareness, love and a common quest for the truth of reality. Triratna has long posited a deep connection between Buddhist spiritual life and the Arts, ever since Sangharakshita first began to articulate a fresh vision of contemporary western practice in the 1960s. In the spirit of that tradition, the Alfoxton community has been working to restore the house, tend to the land and provide opportunities to go deeper into both Buddhist practice and the practice of music, poetry and philosophy. Their inspiring program of retreats and events sees them welcome hundreds of volunteers and visitors each year, bringing the electric thrill of the great English Romantics back to life for new generations of seekers. Join us in the great oak-panelled room at Alfoxton, where Coleridge first recited 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner', for this wonderful conversation! We'll be hosting the online premier of ‘A Renovating Virtue' by Hartley Woolf on The Buddhist Centre Online in September 2023. Show notes Watch the trailer for ‘A Renovating Virtue' Visit Alfoxton House!  Support the community and the restoration of Alfoxton + Follow the Alfoxton Diaries on YouTube 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner' (text of 1834) by Samuel Taylor Coleridge *** There are in our existence, spots of time, That with distinct pre-eminence retain A renovating virtue, whence – depressed By false opinion and contentious thought, Or aught of heavier or more deadly weight, In trivial occupations, and the round Of ordinary intercourse – our minds Are nourished and invisibly repaired… William Wordsworth, The Prelude *** Visit The Buddhist Centre Live (events year-round on Buddhism, mindfulness, meditation, and culture) Come meditate with us online six days a week! Theme music by Ackport! Used with kind permission.

If you enjoy this conversation, come explore the theme online on our Home Retreat with Vidyamala and Vishvapani! Join Entering the Mandala: Mindfulness and Imagination, September 1-7 “Imagine an enormous subterranean chamber all lit up from within. We are living in a tiny chamber next to – indeed, part of – the larger one. We can see nothing at all of what's going on in the large chamber. In fact, we have no idea that the large chamber is even there.” Sangharakshita This week we're opening portals to awareness and the wonders that can arise when we really start to pay attention to everything that's going on in the world around us. What would it be like to experience yourself without restrictive concepts? What dimensions might open up in your life as you engage with myths and symbols? Awareness, or mindfulness, is an essential foundation for all spiritual growth. And through knowing experience directly we can transform difficulties and become happier, calmer and more fulfilled. But awareness offers much more: it also provides a doorway to other dimensions in the large chamber of our being. Awareness of the body, heart and mind can blossom into awareness of boundlessness, love and mystery, as Buddhist teachers have taught down the millennia. Imagination is a key to this opening. When our minds are clear and we're alive to what's within us and around us, our imaginations wake up to new possibilities. Kusaladevi joins Vidyamala and Vishvapani in a conversation exploring the theme of their upcoming Home Retreat, Entering the Mandala: Mindfulness and Imagination. This Home Retreat is an opportunity to live for a week with mindfulness, kindness, poetry and creativity, even in the midst of our daily lives. An exploration of mindfulness and imagination through talks, meditation, creative activities, discussion and shared ritual, particularly focused on the richly evocative symbol of the mandala. Come join us in the vastness of the present moment! *** Show notes Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) Urgyen Sangharakshita Dharma talks by Vidyamala | Dharma talks by Vishvapani More about the Five Buddha mandala Listen to 'Vidyamala, OBE! - A Platinum Jubilee Honour for Breathworks' From Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey, On Revisiting the Banks of the Wye during a Tour. July 13, 1798 by William Wordsworth —And I have felt A presence that disturbs me with the joy Of elevated thoughts; a sense sublime Of something far more deeply interfused, Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns, And the round ocean and the living air, And the blue sky, and in the mind of man: A motion and a spirit, that impels All thinking things, all objects of all thought, And rolls through all things.  William Wordsworth *** Vidyamala was ordained into the Triratna Buddhist Order in 1995 and is co-founder of Breathworks, a leading mindfulness organisation and she focuses particularly on using awareness and kindness training to work with pain and illness. This draws on her own experience of managing spinal pain and disability. She is an award-winning author of three books and was awarded an OBE in 2022 for her services to pain management and well-being. She regularly leads retreats and workshops, and speaks at international summits, events and webinars. Vidyamala has long had an interest in the creative mind and heart and how to access this through myth, ritual and non-conceptual approaches and looks forward to deepening this even more on this online retreat. www.vidyamala-burch.com www.breathworks-mindfulness.org.uk Vishvapani has practised meditation and Buddhism for over 40 years. He's a writer, best known for Gautama Buddha: the Life and Teachings of the Awakened One and as the Buddhist contributor to Thought for the Day on BBC Radio 4. He's a prominent figure in the UK's mindfulness world and has taught over 150 mindfulness courses. He loves to explore poetry, myth and imagination, along with Buddhism, in his writing, teaching and practice. www.vishvapani.org www.mindfulnessinaction.co.uk *** Visit The Buddhist Centre Live (events year-round on Buddhism, mindfulness, meditation, and culture) Come meditate with us online six days a week! Theme music by Ackport! Used with kind permission.

We're coursing this week in the heady, fascinating realm of generative and assistive AI, already seemingly omnipresent in our lives via undeniably productive next gen software tools like ChatGPT and Stable Diffusion. How do our not-computer-generated guests from different walks of Buddhist life engage with this rapidly evolving area of tech in their own work - as humans, as Dharma practitioners? Here we discuss the genuinely cutting edge world of large language models and the advances they enable, exploring AI's impact on our understanding of consciousness and Buddhism's quest for a transformative freedom of heart and mind.  Given the limitations of language itself in expressing the depth and breadth of human experience, are companies like OpenAi claiming a level of intelligence for their technology that it simply does not have? And what do we even mean by intelligence anyway…? Our guests consider the foundational critique of AI thinkers like Professor Emily M Bender, a computational linguist at the University of Washington, and sci-fi writer Ted Chiang, who both argue persuasively that the big questions underlying all this are not so much about computers as about us.  The AI bots are coming! Join us for a thought-provoking conversation that challenges our understanding of ourselves at the apparent dawn of a new technological age. *** Show notes Professor Emily Bender (on Twitter and Mastodon) On the Dangers of Stochastic Parrots: Can Language Models Be Too Big

The construct of race is an integral part of Western society's DNA and if we are to address the social injustice of racism, we need to have the race conversation. Yet all too often, attempts at such a dialogue are met with silence, denial, anger or hate. Is it possible to navigate diverse conversations about race without confusion? Can we authentically create a culture capable of responding to the pain and discomfort caused by racism for both people of colour and white people? These questions lie at the heart of this heartfelt conversation between Bodhilila, Chair of the West London Buddhist Centre and Eugene Ellis, acclaimed author of 'The Race Conversation: An essential guide to creating life-changing dialogue'. Eugene's work encompasses trauma theory and the vital need to resource inner conditions in engaging with others. Exploring the Buddhist perspective of conditionality, he emphasizes the significance of intention and working with discomfort within our conversations. As Bodhilila brings to bear her own profound experiences around race, intersectionality and Dharma practice, the discussion delves deep into the race construct, examining the profound impact of prejudice, colonialism, and slavery on individuals of all races.  The creation of safe environments where people can openly share their experiences is vital, allowing us to acknowledge the fear that can arise when engaging in these conversations. This, in turn, enables us to move past blame towards repairing relationships and alleviating the more negative forms of shame. What emerges is a passionate advocacy for personal introspection and doing the work to understand our own racial conditioning and perspectives. Only then can we take responsibility and actively seek avenues for redress and healing. Recorded live in London, November 2022. *** Bodhilila has been meditating and practising mindfulness for over 25 years. She is a fully accredited Breathworks mindfulness trainer as well as a qualified counsellor, teacher and massage therapist. She also worked for many years as a classical musician and as a nursery manager. She is currently Chair of the West London Buddhist Centre, where she has been teaching meditation, mindfulness and Buddhism, as well as helping to run the Centre, since 2012. She regularly leads retreats for the WLBC and at Taraloka women's retreat centre. Eugene Ellis is an activist, writer and public speaker on issues of race, difference and intersectionality. He is also the founder and director of The Black, African and Asian Therapy Network (BAATN), a network of therapists committed, passionate and actively engaged in addressing the psychological needs of Black, African and South Asian people in the UK. *** Show notes 'The Race Conversation: An essential guide to creating life-changing dialogue' by Eugene Eliis The Black, African and Asian Therapy Network Events in London and Online for People of Colour More conversations about race in Triratna *** Visit The Buddhist Centre Live (events year-round on Buddhism, mindfulness, meditation, and culture) Come meditate with us online six days a week! Theme music by Ackport! Used with kind permission.

