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!

Collective Delusion 06/05/2025

Collective Delusion offers a short talk on climate change, relating it to basic buddhist teachings, followed by a guided 'climate' meditation. From the talk entitled Consensus Trance - Climate given at , 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/36860050

All Life is Interconnected, the work of Joanna Macy 06/05/2025

All Life is Interconnected, the work of Joanna Macy introduces the American Buddhist activist Joanna Macy and her teaching of the 'Work That Reconnects', part of the Southampton Buddhist Centre's series on 21st Century Bodhisattvas. Excerpted from the talk Introduction to given in , 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/36833120

Haunted by a Sense of Lack 06/02/2025

Haunted by a Sense of Lack introduces David Loy and his thoughts about how to bring our Buddhist practice out into the streets and engage with the world. In the full talk he also introduces Bhikkhu Bodhi, a prolific translator of the Pali Canon and respected teacher in the East, deeply rooted in the Buddha's teachings, who returned to the USA and re-engaged with his activist roots challenging a self-oriented and withdrawn mode of Buddhist practice. From the talk entitled , given on the World on Fire retreat 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/36815825

Our Ethical Sensitivity 06/02/2025

Our Ethical Sensitivity How ethically sensitive are we? Could we rejoice in our ethical behaviour? gives a short talk reflecting on the practices described in the Dasadhamma Sutta: Discourse on the Ten Dhammas. Excerpted from the talk that was given at the convention on the theme , 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/36815620

The Preciousness of Human Birth 05/27/2025

The Preciousness of Human Birth How can we, in our busy, everyday lives, transform our awareness and turn our minds towards awakening? talks about the practice of the 'Four Mind Turning Reflections', the four reminders that work on our minds to turn them towards liberation. We will hear about how to reflect on the preciousness of our human life, the inevitability of death, the truth of karma and the dangers of samsara, to bring about a radical shift in awareness. Excerpted from the talk Ready Or Not, One Day We Shall Die given at , 2025. *** 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/36726005

An Ode to Joy 05/27/2025

An Ode to Joy portrays rejoicing not as a mood but as a choice: a deliberate act. At least potentially we all have the power to rejoice, even when we are in the pits of despair. In this excerpt, he reflects on Beethoven who chose not to give in to deafness but to end his last symphony with an ode to joy. He sings the fifth section of the Sevenfold Puja ‘Rejoicing in Merits’ to Beethoven’s familiar tune. Excerpted the from the talk given at , 2024. *** 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/36725500

Listening for Mara’s Whispers 05/19/2025

Listening for Mara’s Whispers shares personally about her ‘quest for love’ in the Buddhist life, specifically what does Mara say to her to divert her from the path? And is it true? Excerpted from the talk given at as part of the series , 2025. *** 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/36624190

Undoing the Divisions 05/15/2025

Undoing the Divisions We are continually being bombarded with news about world problems including war, starvation, violence, inequality, climate destruction etc. One response is to just ignore these problems. Sangharakshita argues that ‘an attitude of withdrawal from public concerns to purely personal ones is not worthy of a human being’. explores how we as Buddhists can bring a voice of sanity and compassion into the world and act accordingly. Excerpted from the talk entitled given at , 2025. *** 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/36546790

In Every Moment It’s Possible to be Free 05/13/2025

In Every Moment It’s Possible to be Free In the fourth part of a series of talks about the 'Going for Refuge and Prostration Practice of the Buddha Shakyamuni', shifts the perspective from us contemplating the Refuge Tree, to the figures on the Refuge Tree contemplating us. Blessings or adhisthana is the way the Buddha responds to us, and all we have to do is tune in. How do we remain receptive? What does it feel like to be blessed and purified? What are we purified of? From the talk 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/36546430

Seeing Each Others Potential (1328) 05/12/2025

Seeing Each Others Potential (1328) When we interact with others, do we truly see them as they are, beyond the stories we have built around them? Or are we often lost in our assumptions, judgments, and preconceived notions about who they are, based on our own views and experiences. explores how we can really learn to see others and discover that when we truly pay attention, there we find love. Excerpted from the talk Given at , 2025. *** 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/36532225

Our Irreplaceable Uniqueness 05/06/2025

Our Irreplaceable Uniqueness A Spiritual Community consists of Individuals; a group does not consist of Individuals. What is individuality? How can an ordinary group support our efforts to transcend the group? Excerpted from the talk by given in 1971. *** 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/36452575

Acknowleging Each Others’ Treasures 05/01/2025

Acknowleging Each Others’ Treasures delves into the Parable of the Jewel in the Robe from the White Lotus Sutra. He evokes the timeless wisdom of this story, highlighting its profound relevance to our modern conditions and culture. Through his exploration, Ādityadāsa reveals how we can shift from a mindset of scarcity to one of abundance, both within ourselves and in the world around us. Excerpted from the talk given at , 2025. *** 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/36261885

