Dharmabytes from Free Buddhist Audio

Dharmabytes features bite-sized dharma, three times a week, from the Free Buddhist Audio archives. Themed in conjunction with our weekly full length talk podcast, these are inspiring short extracts from over 5,000 talks on Buddhism, meditation and mindfulness! Tune in, be inspired!

The Human Realm 11/19/2025

The Human Realm What does it mean to be human? 's gently balanced and encouraging talk explores various perspectives on one of the fundamental questions, and clearly lays out various Buddhist approaches to the nature of our existence and consciousness, especially in relation to the other realms of the Tibetan wheel of life. Cherishing the opportunities is one of the challenges of this reflection - and this is a great way to begin. Excerpted from the talk entitled , given as part of the series , , 2005. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: Spotify: /episode/index/show/dharmabytes/id/39094625

The Music of Impermanence in the Six Realms 11/17/2025

The Music of Impermanence in the Six Realms describes the six realms as a mirror in which to fully know the particulars of our own self created universe. Here, we learn how the presence of Avalokitesvara in the God Realm teaches of impermanence through music. Excerpted from the talk , given at , 2017. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: Spotify: /episode/index/show/dharmabytes/id/39058310

The Symbol of the Wheel of Life 11/10/2025

The Symbol of the Wheel of Life 's visit to the Mid Essex Buddhist Centre, talking about communicating through symbols, this time round through the hub of the wheel of life. Excerpted from the talk entitled given at , 2020. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: Spotify: /episode/index/show/dharmabytes/id/38906430

Taming Spirits and Demons 11/06/2025

Taming Spirits and Demons talks here about the Buddha’s response to society’s need for protection from demons the spirit world. Excerpted from the talk , part of the series , , 2011. This series marked the launch of Vishvapani’s book: 'Gautama Buddha: The Life and Teachings of the Awakened One' (Quercus, 2011). *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: Spotify: /episode/index/show/dharmabytes/id/38891305

Mara the Mischief Maker 11/03/2025

Mara the Mischief Maker Dharmacharini , who passed away in 2010, offers a sparkling talk on a key part of the Buddha's legendary life story - his encounter with Mara. She's the ideal person to introduce the figure and the seriousness of her topic comes through well amidst the laughter and the key references to art and culture. Mara isn't the devil but what he represents is a challenge for us all in everyday life. Let Vidyajyoti's voice from the past bring him to life and show the ways to beat him…Excerpted from the talk simply entitled . *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: Spotify: /episode/index/show/dharmabytes/id/38891215

Conquering Mara 10/30/2025

Conquering Mara The full moon in May is celebrated as the anniversary of the Buddha's Enlightenment and his victory over the demon Mara. explains what Mara represents and how he can be overcome. As well as containing much that will fascinate experienced Buddhists, this is also an excellent introductory lecture. Excerpted from the talk entitled given in 1987. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: Spotify: YouTube: /episode/index/show/dharmabytes/id/38842770

We Cannot Live in Isolation 10/30/2025

We Cannot Live in Isolation explores the message of Transforming the World in The Sutra of Golden Light at Sangha Night, Sheffield Buddhist Centre 2008. Excerpted from the talk given at , 2008. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: Spotify: YouTube: /episode/index/show/dharmabytes/id/38841980

Let the Sutra Come Through Like a Dream 10/27/2025

Let the Sutra Come Through Like a Dream Here encourages her audience to enter a Mahayana text like one would reflect on a dream. Excerpted from the talk given at , 2008. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: Spotify: YouTube: /episode/index/show/dharmabytes/id/38792330

Destroy All Your Ideas of Reality 10/27/2025

Destroy All Your Ideas of Reality explores the historic and mythic origins of the Heart Sutra, the emergence of the Mahayana in the context of a Buddhist orthodoxy, emptiness, and our relationship to Buddhist concepts. Excerpted from the talk entitled given at 2019. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: Spotify: YouTube: /episode/index/show/dharmabytes/id/38791625

The Emptiness of Sunyata 10/16/2025

The Emptiness of Sunyata talks about the Perfection of Wisdom Sutras, a category of Sutras in the Mahayana tradition. Exerted from the talk A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Buddhist Scriptures: Perfection of Wisdom Sutras given at , 2010. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: Spotify: YouTube: /episode/index/show/dharmabytes/id/38605675