We're delighted to share a special Triratna Day 2023 podcast episode with you, recorded earlier this week and hosted by our friend Jnanadhara. He's joined by Saddhanandi and Nagabodhi to discuss the upcoming online gathering of the Triratna Buddhist community on the 8th of April, which celebrates its founding in April 1967.  Saddhanandi and Nagabodhi reminisce about past Triratna Day celebrations, recalling the excitement of travelling in large groups from Glasgow to London or Birmingham for the day or weekend. These events were like big festivals, with talks, book stalls, and the opportunity to meet people from the wider movement who might only have known through their books. Whilst often the talks given at events such as these, shaped the discourse of our community as a whole. Sangharakshita, the founder of the Triratna Buddhist community, emphasized the importance of celebrating Buddhist festivals such as Buddha Day and Dharmachakra Day etc but also wanted the community to have its own traditions. Heeding the Buddha's famous call to come together in large numbers. We also discuss Sangharakshita's place within our tradition. Explored through the perspective of Is a Guru Necessary? A talk he gave in 1970.  The theme of the day and the podcast is "Roots in the Earth, Roots in the Sky." Since its founding, Triratna has become a truly international sangha, with special - even sacred - spaces. Collaborating in the creation of these spaces has been crucial to our individual and collective growth. This Triratna Day, we celebrate the significance of such spaces in our history and the work being done to establish roots in new places today. From Bhante's early work in England to the current efforts of Order Members in countries as diverse as New Zealand, Finland, Poland, Mexico, India, and Brazil, our community recognizes the importance of establishing and nurturing new ground for practice. As Bhante once said, for our Sangha to thrive, we need really deep roots - roots in the sky! This way of speaking about bodhichitta is embodied in the image of the cosmic Refuge Tree. Show notes: View the full programme of events and Join us April 08 online for a truly international gathering The day is a collaboration between Adhisthana, FutureDharma Fund, and The Buddhist Centre online. Nagabodhi's new book: Sangharakshita: The Boy, the Monk, the Man Check out photos from the early days of the movement at Triratna Picture Library *** Visit The Buddhist Centre Live (events year-round on Buddhism, mindfulness, meditation, and culture) Come meditate with us online six days a week! Theme music by Ackport! Used with kind permission.

A wonderful conversation highlighting the themes of a brand new Home Retreat – the latest addition to our growing archive of in-depth, beautifully resourced online spaces to help take your practice of meditation and Buddhism deeper.  Balajit, Singhashri and Viveka join us to discuss the opportunities and challenges of engaging with the gnarlier bits of our emotional lives, amid so much pressure of so many kinds in the world. A sparkling exchange about ways into integrating embodied practice where our guests collectively flip the script on how we might habitually relate to some emotions as more valuable than others in the process of getting to know ourselves. What if we could uncover the potential for integrity at the heart of emotions like fear, grief, and anger?  It's a strong invitation, one to be met at your own pace. And a chance to get curious about where challenging emotions come from as parts of us–and what they might need to liberate the energy usually bound up in them in some direct relationship to the wish for a more liberated world. We also get an excellent practical sense of this kind of heart work. How do you do an online retreat? Will I find a genuine sense of community? Will it be too hard to let difficult emotions in? These and other excellent questions are engaged with in a beautifully thoughtful way, from Dharma teachers holding the experience of many years of Buddhist practice, including online-first contexts.  The most important thing to know is: you are trusted, you are welcome! Come take part and be with whatever arises in a kindly, gracious space, looking at what it is to be simply a human being with a body and an emotional life. This podcast ends with a short guided practice to help us imagine what it is like to be truly supported.

Dharmachakra has been a going concern since Dharmachari Ananda first strapped a reel-to-reel tape recorder on his back in London in 1967 to record the first public lectures by Urgyen Sangharakshita under the auspices of the then Friends of the Western Buddhist Order. It has evolved over the decades to become an amazing Triratna Right Livelihood team – most importantly, a team of friends, working online together across the globe to bring the world the best of Buddhism and meditation from our new Buddhist Community. We hear from the team in Mexico City, the United Kingdom and the United States about their work on the brand new Free Buddhist Audio, recently relaunched in its third major version for mobile devices with an archive that has swelled in 15+ years from 450 titles to over 5,500. Some magic recommendations follow (see the prodigious show notes below) – but also an evocation of the importance of working together, of taking part in a lineage of practice, and of passing on to the next generation the many treasures of the Dharma. At its best, the new FBA is just this: a chest of jewels, rich and surprising, whose light illuminates not just our history as modern Buddhists and how far we have come, but shows the way to the future of Buddhism as it adapts to new contexts, countries, languages and cultures.  Take a deep dive with us into a world of outstanding generosity, amazing technology, and beautiful collective effort over many years to bring the words of the Buddha and the voices of diverse community to life online. Dharmachakra may already be a great Triratna institution – and Free Buddhist Audio a much loved resource and space online – but it's just getting started. Try the new Free Buddhist Audio Donate to Dharmachakra and support the future of Free Buddhist Audio Show Notes David has now been ordained as… Dayaketu! Which means, ‘Comet of Kindness or Compassion' ☺️ Kusaladevi's picks The Transitoriness of Life and the Certainty of Death by Vajradarshini Rambles Around Reality by Subhuti Rambles Around Consciousness by Subhuti Rambles Around the Yogachara by Subhuti Talks on White Tara Talks by Vajrashura Talks by Vajratara Dayaketu's (David's) picks  Seminar texts on Life and Liberation of Padmasambhava (1987): Cantos 37 & 39 Seminar texts on Life and Liberation of Padmasambhava (1987): Canto 38 Sevenfold Puja by Sangharakshita (1968) Sangharakshita's poetry Talks from Cuernavaca Buddhist Centre, Mexico Talks in Spanish  Kamalavajra's picks Mind Reactive and Creative by Sangharakshita (1967) The Inconceivable Emancipation - Themes from the Vimalakirti Nirdesha by Sangharakshita (1979)  Sangharakshita's Memoirs (audiobooks) | Sangharakshita's Memoirs (books from Windhorse Publications) Viriyalila's picks Talks on The White Lotus Sutra Ritual and Devotion in Buddhism by Sangharakshita (1967) Readings from the Pali Canon by Sangharakshita (2000) Mind and Mental Events - A Series by Subhuti Seven-Point Mind Training - A Series by Dhammadinna Brahma Viharas and the Key Moment by Kulaprabha Becoming a Citizen of the Present by Srivati Early talks by Sangharakshita Late talks by Sangharakshita Sophe's picks Recordings of Mantras and Chanting Vidyamala's guided meditations and Dharma talks Zac's picks The ‘Lost' Padmasambhava Talk by Sangharakshita (1979) *** Visit The Buddhist Centre Live (events year-round on Buddhism, mindfulness, meditation, and culture) Come meditate with us online six days a week! Theme music by Ackport! Used with kind permission.

