The Windhorse Publications Podcast

Dhammamegha speaks to Bodhidasa in Sydney, Australia, about his upcoming book Approaching Enlightenment: A Guidebook for Buddhist Ritual. The conversation covers: Bodhidasa as a practitioner, teacher, and self-declared geek. We'll hear about his interests in magic, games, popular culture, and literature, and how these are part of his practice and the book. How ritual, archetypes, and myth enable a connection with transpersonal and enlightened qualities and potentials. Different approaches to Buddhist practice - from ascetic and austere approaches on the one hand, to those drawn to objects, worldly activities, and emotions of devotion, joy, and integration. Cultural tensions between secular life and ritual practices, and the Buddhist tradition's own relationships with ritual—as a fetter and as a path. How ritual opens us up to something inconvenient—the possibility that there is more in you and others than the limits we impose. Bodhidasa's own integration of elements of ritual into his day—through offering, worship, going for refuge, confession, and rejoicing. Useful Links: PUJA: The Triratna Book of Buddhist Devotional Texts. Creative Symbols of Tantric Buddhism is available in Volume 13 of the Complete Works of Sangharakshita FutureDharma Fund. Follow Windhorse Publications on Instagram, Facebook, X (formerly Twitter) and TikTok. Subscribe to our newsletter.

Today, Dhammamegha speaks with award winning author and speaker Valerie (Vimalasara) Mason John about their soon-to-be-released pocketbook First Aid Kit for the Mind: Breaking the Cycle of Habitual Behaviours. We hear about Vimalasara's life and writing, and the deep well of experience through trauma and addiction recovery and mindfulness. They speak from the heart about all the tools to connect what you already have to live more embodied, skilful and free. These tools are all laid out in this small, illustrated, easy-to-use guide to healing the mind. Order First Aid Kit for the Mind online, from your nearest independent bookshop or:  Buy First Aid Kit for the Mind (Europe) Buy First Aid Kit for the Mind (US & Canada)   Find out more about Valerie (Vimalasara) Mason-John. FutureDharma Fund Follow Windhorse Publications on Instagram, Facebook, X (formerly Twitter) and TikTok. Subscribe to our newsletter.

In this episode, Dhammamegha speaks with Cindy Rasicot - the author of a new book This Fresh Existence: Heart Teachings from Bhikkhuni Dhammananda. Cindy speaks about meeting her teacher Venerable Dhammananda, and responding to her challenging message of kindness and forgiveness rather than anger and hatred. The podcast conversation covers what it is like to be a student and disciple, different ways of practice in Asian and convert American Buddhism, and the radical transformation that can come with the healing practice of the medicine Buddha.   Links:  Order This Fresh Existence online, from your nearest independent bookshop or:  Buy This Fresh Existence (Europe) Buy This Fresh Existence (US & Canada)   Find out more about Cindy Rasicot and Venerable Dhammananda's Monastery. FutureDharma Fund Follow Windhorse Publications on Instagram, Facebook, X (formerly Twitter) and TikTok. Subscribe to our newsletter.

Today we have a wonderful and insightful conversation with River Wolton, a poet, writer, activist, Buddhist teacher and author of her new book titled The Subtle Art of Caring. We talk about her life and practice and the Buddha's teachings of the Brahma Viharas or divine abodes. In this book, River looks again at these ancient teachings as a resource for sustaining compassion through moments of pausing, befriending, enjoying, caring and letting be.  As Dene Donalds, Dharma teacher in the lineage of Thich Nhat Hanh and founding member of The Colours of Compassion Sangha says: 'If you wish to explore how to take Buddhism off the meditation cushion and into the world, read this book.'    Links:  Order The Subtle Art of Caring online, from your nearest independent bookshop or:  Buy The Subtle Art of Caring (Europe) Buy The Subtle Art of Caring (US & Canada)   Find out more about River Wolton and the book. FutureDharma Fund Follow Windhorse Publications on Instagram, Facebook, X (formerly Twitter) and TikTok. Subscribe to our newsletter.  

In this new episode of the Windhorse Publications podcast, our publishing director Dhammamegha speaks to the author of a book we'll be bringing out later in September – Starting on the Buddhist Path: An Invitation. In the conversation, the author Sagaraghosa muses about her first encounters with Buddhism, the importance of friendship in practice and how the dharma can change our lives for the better. She also tackles that great Buddhist question of the nature of the self, and how we can reflect on the aspects of our experience and their possibilities as a gateway to greater happiness for ourselves and others.   Links:  Order Starting on the Buddhist Path online, from your nearest independent bookshop or:  Buy Starting on the Buddhist Path (Europe) Buy Starting on the Buddhist Path (US & Canada)   Find out more about Sagaraghosa and the book.   FutureDharma Fund Follow Windhorse Publications on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and TikTok. Subscribe to our newsletter.  