Equally Love All Beings 04/28/2025

Equally Love All Beings explores themes of friendship through poems by Robert Burns and quotes from Sangharakshita and from the Pali Canon. Excerpted from the talk Burns, Bhante and the Buddha: Themes of Friendship and Solidarity given at as part of the series , 2024. *** 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/36260925

Colour is Everywhere 04/24/2025

Colour is Everywhere Colour has an important place in Buddhism, for example as a way to express different aspects of the Enlightened mind in the Five Jinas. This symbolism can open the imagination to new depths of understanding. As an artist and former art teacher, has studied colour extensively and helps us explore the deeper significance of colour in Buddhist practice. Excerpt from the talk entitled 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: YouTube: /episode/index/show/dharmabytes/id/36260740

What Occupies Us? 04/21/2025

What Occupies Us? gives a Sangha night talk exploring what constitutes Perfect Livelihood. What are the conditions that most encourage our Buddhist practice to come alive when it comes to the work we undertake? Excerpted from the talk Buddhism and the 9-5 given at , 2021. *** 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/36204095

Meaningful Work 04/17/2025

Meaningful Work gives a Sangha night talk exploring Perfect Livelihood. How can our livelihood and our networks be a doorway to leading our lives in a way in which our eyes can be wide open rather than our eyes being wide shut? Excerpted from the talk Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy…reflections of Livelihood and the Networks That Sustain Us given at , 2021. *** 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/36203895

Acceptance of the Whole Buddhist Tradition 04/14/2025

Acceptance of the Whole Buddhist Tradition 's usual good-natured and reflective approach is just the thing to start us off as he looks at how Sangharakshita's initiative in founding the FWBO might be viewed in terms of the unity of Buddhism. Excerpted from the talk given at the Weekend, Wymondham College, March 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/36124990

Verses of Going for Refuge 04/11/2025

Verses of Going for Refuge leads a beautiful sevenfold puja compiled by Maitrisiddhi from the Pali Canon. Here, we participate in verses expressing our Going for Refuge through verse and the chanting of the Refuges and Precepts. Excerpted from , part of the series 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/36095525

Stepping into a Vision of Going for Refuge 04/08/2025

Stepping into a Vision of Going for Refuge explores the awe-inspiring vision behind the image of the Refuge Tree, connecting it to Sangharakshita's great insight into the centrality of Going for Refuge. Excerpted from the talk The Refuge Tree As a Vision of Existence given at as part of the series , 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/36051690

We Are Just Buddhists - An Ecumenical Approach 04/08/2025

We Are Just Buddhists - An Ecumenical Approach In his first public appearance since his eyesight began to deteriorate, begins this new talk with reflections on his blindness, displaying remarkable equanimity and humour in the process. His main subjects, however, are six particular aspects of Buddhist life and practice which are given distinctive emphasis in the spiritual movement he has founded. Here, he defines the ecumenical approach to Buddhism that our practicing spiritual community takes. Excerpted from the talk , previously released under the title, 'An Informal Talk at Padmaloka', given in 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/36049905

The Kalama Sutta 03/31/2025

The Kalama Sutta In exploring the nature of tradition in Buddhism, from the Kalama Sutta to the modern day, and the tension between tradition and adaptation in an every-changing world; Taranita discusses how the Triratna came to have its distinctive ecumenical nature. Excerpted from the talk entitled t 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/35933400

Fear and Dread Sutta 03/31/2025

Fear and Dread Sutta explores death of our fixed, bounded self, the self that is made up of bundled habits and preferences and views - especially views about existence and non-existence. Excerpted from the talk S given at , 2008. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now! Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast: A full, curated, quality Dharma talk, every week. Apple Podcasts: Spotify: YouTube: /episode/index/show/dharmabytes/id/35933055

No Protection Needed 03/24/2025

No Protection Needed Buddhism is sometimes seen as weak or negative. Using examples from the Pali Canon and Mahayana texts, this lecture shows that, on the contrary, heroic and positive qualities are essential in the Buddhist spiritual aspirant's quest for Enlightenment. Here, tells the story of Devadatta who was trying to kill the Buddha. Excerpted from the talk given in 1969. *** Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: | | Bite-sized inspiration three times every week. Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast: | | A full, curated, quality Dharma talk, every week. 3,000,000 downloads and counting! or search for Free Buddhist Audio or Dharmabytes in your favourite podcast service! Follow Free Buddhist Audio: | | | | /episode/index/show/dharmabytes/id/35837415