A real beauty of a ‘lost' episode from our archives! Recorded in a very lovely garden in Mexico in 2019, with nature sounds all around, Bodhikamala and Sanghadhara, who've been soul mates of a sort since before the age of 10, explore with us their long history of friendship as young people. A shared love of the arts, of musicals, and Harry Potter brought them together in summer camp and, eventually, led them to explore Buddhism together. Now as ordained members of the Triratna Buddhist Order they discuss their strange routes to the Dharma life, taking in auras, fear of aliens and the apocalypse, and early struggles with social despair that found only limited expression in other kinds of activism. A magic story of how intuitive philosophy and a feeling for truth developed from a sense that while pain is inevitable in life, suffering is optional. Early insights turn into a meaningful, lived experience of Buddhist practice where mind is seen and felt as primary, and it makes all the difference. Our two “Cookie Searchers” take us from Plato's Cave to yoga retreats with grandmothers and, eventually, across continents. What is constant – through challenges with acceptance by parents and all questioning and doubts – is a friendship where love and vital interest are irrepressible. Join us for laughter, sparkling reflection, and an uncommonly strong, easy evocation of friendship as a path that can transcend even time itself. Recorded at Chintamani Retreat Centre, Mexico 2019. *** Visit The Buddhist Centre Live (events year-round on Buddhism, mindfulness, meditation, and culture) Come meditate with us online six days a week! Theme music by Ackport! Used with kind permission.

What do you get when you invite a set of experienced American Dharma teachers and friends from different Buddhist traditions to gather together post-Covid and share their practice and experience of American Buddhism? Well, something like this! The bright joy and sense of common tradition is palpable. Hear four Gen-X Triratna Order members with deep connections to our community, both in the UK and US, in a round-table conversation with other Dharma farers from Vajrayana, Vipassana, and Zen traditions. We explore kaleidoscopic difference and beautiful sameness in our various approaches to Dharma practice – and are united in grappling with being the “middle generation” of Buddhists in some of the new lineages of the West. Perhaps the central image from this conversation is of people needing to make sure they are carrying their culture with them, which allows us to be truly radical and ensure the revolutionary change we strive for as Buddhists is a genuine possibility for everyone in future. It's genuinely inspiring to hear the voices of “future ancestors” openly embracing the reality that long, deep change may not happen in their own lifetime, yet persisting with delight in Dharma practice. Gratitude for what we have inherited is key to that, and shines through in this fascinating meeting recorded at the end of a long, hot summer near the Catskills in New York State. Featuring Ananta, Candradasa, Claire Villareal, Tenzen David Zimmerman, Singhashri, Stephanie Tait, Vimalasara, Upayadhi, Lama Zangmo. Recorded at the Won Dharma Center, NY, USA. Show notes Gen-x 2019 Podcast Be the Refuge: Raising the Voices of Asian American Buddhists by Chenxing Han Sankofa (pronounced SAHN-koh-fah): a word in the Twi language of Ghana meaning “go back and get" My Grandmother's Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies by Resmaa Menakem The Wisdom of Uncertainty by Kurt Spellmeyer (Tricycle) *** Visit The Buddhist Centre Live (events year-round on Buddhism, mindfulness, meditation, and culture) Come meditate with us online six days a week! Theme music by Ackport! Used with kind permission.

The Triratna International Council has been a going concern for 11+ years–but in many ways it's just getting started. Meeting again in person for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic, it's undergoing something of a renaissance; renewing itself through the work of Buddhists from around the world, all united in their heart wish to work together to help exemplify a path of everyday practice for a planet that really needs a humane path out of suffering. We meet friends from India, Latin America, Oceania, Europe and the UK–as well as the hard-working team who help pull such an ambitious endeavor together every couple of years; convening interim gatherings at regional and national level to make sure we get the best out of this great assembly. We hear why it all matters–what relevance such meetings have for our own community and for anyone interested in genuinely consensual ways to approach questions of leadership, strategy and direction. Perhaps most importantly of all, we hear evoked what it means to share a common interest and work with each other based on something other than power. If you're interested in success stories about human beings coming together to make a difference in all the right ways, this one's for you! Show Notes Watch the #IC22 story on Instagram  + Follow The International Council channel on The Buddhist Centre Online Listen to the keynote talk, 'Serving the Bodhisattva' by Nagapriya That definition: "The International Council brings together the perspectives of those holding key responsibilities across the Triratna community, to develop strategy, provide guidance, and enable collaborative decision-making worldwide."

Welcome to a new season of the podcast! ❤️ Since the 1970s Kamalashila has been exploring meditation and, as an author and teacher in the Triratna Buddhist Order, shaping our understanding of meditation in all its practical magic and mystery. These days he spends much of his time at home in rural England, leading in-depth meditation retreats online for members of the Order. Join us in his garden amongst the summer birds and wildflowers of Suffolk for a conversation about how sadhana – a lifelong, 360º approach to Buddhist meditation and practice – transforms our consciousness and our whole way of experiencing the world. You can't understand it all rationally, Kamalashila says, and this perspective sits comfortably with his embrace of technology and the Internet as effective, if imperfect, tools with which to pursue a personal and communal exploration of the Dharma. What emerges is a vision of Buddhism that knows to be genuinely learning we must also accept that how we see things is often simply wrong. In giving himself to a relationship with something truly mysterious, Kamalashila invites us to be open to a kind of magic whose roots in Indian and Tibetan tradition are made most meaningful today by our own sustained, faithful practice.    Show Notes This podcast includes a short closing meditation on the sounds of nature! Listen to episodes of Kamalashila's Quarterly from the podcast Visit Kamalashila's website for resources on Buddhist meditation Buy ‘Buddhist Meditation: Tranquillity, Imagination and Insight' by Kamalashila

In this final episode of the current season of the podcast, Bodhilila, Chair of the West London Buddhist Centre, is in conversation with Lama Rod Owens, bestselling author of ‘Love and Rage: The Path of Liberation Through Anger'.  Their exchange weaves across a number key Dharma threads, beginning with a sense of how being in the body can be a way to step out of systems that stop us reaching our full potential as human beings; a way to reclaim agency and autonomy; and a place for the aspiration to grow beyond our own sufferings and limited self-views. Diversity in its fullest, most positively abundant sense, is never far away; nor is a sharp awareness of the need to turn aside from hatred towards empathy and compassion, always from a place of being well resourced. “It's a hard thing to hear,” says Lama Rod. “When you think you're normal but your normality comes at the expense of large groups of people, to the detriment of other people. But that's not the same thing as hate.” We hear how vital it remains to continue to see that everyone deserves to be happy. All this is particularly relevant to conversations about race, power and injustice, of course, but this episode keeps us clearly in the realm of Buddhist practice and the perspectives it has to offer a world both deeply familiar with suffering and simultaneously longing to escape it. Empathy is the key to humanizing people, and here two friends and respected Dharma teachers from different traditions open up the deepest possibilities of that empathy for all of us: liberation of the body, mind and heart. Show Notes Love and Rage: The Path of Liberation Through Anger by Lama Rod Owens   Watch the full event on YouTube–and subscribe! West London Buddhist Centre   Lama Rod Owens also featured on 'The Gen-X 2019 Podcast' (Episode 362)   Conversations About Race - A series from The Buddhist Center Online, curated by Vimalasara Visit Lama Rod Owens' personal website Get the Buddhist Voices podcast Follow the Free Buddhist Audio podcast Follow the Dharmabytes podcast *** Visit The Buddhist Centre Live (events year-round on Buddhism, mindfulness, meditation, and culture) Come meditate with us online six days a week! Theme music by Ackport! Used with kind permission. #Buddhism #Buddhist #Buddha #Dharma #Triratna #community #sangha #meditation #Dhamma #Triratna #mindfulness #kindness #pain #stress #grief #suffering #race #racism #diversity #power #anger #rage #peace #empathy #body