The Dharma is a universal teaching and an array of practices for liberation. In history, it is embodied by teachers who respond to the particular forms of suffering and bondage that they are born into, human and social.  In its spread between India and what could broadly be called the West, the Triratna Buddhist movement and order is rather unique in contemporary convert Buddhism.  In this episode, Dhammamegha is in conversation with Vajratara about the recent developments in the Refuge Tree of the Triratna Buddhist community and order, and the release of a new edition of the book Teachers of Enlightenment by Kulananda. They speak about the inclusion of Dr. Ambedkar from India and Anagarika Dharmapala from Sri Lanka as engaged teachers whom Sangharakshita found inspiring.   Links:  Order Teachers of Enlightenment online from your nearest independent bookshop or:  Buy Teachers of Enlightenment (Europe) Buy Teachers of Enlightenment (US & Canada)   Find out more about Sangharakshita and the founding of the Triratna Buddhist movement in Nagabodhi's recently published Sangharakshita: The Boy, The Man, The Monk.   The Anagarika Dharmapala biography and other writings are included in Volume 8 of the Complete Works of Sangharakshita, Beating the Dharma Drum: India Writings II   FutureDharma Fund Follow Windhorse Publications on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and TikTok. Subscribe to our newsletter.

Thirty years after the first publication of Meeting the Buddhas, Dhammamegha speaks with Vessantara about the new edition of this classic Dharma text. After learning how the book came to be, the discussion turns to the qualities of the enlightened mind, and the nature and power of these Buddha and Bodhisattva figures, and a whole path to living in freedom. We had this conversation in Vessantara's lounge in January this year, and the sound quality isn't as good as we would have liked, but still definitely worth a listen. Subscribe to our newsletter to get notified about future podcast releases.   Links:  Order Meeting the Buddhas online from your nearest independent bookshop or:  Buy Meeting the Buddhas (Europe) Buy Meeting the Buddhas (US & Canada)   About Vessantara Vessantara's website and his new poem book Thirty Dragons and other Poems, 1967 – 2022 FutureDharma Fund Follow Windhorse Publications on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and TikTok

A great storyteller and author, in this podcast Nagabodhi tells us about his life in relationship to Sangharakshita, and the interesting process of writing about him. Who was Sangharakshita, and what was his life's project – working out what it is to be a Buddhist in the world today. We have a candid conversation about Sangharakshita's sexuality, his relationships, his legacy, his experiments in ways of being, and the nature of community or Sangha. The book Sangharakshita: The Boy, the Monk, the Man comes out in the UK at the end of February 2023.   Subscribe to our newsletter to get notified about future podcast releases. Links:  Order Sangharakshita: The Boy, the Monk, the Man online from your nearest independent bookshop or:  Buy Sangharakshita: The Boy, the Monk, the Man (Europe) Buy Sangharakshita: The Boy, the Monk, the Man (US & Canada)   Learn more about Sangharakshita's life About Nagabodhi FutureDharma Fund Follow Windhorse Publications on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and TikTok.

Windhorse Publications recently acquired the rights to a fantastic memoir, first published earlier in 2022. In this episode of the podcast, Dhammamegha speaks with its author, Satyadasa.    Perhaps we all have a fantasy about what it means to be a Buddhist; what a life in the Dharma looks like. Satyadasa, born with one hand, recounts meeting the Dharma in London as a young man, and the joy, questions, friendships and choices that followed. It's unusual to have such a fresh, brilliantly-written, touching and vivid account of what being a Buddhist actually looks like in practice.   Subscribe to our newsletter to get notified about future podcast releases.   Links:  Order The Sound of One Hand online from your nearest independent bookshop or:  Buy The Sound of One Hand (Europe) Buy The Sound of One Hand (US & Canada)   About Satyadasa FutureDharma Fund Follow Windhorse Publications on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

A lot of life is spent online these days. It is the medium for news, entertainment, work, debate and perspective, music, keeping up with friends, dating, and, for some, pornography. In this podcast episode, Dhammamegha speaks with new author Prajnaketu about his upcoming book Cyberloka: A Buddhist guide to digital life. Prajnaketu wants to open up ways of thinking and talking about our digital lives that draw on the teachings of the Buddha.  We talk about hyper-availability and how to go mindfully into our digital lives, leaving space for depth. We discuss super-stimulation and in particular the use of porn and other potentially addictive sources of pleasure online. And we hear about how to have better conversations online, including how to disagree more skilfully. Subscribe to our newsletter to get notified about future podcast releases.   Links:  Order Cyberloka online from your nearest independent bookshop or:  Buy Cyberloka (Europe) Buy Cyberloka (US & Canada)   About Prajnaketu FutureDharma Fund Follow Windhorse Publications on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.  