Spontaneous Expression of Creativity 10/13/2025

Spontaneous Expression of Creativity With his customary dry wit and sharp eye, leads us on the crazy paving path through the Diamond Sutra - a text guaranteed to turn your world upside-down. Excerpted from the talk entitled The Diamond Sutra given at the Western Buddhist Order national Order weekend, 2003. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: Spotify: YouTube: /episode/index/show/dharmabytes/id/38563515

Active Energy in Pursuit of the Good 10/09/2025

Active Energy in Pursuit of the Good The Bodhisattvas descend, the Bodhichitta is called down, and is off and rolling on her favourite subject... With a thoughtful look at Padmasambhava too, and an affectionate tribute to her own teacher, Urgyen Sangaharakshita, whose poem 'The Song of the Windhorse' forms the root text for this talk. Excerpted from the talk entitled given at Windhorse Evolution, a large and successful Buddhist team-based right livelihood business, , 2002 *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: Spotify: YouTube: /episode/index/show/dharmabytes/id/38526060

May I Be a Protector 10/06/2025

May I Be a Protector speaks to verses from the Dana (Generosity) chapter from the Bodhicaryavatara. Excerpted from the talk given at the , 2011. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: Spotify: YouTube: /episode/index/show/dharmabytes/id/38478640

Reflections of the Moon 10/06/2025

Reflections of the Moon offers suggestions to bear in mind when reading the Bodhicaryavatara, followed by a selection of guided reflections. She begins by exploring ways into the transcendental and then describes the bodhicitta, the heart of the exposition. Excerpted from the talk given at , 2016. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: Spotify: YouTube: /episode/index/show/dharmabytes/id/38478380

Hatred and Mirror-Like Wisdom 10/06/2025

Hatred and Mirror-Like Wisdom plunges fearlessly down into the lower realms of the wheel of life to meet the beings who inhabit - and the Buddhas who come to meet them. A sobering but strongly felt evocation of how we make the worlds with our minds - and what we might do to counteract the dangers. Excerpted from the talk , given at , as Part of the series , 2005. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: Spotify: YouTube: /episode/index/show/dharmabytes/id/38478205

Akshobya’s Appearance in the Bardo Thodol 09/25/2025

Akshobya’s Appearance in the Bardo Thodol describes the qualities of Akshobya, the great blue Buddha of the eastern quarter of the mandala - the Unshakeable One, the Imperturbable Akshobya, with a reading from the Bardo of Thodol. Excerpted from the talk Akshobya given at , 2001 *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: Spotify: YouTube: /episode/index/show/dharmabytes/id/38352555

The Clear Light of Reality 09/23/2025

The Clear Light of Reality According to Tibetan tradition, in the bardo, an 'intermediate state' in the endless round of birth and death, we are free for an instant from that round. The Tibetan book of the Dead (Bardo Thodol) describes six of these opportunities for escape from reactivity. From the talk given by as part of the series , 1967. ••• Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: Spotify: YouTube: /episode/index/show/dharmabytes/id/38325495

Life and Death are Calling 09/23/2025

Life and Death are Calling Here shares Ted Hughes’ rendering of the Bardo Thodol, Tibetan Book of the Dead. He uses Buddhist scripture, vision literature, and poetry to tease out a sense of the Buddha's awesome vision of what life is, and how that might affect our ideas of what happens after death. Big ideas, big questions to sit with - all pointing to a practically beautiful experience of seeing things clearly in this life… From the talk Death and the Biggest Questions of All, part of the series , given at Centre, 2012. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: Spotify: YouTube: /episode/index/show/dharmabytes/id/38324150

Relaxing Into What Is 09/15/2025

Relaxing Into What Is takes us through the myth of Persephone and an experiential exploration of awareness to celebrate the vital contribution the bardo; the in-between state, makes towards the spiritual life. Excerpted from the talk given at Centre, 2016. ••• Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: Spotify: YouTube: /episode/index/show/dharmabytes/id/38220945

In the Light of Awareness 09/15/2025

In the Light of Awareness offers ways to approach higher states of concentration in meditation and how they bloom out of paying attention to pleasant vedana that has a felt quality of openness within it. Dhyana is not random but a result of where we place our attention in each moment. Excerpted from the talk given at , 2019. ••• Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: Spotify: YouTube: /episode/index/show/dharmabytes/id/38220810