We're on the road this week with a festive episode of the podcast to celebrate Vidyamala: the extraordinary inspiration behind Breathworks who has just been made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the Queen's Birthday 2022 Honours List. She has been honoured for her Services to Wellbeing and Pain Management as Co-founder of Breathworks, an organisation which teaches mindfulness-based approaches to people coping with pain, illness and stress. In a riot of birdsong, on a beautiful day in early summer, we were delighted to be able to join Vidyamala in her garden just after the news broke, along with her partner Sona, and her friend Aryajaya. As well as marking the occasion, we remember the very hard road travelled through pain that led to the foundation of Breathworks and its vital contribution to the welfare of so many people. Having passed on her wisdom to over 600 accredited trainers in 35 countries, Vidyamala's work isn't "just mindfulness"—it's now a whole transformative movement capable of reaching deep into society. In Vidyamala's approach the simple application of awareness and kindness becomes an emotionally intelligent and deeply responsive re-imagining of the Buddhist path itself, ready to meet the huge challenges of suffering in the 21st Century. Vidyamala has brought this beautiful work to bear in her own life with great courage, grace and equanimity, opening up portals to freedom in hearts and minds all around the world. Show notes Visit Breathworks See the Breathworks' course on Mindfulness for Managing Long Covid Read more about Vidyamala's OBE Listen to Vidyamala on this podcast back in March 2020: The Blue Sky at the Heart of the Body Visit Vidyamala's personal website *** Visit The Buddhist Centre Live (events year-round on Buddhism, mindfulness, meditation, and culture) Come meditate with us online six days a week! Theme music by Ackport! Used with kind permission. #Buddhism #Buddhist #Buddha #Dharma #Triratna #community #sangha #meditation #Dhamma #Triratna #mindfulness #kindness #Breathworks #pain #stress #grief #suffering

When tens of thousands of Ukrainian refugees began to cross the border with Poland, the Triratna community at Krakow Buddhist Centre got involved with the same great generosity that has marked the Polish people's response to war flaring up uncomfortably close to home. In this episode we hear from Saddhajala and Nityabandhu on the ground in Krakow—not just about the war in Ukraine but about how Buddhist practice has enabled them to meet the crisis and try to bring to life a "blueprint for a new world". By turning their Centre into a place of refuge they have been able to help with families seeking shelter and live out their own ideals. It has made a difference. A moving conversation about practical love and a community of friends finding new cultural expression for Buddhism in their own language as a way to get ready to meet the worst of the world with the best of it. And save Simon the bulldog! Show notes Sanghaloka - Buddhism in Krakow and Warsaw (Polish) Sanghaloka -  Buddhism in Krakow and Warsaw (English) Gallery from the creation of a Buddhist Centre for Krakow *** Visit The Buddhist Centre Live (events year-round on Buddhism, mindfulness, meditation, and culture) Come meditate with us online six days a week! Theme music by Ackport! Used with kind permission. #Ukraine #Poland #war #peace #Krakow #Buddhism #Buddhist #Buddha #Dharma #Triratna #community #sangha #meditation #Dhamma #Triratna #mindfulness #kindness #Sangharakshita

Some of the team at the Urgyen Sangharakshita Trust join us for a deep dive into the art of digital storytelling and biographical work online, as we hear about the ongoing creative challenges involved in helping a spiritual community hold the legacy of their teacher across generations. Sangharakshita was a brilliant, complex, sometimes provocative and controversial figure. He was also a friend, a thinker, a writer, and a hundred other things besides. Prajnaketu and Suryanaga discuss with us the making and remaking involved in creating a new web-based life of the founder of the Triratna Buddhist Community and Order. The conversations steers between reverence for what has been given and experimentation around what's ahead as we plot a course through the digital landscape of Tik Tok, dank memes, and new social media. The modern web opens up new possibilities for carrying the learnings and lessons of the past. This is a great collective reflection on lineage, history, and possibility as we continue Sangharakshita's great work of renewing an approach to the Dharma for the modern world. *** Show Notes Visit the new Sangharakshita.org Explore and subscribe to the new online life of Sangharakshita The archive project at Urgyen House Triratna Picture Library (Sangharakshita's photograph archives) Sangharakshita's essay reflecting on gratitude in the Garava Sutta *** Visit The Buddhist Centre Live (events year-round on Buddhism, mindfulness, meditation, and culture) Come meditate with us online six days a week! Theme music by Ackport! Used with kind permission. #Sangharakshita #Buddhism #Buddhist #Buddha #Dharma #Triratna #community #sangha #meditation #Dhamma #Triratna #mindfulness #kindness  #biography #storytelling

This week's episode is a wonderful conversation from our archive of live events here on The Buddhist Centre Online, featuring our host Paramananda and his guest Maitridevi, Chair of Taraloka Buddhist Retreat Centre for Women in Wales. Starting from a poem by W.S. Merwin, an initial conversation about gratitude for life despite all our knowledge of sorrows blooms into a shared set of reflections on impermanence, on our lack of centrality as a species, and on meditation as an exchange of gifts between us and the earth. How do we activate a sense of everything being alive? Maitridevi evokes ideas of a 'Buddhist Animism', and of the personification of the earth as Green Tara, derived from Dridha, the ancient Indian earth goddess. She and Paramananda explore the shamanic, the punk, the Delphic and oracular; all in the service of uncovering how genuinely sacred wisdom and energy might be said to come up out of the earth. This is an intimate, ultimately encouraging exchange about the great conundrum and tension there to be experienced in anyone's spiritual practice: that the world is a mess, and yet the world is always awakening. Join Paramananda and Maitridevi under the great tree of life, beneath the vast, open sky... *** Show notes Download all the notes from 'Sources of Inspiration and watch the series on YouTube W.S. Merwin, 'Thanks' (from ‘Migration: New and Selected Poems') W.S. Merwin, ‘Thanks' (slightly different version) ‘The Blue Marble' (the earth seen from Apollo 17, original photograph, 1972) ‘The Blue Marble' (updated image, 2002) The concept of ‘Viriditas' or 'Greenness' (as employed by Hildegard von Bingen) Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake About Timothy Morton ‘A reckoning for our species'(on Timothy Morton) Maitridevi and Taraloka on YouTube *** Visit The Buddhist Centre Live (events year-round on Buddhism, mindfulness, meditation, and culture) Come meditate with us online six days a week! Theme music by Ackport! Used with kind permission. #Buddhism #Buddhist #Buddha #Dharma #Triratna #community #sangha #meditation #Dhamma #Triratna #mindfulness #kindness #earth #ecology #climate #environment #wisdom #Tara #trees #poetry #Merwin

Sometimes a new Dharma book turns up that manages to seem both effortlessly profound and very funny. Of course, Satyadasa's The Sound of One Hand is actually the product of hard-won experience, and we're delighted to welcome him to the podcast to talk about his wonderful memoir as a tale of struggle, inspiration and the meeting of twin lineages in his life: Dharma practice and family. We hear Satyadasa's account of the challenges and joys to be had figuring out how to find a spiritual path when you have a "visible disability" (he was born without his left hand fully formed). Learning to do this within established communities, institutions, and set ways of conceiving of a Buddhist life was the cause of much soul-searching, but Satyadasa has wry anecdotes to spare as he freewheels like his hero Bob Dylan from childhood meditation experiences with his grandfather to studies at Oxford to Buddhist London in the early part of this century. No one is fixed, Satyadasa reminds us, and this conversation is also a reflection on telling your life story as a deeply creative act: a way to discover more about the past than you could ever have known otherwise. And to bring into the light your own trove of learning about friendship, love, loss, doubt, and the courage needed to transcend the constrictions of self-view. Join us to discover the sound of one hand as it echoes across the airwaves and around the world. Show Notes Buy The Sound of One Hand by Satyadasa Read a review of The Sound of One Hand Visit the London Buddhist Centre *** Visit The Buddhist Centre Live (events year-round on Buddhism, mindfulness, meditation, and culture) Come meditate with us online six days a week! Theme music by Ackport! Used with kind permission. #Buddhism #Buddhist #Buddha #Dharma #Triratna #community #sangha #meditation #Dhamma #Triratna #mindfulness #kindness #books #memoirs #koan 