It's always good news when one of our books starts selling well. But in this case, the popularity of Eight Step Recovery: Using the Buddha's Teachings to Overcome Addiction points to the rise of compulsive and addictive behaviour and thought over lockdown and beyond. Dhammamegha sat down to talk with the book's co-author, Valerie Mason-John (Buddhist Order name Vimalasara).  Perhaps you're aware of compulsion in yourself or others? In this podcast, Vimalasara and Dhammamegha talk about ‘stinking thinking' and the difficult and beautiful path to sobriety of thoughts and feelings, putting something positive and wholesome at the centre of our lives.  Subscribe to our newsletter to get notified about future podcast releases.   Links:  Order Eight Step Recovery online from your nearest independent bookshop or:  Buy Eight Step Recovery (Europe) Buy Eight Step Recovery (US & Canada) Audio book edition   About Vimalasara and her website FutureDharma Fund Follow Windhorse Publications on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

In this episode, Dhammamegha interviews Nagapriya, author of the forthcoming book: The Promise of a Sacred World: Shinran's Teaching of Other Power. It is due out in early September 2022.  Nagapriya encountered the writings of the Japanese Pure Land teacher Shinran at a point of crisis in his own spiritual life. After a decade of enthusiastic striving towards enlightenment, Nagapriya came up against the limits of self-directed practice. In that moment, Shinran and Other Power opened a different way of thinking about enlightenment and a life in the Dharma.  I thoroughly enjoyed speaking with Nagapriya about his life and practice. In this generous and spacious interview – I found him warm and deeply thoughtful about what it means to be a Buddhist. Through reflection, mythic and poetic thinking, Nagapriya explores Shinran's existential liberation, and the nature of connection, openness and encounter with something beyond the known self.  Subscribe to our newsletter to get notified about the book's release and launches   Links:  Order online from your nearest independent bookshop or:  Buy The Promise of the Sacred World (Europe) Buy The Promise of the Sacred World (US & Canada) About Nagapriya  FutureDharma Fund Follow Windhorse Publications on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

In February this year, we published a memoir by a man diagnosed with life-threatening prostate cancer. The book is called Entertaining Cancer the Buddhist Way. That man is Devamitra, and his book covers his remarkable story of working with his mental states through diagnosis, treatment and recovery. In this podcast Dhammamegha interviews Devamitra to learn more about the man behind the cancer journey, and finds out what conditioned his strength of character, and his Buddhist practice. After a period of remission, Devamitra's cancer has returned, and in this forthright and often unexpected conversation he talks about facing uncertainty, death and the beauty and love that can come from meeting ill health fully. It's a longer listen than usual, so sit back and enjoy. Trigger warning: This podcast deals with difficult topics such as cancer and death. Please be advised before listening. Useful Links:  Buy Entertaining Cancer (Europe) Buy Entertaining Cancer (US & Canada) Prostate Cancer UK London Buddhist Centre FutureDharma Fund Follow Windhorse Publications on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

In this episode, scholar-monk Bhikkhu Anālayo continues the conversation with Dhammamegha about two mindfulness books published by Windhorse Publications in 2019.  The conversation covers the crucial question of the place of mindfulness of others in meditation, the importance of sangha or community, and the relationship between what happens on the cushion and our ways of being in the world.  Getting closer to some of our collective challenges, Bhikkhu Anālayo talks about climate change and the Six Element Practice. We then move onto Bhikkhu Anālayo's concerns about the dangers of going too far in deconstructing truth and morality in current culture, particularly in the USA, as well as the overemphasis of subjectivity.    Links:  About Bhikkhu Anālayo and Windhorse Publications  https://www.windhorsepublications.com/product-category/authors/analayo/ https://www.buddhistinquiry.org/teacher/bhikkhu-analayo/ www.windhorsepublications.com   Links to audio resources:  Elements meditation Mindfully Facing Climate Change interview   Where to purchase the books: Introducing Mindfulness: Buddhist Background and Practical Exercises UK & Europe US & Canada Mindfulness in Early Buddhism: Characteristics and Functions UK & Europe US & Canada Mindfully Facing Climate Change UK & Europe US & Canada  Superiority Conceit in Buddhist Traditions: A Historical Perspective UK & Europe US & Canada

In this episode of the new Windhorse Publications podcast, scholar-monk Bhikkhu Anālayo talks to Dhammamegha about two books we published in 2019, written for mindfulness practitioners interested in the Buddhist background to mindfulness.  Along the way he talks about bare mindfulness and how it differs from mindfulness in the context of the Buddhist path. The interview covers the basic function of monitoring and acceptance to protect the mind, and the wisdom part of mindfulness practice. Anālayo talks about the importance of getting into the body and working with conditions as they are, opening the heart and bringing it all on the path. Finally, our guest talks about studying early Buddhism – imagining the Buddha, how close we can get to imagining the historical Buddha, and the importance of relying on the Dharma.   Links for this episode: Bhikkhu Anālayo's bio: https://www.windhorsepublications.com/product-category/authors/analayo/ Barre Center for Buddhist Studies: https://www.buddhistinquiry.org/   Where to purchase the books: Introducing Mindfulness: Buddhist Background and Practical Exercises. Europe - https://www.windhorsepublications.com/product/introducing-mindfulness-paperback/ US & Canada - https://bookshop.org/a/5803/9781911407577 Mindfulness in Early Buddhism: Characteristics and Functions. Europe - https://www.windhorsepublications.com/product/mindfulness-in-early-buddhism-characteristics-and-functions-paperback/ US & Canada - https://bookshop.org/a/5803/9781911407553