The Story of Bahia
Free Buddhist Audio
Back in the Buddha’s time, it’s thought that there were lots of people who were looking for meaning, going from teacher to teacher. Sometimes they were householders, sometimes royalty, but they were all shopping around - shopping for wisdom. The Buddha met many people like this. He also met people who’d achieved quite a bit by following other teachers, or those who had themselves become teachers. There were those who worshiped fire and those who practised austerities. There were nihilists and eternalists. And then there was Bahiya – Bahiya of the Bark Garment, as he was known. Here,...
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Dying Into Freedom: Spiritual Death In the Triratna System of Practice
Free Buddhist Audio
As part of the series on Personal Development (system of practice) helps us understand how important spiritual death is in our lives. She explores the small moments of letting go which help us to break through ego clinging, allowing freedom and creativity to emerge. This talk was given at , 2026. *** Subscribe to the FBA podcast: A full, curated, quality Dharma talk, every week. | |
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The Cremation Ground is Everywhere
Free Buddhist Audio
explores the symbolism of Padmasambhava's famous exile in the eight great cremation grounds. And explores the important teaching that (aṣṭa vijñānakāyāḥ) of the Yogacara are regarded in Tantric Buddhism as the eight great cremation grounds. So, we are always in the realm of decay and death. Yet the cremation ground is also the place of initiation, and in this masterful and fascinating talk, remembering his own teacher Sangharakshita's period of "exile" from respectable Buddhist circles in the 1960s in London, Padmavajra explores a significant series of initiations that...
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The Lineage of Practice
Free Buddhist Audio
In this imaginative talk, which begins with an evocation of how unbelievably fortunate we are to be able to practice together in community, speaks to one of the four lineages of our sangha as drawn out by Urgyen Sangharakshita, Triratna's founder. He evokes the lineage of practice as a continuous chain of human inspiration and curiosity – from ancient peoples around the fire, to Siddhartha on the cusp of personal failure under the bodhi tree, to Sangharakshita in India, and finally to the current generation of practitioners who must embody and transmit the Dharma. This talk was given in...
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May Our Communication With One Another Be Sangha
Free Buddhist Audio
explores the profound lines from Sangharakshita's Dedication Ceremony: "Here seated, here practising My our mind become Buddha, May our thought become Dharma May our communication with one another be Sangha" Recorded at the Autumn Going for Refuge weekend retreat at , 2024. *** Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. | |
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Wisdom's Gathering: the Difference That Makes a Difference
Free Buddhist Audio
speaks about Sangha as Dharma practice and how spiritual community and friendship with the admirable are part of our heritage in Triratna. A talk given on the International Gathering at Adhisthana, 2017. *** Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. | |
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A Blueprint for a New World
Free Buddhist Audio
Is it possible to create a society in which all social, economic, and political arrangements will support the development of true individuality? In this lecture, discusses a number of principles essential to the successful transformation of our current society. This talk is part of the series , given in 1976 and in 2026. *** Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. | |
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"This Is Truth! This Is Not Truth!": Beyond Outrage
Free Buddhist Audio
The Dharma meets androcentricity and culture wars. explores how we can relate to views on gender without polarising. She asks, how do we bring the Dharma to bear on our and others' deeply-held views? And how do we hold some of Sangharakshita's conditioned views? Honest, nuanced, sensitive. This talk was given at , as part of the series entitled , 2026. *** Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. | |
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Awakening As Gratitude
Free Buddhist Audio
There's a story about the Buddha bowing to the tree under which he has just gained Enlightenment. Inspired by this this story, Vajragupta sees the whole path to Awakening in terms of gratitude. The grasping mind cannot feel grateful. But the Awakened know and feel just how deeply they are supported and enabled by other people, other life, and conditions in the world around them. uses poetry and anecdotes to give four suggestions for "turning our lives into gratitude". He sees the practice of gratitude as a wisdom or insight practice. From the mind-set and perspective of gratitude, the...
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Absorption - After the Enlightenment
Free Buddhist Audio
How do you get used to being Enlightened? What happened to the Buddha in the weeks after his breakthrough experience? explores these questions in two ways - using the framework of our System of Meditation to shed light on the process that unfolded in the Bodhisattva's mind and body as Enlightenment dawned; and connecting us imaginatively with the symbolism and image of Muchalinda, the great serpent, coiling his body protectively round the meditating Buddha. This talk was given on the ’s International Retreat, 2008. Kamalashila passed away in October 2024, to learn more about him and his...
info_outlineVishvapani explores the dynamic vision of Urgyen Sangharakshita in setting up a new Buddhist movement in the West, and asks how we might relate to him now. His central reference point in this provocative and moving talk is the Padmasambhava Abisheka - the initiation received by Sangharakshita in Kalimpong, India, in 1962 from the great Tibetan Lama, Kachu Rimpoche. The energy emanating from a simple shrine room–location of that significant meeting in Sangharakshita's life–reverberates through everything that came next, the bright and shadow sides. Voices and stories, told and untold, come echoing through as Vishvapani makes the case that a deeper examination of Sangharakshita's teaching and approach reveals a deeper rhythm to his life and work that is relevant to everyone practising in Triratna today. Talk given at Adhisthana on the men's UK & Ireland area Order weekend in November 2022.
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