To mark Earth Day 2022, we're joined by four friends who, one way or another, are involved with Buddhist activism. From the Buddhafield project to XR Buddhists to Silent Rebellion, we hear tales from the edge of socially engaged Buddhist practice, exploring what, if anything, Buddhists have to offer the world of protests, disruptions and often polarized issue-based politics.  Amaragita, Katja Behrendt, Priyadaka and Yogaratna offer a thoughtful set of reflections in articulating why a distinctive Buddhist approach to urgent issues like climate change and racism can be effective; both at transforming ourselves as we move deeper into Dharma practice—and at attracting anyone looking to speak out but wanting to avoid negative cycles of violence and harmful speech or action. As you'd expect, we hear a number of key questions held without easy answers; and in them also a call to action rooted in kindness, awareness and the desire to connect. This is an inspiring conversation moving from curiosity to empathy, resilience to a vision of the ‘Ecosattva' as an ideal for anyone who aspires to to change the world. *** Show notes Buddhism and Politics by Vajragupta (audio series) The Earth is Our Witness: Loving Self and World Through the Climate Crisis Triratna Earth Sangha Buddhafield *** Visit The Buddhist Centre Live (events year-round on Buddhism, mindfulness, meditation, and culture) Come meditate with us online six days a week! Theme music by Ackport! Used with kind permission. #Buddhism #Buddhist #Buddha #Dharma #Triratna #community #sangha #meditation #Dhamma #Triratna #mindfulness #kindness #Ecosattva #ecology #environment #climate #climatechange #engagedbuddhism #climatecrisis #climateactivism 

Karuna USA believes that every individual deserves a decent life and the opportunity to achieve their potential, regardless of caste, race or ethnicity. Social and economic systems with high levels of inequality hurt everyone's progress. That's a fact. Working together we can challenge these systems and ensure access to a fair and decent life for all. Karuna USA stands in solidarity with those communities barred from achieving this right, and especially with women whose empowerment is key to the transformation of societies. Together with our local community partners in South Asia, we work tirelessly to ensure that those living in abject poverty, forced into bonded labor, or dehumanized by a social designation such as “low caste” can access opportunities for a better life. *** Support Karuna USA: https://www.karuna-usa.org Support Karuna in the UK: https://www.karuna.org Support Karuna Deutschland: https://www.karunadeutschland.org/de/ *** Visit The Buddhist Centre Live (events year-round on Buddhism, mindfulness, meditation, and culture) Come meditate with us online six days a week! *** Theme music by Ackport! Used with kind permission. #India #caste #Dalit #Buddhism #Buddhist #Buddha #Dharma #Triratna #community #sangha #meditation #Dhamma #Triratna #mindfulness #kindness

We're joined this week by Buddhist teacher and mentor, Danapriya, author of 'It's Not Out There'. Most of us constantly look outside ourselves for something: happiness, love, contentment. But this something is not out there. ‘It' is within us. We are full of these qualities: happiness, love, contentment and more. In 'It's Not Out There', Danapriya, helps us to look inside ourselves in such a way that life becomes more vivid, joyful and extraordinary. As you'd expect, this is a profoundly optimistic conversation around the connections between love and grief, love and wisdom—and how we can live to pass on what we have been given. Get your copy of 'It's Not Out There' by Danapriya Visit Danapriya's website Connect with Windhorse Publications on Instagram for news of more Buddhist books! *** Visit The Buddhist Centre Live (events year-round on Buddhism, mindfulness, meditation, and culture) Come meditate with us online six days a week! *** Theme music by Ackport! Used with kind permission. #Buddhism #Buddhist #Buddha #Dharma #Triratna #community #sangha #meditation #Dhamma #Triratna #mindfulness #kindness #mentalhealth #books #selfcare #selfhelp #selfdevelopment #personalgrowth #personaldevelopment

We are delighted to announce a new episode of The Buddhist Centre Podcast, marking the start of a new season of curated conversations. We begin the new season with some role reversal! Instead of his usual place hosting guests, Dhammamegha from Windhorse Publications puts Candradasa in the hot seat to talk about his new book, 'Buddhism for Teens', just published by Rockridge Press. Download a sample chapter and get a copy of 'Buddhism for Teens' It's not always easy for teenagers to navigate their lives at home, at school, and with friends, but through Buddhist meditation and mindfulness practices they can discover a path to inner calm and awareness. Buddhism for Teens introduces teens to a Buddhist way of seeing things, and helps them build their emotional strength, their sense of self, and their connection to the world around them. Dhammamegha and Candradasa explore the themes of the book, looking at how Dharma stories and practice can help anyone—teen or adult—move past the things that restrict or constrain them towards an everyday sense of freedom and all its possibilities. This episode also features readings from stories in the book. Visit Windhorse Publications for great Dharma books! *** Visit The Buddhist Centre Live (events year-round on Buddhism, mindfulness, meditation, and culture) Come meditate with us online six days a week! *** Theme music by Ackport! Used with kind permission. #Buddhism #Buddhist #Buddha #Dharma #Triratna #community #sangha #meditation #Dhamma #Triratna #teens #teenagers #mindfulness #kindness #mentalhealth #books

A full Dharma life: you can come to it from anywhere, and it will lead you in unimagined ways... From the investment banking hothouses of the City of London, to visionary experiences in a field with Green Tara and the Chemical Brothers at the Glastonbury Festival, here are stories told by a team of people dedicating their work to setting up conditions for a future where the great hope of the Buddhist path is available to all. We hear why connecting across cultures and geographies is a practice of love and trust that's worth making your life's work, dissolving isolation and loneliness one connection at a time. If you think you know what fundraising is or who FutureDharma are—think again! This is how we really change the world: story by story, person by person. And a myriad of inspiring projects are born to renew the heart of a community. This is One World. Together we are One Sangha. Will you give so that our International Sangha can keep reaching out to more people than ever before? Give now the One Sangha appeal! *** Check out our Dharma Toolkit space for details of all we have on offer to help you stay inspired through the pandemic and beyond! Come meditate with us six days a week! *** Theme music by Ackport! Used with kind permission. #FutureDharma #fundraising #money #wealth #coronavirus #Covid19 #crisis #pandemic #Buddhism #Buddhist #Buddha #Dharma #Triratna #community #sangha #meditation #Dhamma #Triratna

Join us for a deep dive into the relationship between art, aesthetics, the environment, and the inner life of people, objects and houses! In this episode we discuss the current ecological and biodiversity crises with an artist and a poet, asking how an appreciation and fuller understanding of beauty itself can help us take action in our own lives. Be prepared to have your notions of "the beautiful" challenged and, hopefully, also affirmed as we range with our guests Padmacandra and Vilokini from the world of wabi-sabi to the lost stories of an old theatre, from the rainy streets of Venice to the re-wilding of a field and garden in England. Time to set out for "The Greater Mandala of Uselessness"! Show notes The Tale of the Whale by Karen Swann and Padmacandra The Many Jewels: Buddhism, Writing and the Arts (a podcast series with Padmacandra) Wisdom Beyond Words by Sangharakshita (source for the teaching on "The Greater Mandala of Uselessness"). Wabi-Sabi *** Check out our Dharma Toolkit space for details of all we have on offer to help you stay inspired through the pandemic and beyond! Come meditate with us six days a week! *** Theme music by Ackport! Used with kind permission. #Beauty #environment #ecology #rewilding #art #poetry #photography #wabisabi #aesthetics #climate #coronavirus #Covid19 #crisis #pandemic #Buddhism #Buddhist #Buddha #Dharma #Triratna #community #sangha #meditation #Dhamma #Triratna

A conversation exploring the central role of strong personal friendships in creating a culture that encourages women and girls in India to take seriously their own aspirations - whether in Buddhist training or life in general. Abhayanavita and Tarahridaya are wonderful leaders and exemplars in this work, speaking across generations, across gender, and across caste to help inspire the new Buddhists of India.From extremely difficult conditions each has forged her own path towards safety, respect and acceptance. And in a time of terrible challenge from the ongoing ravages of Covid-19 amongst the poorest people in their communities, both are beacons of positivity to anyone striving for liberation from suffering. This is a welcome message of hope from two great friends to all who hold India in their hearts.Help save lives in India and Nepal!Find out more about Karuna's work in India and Nepal***Check out our Dharma Toolkit space for details of all we have on offer to help you stay inspired through the pandemic and beyond!Come meditate with us six days a week!***Theme music by Ackport! Used with kind permission.#coronavirus #Covid19 #crisis #pandemic #Buddhism #Buddhist #Buddha #Dharma #Triratna #community #sangha #meditation #India #Nagpur #Maharashtra #Amravati #Dalit #caste #Ambedkar #women #gender #Dhamma #Triratna