A Vision Bigger Than Life 09/08/2025

A Vision Bigger Than Life Here, explores the Bardo of Life. Excerpted from the talk entitled given at , 2023. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: Spotify: YouTube: /episode/index/show/dharmabytes/id/38072245

The Eight Freedoms and The Ten Endowments 09/04/2025

The Eight Freedoms and The Ten Endowments describes the Eight Freedoms and the Ten Endowments described in Gampopas teachings in the The Jewel Ornament of Liberation on the importance of a human birth. Excerpted from the talk entitled This Precious Human Life given at , 2015. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: Spotify: YouTube: /episode/index/show/dharmabytes/id/38071280

Treasure Revealers 09/03/2025

Treasure Revealers reflects on the Bardo Thodol, or Tibetan Book of the Dead, Here, he describes the hidden teachings, or termas, of Padmasambhava and how they are found. From the talk entitled Reflections on the Bardo Thodol given at , 2013. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: Spotify: YouTube: /episode/index/show/dharmabytes/id/38070625

Love Puts Us Back Together 08/28/2025

Love Puts Us Back Together describes Avalokiteshvara; her relationship to the figure, his origins and mythology. In this talk, she helps listeners connect with his compassion and find meaning in his example of skilful action to end suffering of all beings. Excerpted from the talk Introducing Avalokiteshvara given at , 2023. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: Spotify: YouTube: /episode/index/show/dharmabytes/id/37958965

Sangharakshita’s Poetry 08/26/2025

Sangharakshita’s Poetry has been studying, reflecting upon, and living out the Dharma life as presented by Urgyen Sangharakshita, Triratna’s founding teacher, for over 40 years. To mark the fourth anniversary of “Bhante” Sangharakshita’s death in 2018, this new audio essay delves deep into the heart of what Vishvapani calls a “unique and strange” intuitive approach to Buddhism that, at its best, seems to capture and vibrate with the essential vital energy of the universe. Excerpted from the essay given at , 2022. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: Spotify: YouTube: /episode/index/show/dharmabytes/id/37958545

A Whole Context for Our Lives 08/22/2025

A Whole Context for Our Lives offers reflections on creating sangha through meaningful, authentic friendships and communication. The talk includes references to her interviews about poetry with Sangharakshita. Excerpted from the talk given at , 2023. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: Spotify: YouTube: /episode/index/show/dharmabytes/id/37919505

Three Summers and Three Autumns Have I Seen 08/18/2025

Three Summers and Three Autumns Have I Seen An exploration of Sangharakshita's poem 'Padmaloka' in which he looks forward to his own death. It's a poem about death, rebirth and nature, and connects it to other poetry which it echoes. The talk was given a week after Sangharakshita's death. Excerpted from the talk Sangharakshita Foresees His Death In 'Padmaloka' given at , 2018. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: Spotify: YouTube: /episode/index/show/dharmabytes/id/37772495

Don’t Be Late for Your Own Death 08/14/2025

Don’t Be Late for Your Own Death In this lovely talk following Sangharakshita's death, urges us to get to know Bhante through his poetry. He then gives us a commentary on some of his favourite poems. Excerpted from the talk Getting to know y given at 2018. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: Spotify: YouTube: /episode/index/show/dharmabytes/id/37771945

Taking Darshan 08/11/2025

Taking Darshan Urgyen Sangharakshita - Bhante - who died last year, is not only the founder of the Triratna Buddhist Order and Community, but also teacher and spiritual friend to Padmavajra. first met him when he was 17 and in this talk he shares some of his own most cherished memories of Bhante, including his experiences of being with him in India when he returned there in the 1970's to found the Order there. Excerpted from the talk entitled given at . 2019. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: Spotify: YouTube: /episode/index/show/dharmabytes/id/37756590

Bodhisattvas and Buddhas 08/11/2025

Bodhisattvas and Buddhas explores Sangharakshita's relationship to his teachers, who form the lineage for the Triratna Buddhist Order. A lovely exploration of the experience of relationship to the Bodhisattvas of Buddhist tradition via meditations passed from teacher to disciple, evoking a wide open sense of connection to the great beauty they represent. Excerpted from the talk given as part of the series . *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: Spotify: YouTube: /episode/index/show/dharmabytes/id/37756385

Dharmabytes from Free Buddhist Audio

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