The Warrior Aspect of the Spiritual Life 03/20/2025

The Warrior Aspect of the Spiritual Life 's wonderful series on the Dhammapada, the most popular of early Buddhist texts. All of the Buddha's core teachings are here - held in heart and mind there's more than enough in the Dhammapada to take us as far in our practice as we can imagine, and then on beyond... Excerpted from the talk as part of the series given at , 2007, as part of the Dharma Training Course for Mitras. *** Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: | | Bite-sized inspiration three times every week. Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast: | | A full, curated, quality Dharma talk, every week. 3,000,000 downloads and counting! or search for Free Buddhist Audio or Dharmabytes in your favourite podcast service! Follow Free Buddhist Audio: | | | | /episode/index/show/dharmabytes/id/35775420

Buddhavagga (from the Dhammapada) 03/19/2025

Buddhavagga (from the Dhammapada) Beautifully read by , these readings are taken from the oldest scriptural texts and evoke the real spirit of early Buddhism - the struggles, the joys and the triumphs of ordinary people who followed the path to Truth. Appears in recorded in 2000 to mark the Digital Legacy project to begin transferring Dharmachakra's archive to digital format! *** Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: | | Bite-sized inspiration three times every week. Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast: | | A full, curated, quality Dharma talk, every week. 3,000,000 downloads and counting! or search for Free Buddhist Audio or Dharmabytes in your favourite podcast service! Follow Free Buddhist Audio: | | | | /episode/index/show/dharmabytes/id/35774815

We Are All Looking for the Light 03/13/2025

We Are All Looking for the Light Flowers naturally grow towards the light. The more we open to our true potential the more we open to the light of truth, of love, and of awareness. Our potential to grow is inherent in our very being. Here, shares reflections on verses from the Flowers chapter of the Dhammapada, or ‘Way of Truth’. Excerpted from the talk entitled How Flowers Teach the Way to Enlightenment given at as part of the series , 2022. *** Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: | | Bite-sized inspiration three times every week. Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast: | | A full, curated, quality Dharma talk, every week. 3,000,000 downloads and counting! or search for Free Buddhist Audio or Dharmabytes in your favourite podcast service! Follow Free Buddhist Audio: | | | | /episode/index/show/dharmabytes/id/35604220

What We Give 03/10/2025

What We Give "As many garlands are made from a heap of flowers, so one who is a mortal born should perform many ethically skilful deeds" - Dhammapada. shares the effects of the story of Vasakha from the Dhammapada and draws out the significance for our sangha today. Excerpted from the talk given at the , 2017. Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: | | Bite-sized inspiration three times every week. Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast: | | A full, curated, quality Dharma talk, every week. 3,000,000 downloads and counting! or search for Free Buddhist Audio or Dharmabytes in your favourite podcast service! Follow Free Buddhist Audio: | | | | /episode/index/show/dharmabytes/id/35510480

Letters of Gold 03/03/2025

Letters of Gold This is an appropriately pithy talk by Surata on one of the most popular and regarded of the early Buddhist suttas, The 'Dhammapada'. The images of the verses and their direct relevance to our lives makes this sutta an indispensable aide memoire to practice – and Surata's consideration of it is a handy primer for newcomers to the text, as well as a refresher for those who've long enjoyed its simple message about our living and dying in a world we make with our minds. Excerpted from the talk The Dhammapada - Letters of Gold. *** Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: | | Bite-sized inspiration three times every week. Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast: | | A full, curated, quality Dharma talk, every week. 3,000,000 downloads and counting! or search for Free Buddhist Audio or Dharmabytes in your favourite podcast service! Follow Free Buddhist Audio: | | | | /episode/index/show/dharmabytes/id/35510835

Playing with Fire 02/27/2025

Playing with Fire picks up the theme 'Tantra for Today' by pulling out his guts and setting them alight (not literally). Exploring what it means to practice the Dharma with the whole of yourself, come and hear about transforming messy bits like secret fear and hot emotions like burning rage! Excerpted from the talk Blood, Bones, and Halos of Fire given at , 2023. *** Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: | | Bite-sized inspiration three times every week. Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast: | | A full, curated, quality Dharma talk, every week. 3,000,000 downloads and counting! or search for Free Buddhist Audio or Dharmabytes in your favourite podcast service! Follow Free Buddhist Audio: | | | | /episode/index/show/dharmabytes/id/35176355

Death is Certain, Commit Now! 02/24/2025

Death is Certain, Commit Now! introduces the dakini, the tantric embodiment of what's possible when all of our energy is completely engaged, alive and flowing. In order to meet the dakinis we must travel to where they dwell: the cremation grounds, where bodies are taken to be burnt. The deepest, darkest energies to be transformed are associated with fear. By deliberately plunging into crucial situations which mirror these burning grounds, old ways are forced to change and we are compelled to grow. From the talk given at , 2019, as part of the series *** Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: | | Bite-sized inspiration three times every week. Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast: | | A full, curated, quality Dharma talk, every week. 3,000,000 downloads and counting! or search for Free Buddhist Audio or Dharmabytes in your favourite podcast service! Follow Free Buddhist Audio: | | | | /episode/index/show/dharmabytes/id/35175755

Dharmabytes from Free Buddhist Audio

TOPICS