A special episode of the podcast to invite you to Alive In Nature! - a series of live meditations and Dharma adventures from the Scottish Highlands!Find our more and reserve your space on Alive In Nature!For three Saturdays in spring or autumn - whichever hemisphere you are in, whatever state of lockdown you're living through - you're invited to sit with us and the amazing team from the Dhanakosa community in the birch woods of the Scottish Highlands. And to find your own "micro-adventure" in nature - in your own way, at your own pace (even if it's looking out your window!). By way of introduction to this experience, in this episode we go on a walk over the hillside at Balquhidder in the beautiful Trossachs region. The burn (brook) runs down the mountain through cataracts and waterfalls to the loch (lake) below; the snow in the pine forest crunches underfoot as we climb with Nayaka to a place of owls and foxes and roe deer...As he walks, Nayaka reflects on his own experience of a reciprocated relationship with nature, where our own being is invited in. A relationship in which our aliveness and the aliveness of the world around us are not two separate things; where letting go can happen, where emergence can arise.The sense of love and sheer delight is so strong here - and you are invited in!Come to Alive in Nature!Watch later on YouTube

Live from Forest House near Rivendell Retreat Centre in the UK - we're not sure a podcast setting gets any more mythic than that!Our friends Mandarava and Nagasiddhi are running an online Home Retreat for us - with amazing puppets, original artwork for the event, and an abundance of magic images illustrating tales from the life of the Buddha. And you are invited!Register for a space on 'In the Footsteps of the Buddha'Meditation, storytelling, ritual, sharing collective spaces that can hold joy and difficulty - this will be an immersive, interactive space online like no other; a retreat to help keep you inspired at home that you can dip into or dive deep within, whatever your circumstances allow.You can hear just from how these two working artists talk about the  enchantment involved in gathering everyday materials to create objects replete with beauty and meaning that their approach to practice can help, especially through grief and life's sorrows.Join us and come dwell in a forest of imagination with the richly resonant, living images from the Buddha's story. Sit beneath the oldest trees in good company, feeling how close that story is to our own, and how much hope it contains for us all.Show NotesWatch the Brave Little Parrot: A Puppet Show by Mandarava Nagasiddhi's ArtworkAn Evil Cradling by Brian KeenanThe art of Robert RauschenbergThe myth of The Descent of InannaBagpussThe WomblesMister BennThe Clangers**Check out our Dharma Toolkit space for details of all we have on offer to help you make it through the pandemic and stay inspired.Come meditate with us six days a week!***Theme music by Ackport! Used with kind permission.#coronavirus #Covid19 #crisis #pandemic #Buddhism #Buddhist #Buddha #Dharma #Triratna #community #sangha #meditation #mindfulness #psyche #soul #art #puppets #puppetry #myth #symbol #images #Rivendell #LordoftheRings #ritual #Tolkien

Forty years of friendship around meditation, the Dharma, and a common interest in the workings of the 'psyche' - the human 'soul' - mark out this first pilot episode for a new series of live podcasts. Join Paramananada in conversation with a set of friends to explore and share together their 'Sources of Inspiration'.Our first guest is Atula (Richard Hudson), psychosynthesist and good friend to many in the Triratna Buddhist Community. Atula has made it his life's work to consider the place of darkness, descent, depth as  experienced aspects of spiritual life, rather than an obstacle to it. What follows is itself a soulful, insightful conversation about Atula's approach in therapy and in dream work (individual and collective); particularly looking at the inspiration he draws from James Hillman in considering the deep workings of human behaviour and of the mind itself.There's an urgent relevance here for anyone exploring ideas of integration and the felt tensions between "matter" and "spirit". William Blake meets Mickey Spillane, Sangharakshita and Northrop Frye as the conversation catches, sparks and flows in the space between the twin myths of 'authority' and 'freedom': two old friends, holding the two in balance as a creative force.You're invited to the rest of these conversations! Sign up for our newsletter and get notified when tickets become available.Read 'What the Thrush Said' by John Keats***Check out our Dharma Toolkit space for details of all we have on offer to help you make it through the pandemic and stay inspired.Come meditate with us six days a week!***Theme music by Ackport! Used with kind permission.#coronavirus #Covid19 #crisis #pandemic #Buddhism #Buddhist #Buddha #Dharma #Triratna #community #sangha #meditation #mindfulness #psyche #soul #therapy #psychotherapy #psychosynthesis #Hillman #JamesHillman

This episode was recorded in October 2020 when the project to bring online learning to kids from Nagpur's poorest communities was just getting started. Please support this vital work now if you can:https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/aryaloka***Aryaketu is amazing. For 20 years he has been forging a life of extraordinary service in India with the Buddhist 'Bodhisattva Path' as the main context for his work. His vital, pioneering computer training school - the Aryaloka Institute - is all about the social uplift of some of the most vulnerable young people in his home city of Nagpur. It is also dedicated to exemplifying the possibilities with the bigger ideas of freedom enshrined in the Buddha's teaching. Beyond the potentially life-changing qualifications they receive, it is this spirt of selfless service and liberation which Aryaketu tries to bring to the mentoring of students every day. In the pandemic, with schools closed or unsafe, Aryaketu's dreams of a better education and life for local kids have had to adapt to meet the sometimes harrowing situation facing Dalit and other at risk communities dwelling in Nagpur's 55 slums. With an unquenchable positivity and unstoppable ambition to be of use himself, Aryaketu and his Aryaloka Institute have set out to create safe and fully resourced online learning spaces in the slums for students who would otherwise be excluded. It's an inspiring project, one that deserves admiration and active support!***Check out our Dharma Toolkit space for details of all we have on offer to help you make it through the pandemic and stay inspired.Come meditate with us six days a week!***Theme music by Ackport! Used with kind permission.#coronavirus #Covid19 #crisis #pandemic #Buddhism #Buddhist #Buddha #Dharma #Triratna #community #sangha #meditation #mindfulness #India #Dalit #education #learning #onlinelearning #Nagpur #Maharashtra

Happy New Year! May 2021 prove a kinder, more hopeful year for all.In this first podcast of the year we turn to the magic of inner transformation, with a special episode to mark our forthcoming Home Retreat: 'The Alchemical Heart' with Paramananda.In our conversation around the work involved with an "alchemical" approach to meditation Paramananda explores the relationship between Buddhist perspectives on life and the social, political and psychological realms. And most importantly, its connection to a sense of reality as fundamentally poetic in nature. All in service to figuring out how we can live from a genuine, authentic place in our own experience.Aside from alchemy's place in various western wisdom traditions, if here it is all about internal change, then, says Paramananda, the body is the vessel: this is where the work happens - because it is the nearest bit of reality with which we can become intimate. And to do so we must engage with the language of the heart, which is the language of images.To hear Paramananda speak about meditation as a way to truly experience "the poetics of the breath", we know we're in for something extraordinary. Come and join ups on the alchemical journey! In your own time and way on Home Retreat, bring your own body, longing and love. Sign up for the 'The Alchemical Heart' Home Retreat*** Paramananda has been teaching meditation for over 35 years and is well known for his body-based, poetic approach. He has published a number of books on meditation including ‘Change Your Mind' and, most recently, ‘The Myth of Meditation'. ***Check out our Dharma Toolkit space for details of all we have on offer to help you make it through the pandemic and stay inspired.Come meditate with us any week day!***Theme music by Ackport! Used with kind permission.#coronavirus #Covid19 #crisis #pandemic #Buddhism #Buddhist #Buddha #Dharma #Triratna #community #sangha #meditation #mindfulness #alchemy #alchemical #imagination #images #transformation 

A bonus episode with extra material from last episode's wonderful conversation with Vaddhaka, author of ‘The Buddha On Wall Street'.In part 2 of our discussion about the contribution Buddhism may have to make to all matters economic, we turn to the post-pandemic realities now faced around the world. The times prompt a reconsideration of the “attention economy” and its relationship to social inequality when everyone's lives are much more centred on the web. And we explore the relationship between the “wellbeing economy” and ideas of economic growth; as well as whether the community-led origins of the UK ‘Welfare State' might serve as a model for the future.Some fundamental questions are asked and well met: What do we value as  a society? What does human nature tend towards? What does the “common weal” look like after COVID-19? Finding throughout the conversation the opportunities for kindness in our dealings with each other – beyond economic and political positions.Featured this weekThe Buddha On Wall Street by Vaddhaka LinnListen to a mini-series of podcasts on The Buddha On Wall StreetUtopia for Realists by Rutger Bregman Humankind by Rutger Bregman***Check out our Dharma Toolkit space for details of all we have on offer to help you make it through the pandemic and stay inspired.Come meditate with us any week day!***Theme music by Ackport! Used with kind permission.Cover art, ‘Hold' by Nagasiddhi#coronavirus #Covid19 #crisis #pandemic #Buddhism #Buddhist #Buddha #Dharma #Triratna #community #sangha #economics #economy #money #democracy #Socialism #NeoLiberalism #wellbeing #kindness #Capitalism

We're back with the first episode in a two-part conversation about what Buddhism has to say to 21st C. economics in the wake of populist political tides, globalization and, of course, the COVID-19 pandemic.Vaddhaka is the author of The Buddha On Wall Street, a Buddhist critique of Neo-Liberal notions of capitalism. Expect a stirring, provocative discussion around the state of western democracies in relation to economics, and the hope offered by community-led responses to the despair felt by many around the world who feel left behind.How can Buddhism respond to inequality, the need for social justice, poverty and class differences? What does the history of "free-thinking British Socialism" have to tell us today? And how might we move towards an economics of wellbeing?Featured this weekThe Buddha On Wall Street by Vaddhaka LinnListen to a mini-series of podcasts on The Buddha On Wall StreetSmall Is Beautiful: A Study of Economics As If People Mattered by E. F. Schumacher.Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism by Anne Case and Angus DeatonThe economic philosophy of John Maynard Keynes***Check out our Dharma Toolkit space for details of all we have on offer to help you make it through the weirdness and stay inspired.Come meditate with us any week day!***Theme music by Ackport! Used with kind permission.#coronavirus #Covid19 #crisis #pandemic #Buddhism #Buddhist #Buddha #Dharma #Triratna #community #sangha #economics #economy #money #democracy #Socialism #NeoLiberalism #wellbeing #kindness #Capitalism

Hello again! We're back for a new season of The Dharma Toolkit podcast from The Buddhist Centre Online. We've had a wee break, passed through fleeting summer, and are turning towards the first fall/autumn of these strange, pandemic times ready to renew our own sense of connection through community with you. Welcome aboard!We begin again by following up and extending our previous mini-series 'The Many Jewels: Buddhism, Writing and the Arts' about the place of poetry and art in forming a response to sorrow, to challenge, to life itself. Once more our co-host is Padmacandra, helping bring together voices and experiences that can speak to why this is both urgent and profoundly hopeful: sounding and standing through the beauty and pain with the huge perspective of the Dharma as a backdrop, akin to the universe itself, whether starry or starless.Today we're with Sahajatara, exploring creativity and meaning at the juncture between life and death. Encountering strange creatures at the edges, feeling for the depth of the blue sea and of the earth "Apparelled in celestial light". Waiting for something to arise in the light and dark of it all.Ted Hughes looms large; Elizabeth Bishop comes in; William Stafford speaks with the Muses; and the mad woman at the shore is there with us as the conversation unwinds into personal myth, mundane magic and the practice of the 'soulful life'. Featured this week'Ode on Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood' by William WordsworthElizabeth Bishop: 'The Moose' and 'At the Fishhouses'.The French Lieutenant's Woman (film)'Apparition of the Self: The Secret Autobiographies of a Tibetan Visionary' by Janet Gyatso***Check out our Dharma Toolkit space for details of all we have on offer to help you make it through the weirdness and stay inspired.Come meditate with us any week day!***Theme music by Ackport! Used with kind permission.Cover art by Padmacandra, 'Mankind Owns Four Things At Sea'.#coronavirus #Covid19 #crisis #pandemic #Buddhism #Buddhist #Buddha #Dharma #Triratna #community #sangha #love #poetry #Arts #art #images 'JigmeLingpa #TedHughes #SylviaPlath #wabisabi #WilliamStafford

What is it to be fully aware, fully alive? Here is a great conversation with the retreat team from Taraloka, who are about to lead our online Home Retreat around the relief and ease of being in the present moment – whatever that present moment looks like. Join in with Alive, Aware, Awake - a Home Retreat for everyone!Experience can be an adventure in awareness. How can we taste the deep excitement of opening to the nature of reality itself – right here, right now? Rooted in a thorough exploration of the Buddha's teaching on the four foundations of mindfulness, this a delightful evocation of how freedom of the heart is available to anyone. Taraloka is a women's Buddhist retreat centre, founded in 1985. Ever since, they've been offering a breadth and depth of retreats for all levels of experience. But with coronavirus they've had to shut the buildings and go online to offer what they do to everyone across the globe, while still living and working as a residential community through lockdown.We hear how the crisis has brought out the best in the community. And the spirit of Taraloka's approach to Dharma practice - and of their beautiful Welsh retreat centre - comes across strongly. The qualities of Green Tara made manifest as part of a lineage of women sharing, practising, handing on the Dharma.Read about the Satipatthana Sutta (Foundations of Mindfulness)Follow Taraloka on YouTube to see their Dharma reflections on the natural world ***Check out our Dharma Toolkit space for details of all we have on offer to help you make it through the weirdness and stay inspired.Come meditate with us any week day!***Theme music by Ackport! Used with kind permission.#coronavirus #Covid19 #crisis #pandemic #Buddhism #Buddhist #Buddha #Dharma #Triratna #community #sangha #mindfulness #meditation #Satipatthana #body #breath #mind #heart

Join us for a walk into the forest of the unknown. Enchantments await. Groves of images. Bridges to the unseen. A path that wanders lost until some deeper magic happens...We are back in the realm of art and the making of images, the making of things, the making of meaning. Nagasiddhi's trainings in technical sculpture, prop design and building, the rituals of puppetry, and carpentry with wood left by his father long ago - all these have prepared him for a life of inhabiting his craft in the context of Buddhist practice. We are with an artist at work in that country where the river under the river flows. Only now there is the deep underworld of uncertainty to contend with. Reflections on pandemic, on the nature of creativity, on the totemic aspects of imagination itself. From James Hillman to Philip Glass to Diana Wynne Jones and The Psychedelic Furs: this is a conversation where culture collides with fairy tales and you can almost taste the bittersweet air of inspiration, the peace of attending to old thing and lost things and all the found objects of the heart.Featured this week:Nagasiddhi's artGino Bartali, the war hero cyclist from ItalySong by John Donne & Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne JonesJames Hillman's 'The Dream and the Underworld'Kiki Smith on art as a bridge to the unseenThe Psychedelic Furs, 'Made of Rain (released July 2020): on Apple Music | on Spotify***Check out our Dharma Toolkit space for details of all we have on offer to help you make it through the weirdness and stay inspired.Come meditate with us any week day!***Theme music by Ackport! Used with kind permission.#coronavirus #Covid19 #crisis #pandemic #Buddhism #Buddhist #Buddha #Dharma #Triratna #community #sangha #love #poetry #Arts #art #images #sculpture #puppetry 

To mark our latest Home Retreat, led by Tejananda, an excellent conversation and primer on meditation from a body-focussed perspective. Tejananda's key image is of the dynamic mandala. Dharma practice is itself dynamic and transformative. And the transformation lies in gradually discovering how both we and the world are not at all what we originally supposed! Seeing this, we can begin to uproot the causes of suffering in our own experience. This approach to practice is centred on the living energy of our body and being. Through being open to the energy of the body, and by becoming attuned to its actual nature, we'll discover ways to integrate the stages of a spiritual path into a single, embodied experience of ‘simply being'. Tejananda will support this Home Retreat with a series of daily meditations and inquiries, exploring in some depth the nature of our human experience.Reserve your space on the weeklong meditation workshop now! ***Come meditate with us any week day!Theme music by Ackport! Used with kind permission.#meditation #mindfulness #presence #body #awareness #Covid19 #crisis #pandemic #Buddhism #Buddhist #Buddha #Dharma #Triratna #community #sangha #soma #somatic #JustSitting

For Nothing Is FixedFor nothing is fixed,forever, forever, forever,it is not fixed;the earth is always shifting,the light is always changing,the sea does not cease to grind down rock.Generations do not cease to be born,and we are responsible to thembecause we are the only witnesses they have.The sea rises, the light fails,lovers cling to each other,and children cling to us.The moment we cease to hold each other,the moment we break faith with one another,the sea engulfs us and the light goes out.James BaldwinN.B. This episode was originally recorded on May 18th, before George Floyd's May 25th police encounter over a minor incident that ended tragically and unjustly in the loss of his life.As we move into the next phase of pandemic and social crisis around the world, a changing shape for the podcast. We'll be trying some new things on for size, experimenting, hearing voices in different ways as we continue to try and bring you a sense of wider, supportive community and inspiration, whatever your context.This episode was intended as an internal pilot for a new live series of the podcast we'll be announcing soon. But in a week of the most painful violence against black and other people of colour in the United States, it was so relevant and moving we decided to share it now... Two good friends, Viveka and Paramananda, sparking off each other around this beautiful poem by James Baldwin, 'For Nothing Is Fixed'. Being each a deeply experienced and respected meditation teacher, their initial threads of exchange and sharing are how to live, practice and work in the body; perspectives on awakening; how to be with others energetically; matters of identity.Soon enough, they draw each other on into a space of grace, where the amazingly complex felt experience of life as something sacred is palpable. Come and witness to something vital and affirming: a meeting of friends trying to move through the world with bliss-bestowing hands and minds and voices.This podcast episode ends with a 2-minute meditation inspired by the space of Baldwin's poignant, resonant words.James Baldwin's 1968 Q & A on Race in America'I Am Not Your Negro': a film about James BaldwinWatch James Baldwin debate William F. Buckley (1965)James Baldwin: Pessimist, Optimist, HeroRead more about 'For Nothing Is Fixed'***Watch out for the live online series of Getting Real with Viveka and Paramananda, coming soon to the Dharma Toolkit. Sign up for the Dharma Toolkit newsletter for dates of the recordings and how you can attend.Viveka is the former Chair of the San Francisco Buddhist Center, a dynamic and popular meditation teacher and retreat leader, with profound experience in the arena of social justice work.Paramananda from London is the founder of the San Francisco Buddhist Center, a successful author and renowned meditation teacher. ***Come meditate with us any week day!Theme music by Ackport! Used with kind permission.#JamesBaldwin #poetry #race #racism #BlackLivesMatter #meditation #mindfulness #presence #friendship #EngagedBuddhism #socialjustice #Covid19 #crisis #pandemic #Buddhism #Buddhist #Buddha #Dharma #Triratna #community #sangha

This year's Buddhist Action Month (BAM!) - happening around the world throughout June - is about to kick off. The theme is "For the Earth" - and here on the Dharma Toolkit we'll be looking at the intersection between urgent human issues like climate change, economic inequality and social justice. The poetic version of this, rooted in personal and community practice, is that we have a perfect opportunity to speak up for the many beings without voices with whom we share our world. Which is also speaking up for our own future as a species. If we want to tell a new and better story about our possible future on the earth, this is the moment.From the wild flower meadows of Vancouver Island to the slums of India and Nepal, our guests bring their steady, quiet passion and experience for work that saves lives and looks to save the environment. For all our sakes, for the earth.BAM! is presented in conjunction with the Network of Buddhist Organisations. Check out the online events taking place online throughout the month. And get involved in your own local community!Follow and take part in Buddhist Action MonthBuddhist Action Month on the NBOGet the BAM! 2020 handbook***Check out our Dharma Toolkit space for details of all we have on offer to help you make it through the weirdness and stay inspired.Come meditate with us any week day!Theme music by Ackport! Used with kind permission.#BAM #BuddhistActionMonth #EngagedBuddhism #socialjustice #ecology #climate #environment #coronavirus #Covid19 #crisis #pandemic #Buddhism #Buddhist #Buddha #Dharma #Triratna #community #sangha

"Deserving a place in a realm where miracles happen"Let's start with this image: there's a river under the river. Then follow it via the works of William Stafford and the creative lives of members of the Wolf at the Door group: poets and writers exploring the interplay of modes of attention in their chosen art forms, mediated by the practice of Buddhism.The wolf is there too. Alive and real and, sometimes, scary. But this is the true place of greater safety, and of a deeper freedom too. Join us for another inspiring conversation, part of our mini-series on how to access the heights and depths of experience via the Arts, myth, symbol and story. "To be willingly fallible is a creative act in which the imagination participates." Wolf at the DoorWilliam Stafford on YouTubeWilliam Stafford's poetry***Check out our Dharma Toolkit space for details of all we have on offer to help you make it through the weirdness and stay inspired.Come meditate with us any week day!***Theme music by Ackport! Used with kind permission.#coronavirus #Covid19 #crisis #pandemic #Buddhism #Buddhist #Buddha #Dharma #Triratna #community #sangha #love #poetry #Arts #art #images #Stafford

To mark the start of a Home Retreat on the theme of turning towards difficulties and moving through them well, a great, practical conversation with Yashobodhi about the meditative, reflective work of the Seven-Point Mind Training tradition in Buddhism. A mythic image to sum up and symbolize this is that of the Buddha on the cusp of his Enlightenment. He is sitting still at the point when Mara attacks him with all the weapons he can muster. But, as the story goes, even though the Buddha is attacked he does not react with anger, hatred or defensiveness. Instead he sits in complete peace and openness; the arrows from his opponents drift and float down around him as flower petals.Drawing from the Tibetan traditions of lojong (Dharma slogan) and tonglen (meditation sending and receiving kindness in an awareness of suffering), we explore ways to transform adversity. How do we face up to difficult emotions? Find the opportunities inherent when there are obstacles in our lives? Considering the central role of body and breath awareness in this, Yashobodhi also emphasizes the importance of a sense of imaginative connection to the suffering of others. Referring to the classic fairy story of Rumpelstiltskin, if we do this work, she says, we too can turn the straw of our lives into gold with the spinning wheel of the Dharma... Delightful!Connect with the Turning Arrows Into Flowers Home Retreat anytime!***Check out our Dharma Toolkit space for details of all we have on offer to help you make it through the weirdness and stay inspired.Come meditate with us any week day!***Theme music by Ackport! Used with kind permission.#coronavirus #Covid19 #crisis #pandemic #Buddhism #Buddhist #Buddha #Dharma #Triratna #community #sangha #meditation #mindfulness #kindness #lojong #tonglen #mindtraining #psychology

Shimmering images, and no less shimmering experiences. Today's episode begins a series on beauty, poetry, myth, art and symbol as a response to crisis.Taking our cue from W.H. Auden's poem, September 1st, 1939, and his recognition of the need to "love one another or die", we ask how, in the midst of fear – even of death – we can exercise our agency as human beings?Poetry leads the way in and out of the questioning. Joining Auden in the circle is Rumi and William Stafford, providing images to shelter and transform. A conversation amongst friends, opening up to wider vistas of perspective and relationship: with our kids, with ourselves, with all our fellow beings. All reflected in each other like jewels in a great net thrown across the universe.***Check out our Dharma Toolkit space for details of all we have on offer to help you make it through the weirdness and stay inspired.Come meditate with us any week day!***Theme music by Ackport! Used with kind permission.#coronavirus #Covid19 #crisis #pandemic #Buddhism #Buddhist #Buddha #Dharma #Triratna #community #sangha #love #poetry #Arts #art #images #Auden #Rumi #Stafford