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!

Karma and the Six Realms 01/15/2026

Karma and the Six Realms offers a good, pithy introduction (not to say quirky - check out the football references!) to the traditionally thorny and rather misunderstood area of karma and rebirth, teasing out its relationship to Buddhist ethics in general. Instant karma is yours... Excerpted from the talk given in Manchester, 2000. *** 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/39695975

To Be A Human Being 01/12/2026

To Be A Human Being Here, reflects on the question of why the Buddha apparently left this suffering world rather than returning to lead all beings to freedom, as a Bodhisattva promises to do. In doing so, he explores the nature of presence and absence in encounters between people and concludes that we can only be truly present when we are "absent", i.e. when we get out of the way. 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: /episode/index/show/dharmabytes/id/39695810

An Upward Spiraling Trend 01/08/2026

An Upward Spiraling Trend Here, explores conditioned co-production through her personal experience of living with a chronic illness. She traces the early formulations of pratitya samutpada back to the Pali canon and discusses how the four noble truths and the spiral path can guide our practice in challenging times. Excerpted from the talk 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: /episode/index/show/dharmabytes/id/39626500

Glimpses of The Beyond 01/05/2026

Glimpses of The Beyond interweaves her personal experience of turning away from suffering and towards joy, with the teaching of the spiral path. Excerpted from the talk entitled 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: /episode/index/show/dharmabytes/id/39625130

The Story of Bahiya 01/01/2026

The Story of Bahiya Ordinary experience is governed by the endless round of the Wheel of Life, which can be gradually halted by treading the spiral path to Enlightenment until progress becomes irreversible. Excerpted from the talk entitled given by in 1965 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: /episode/index/show/dharmabytes/id/39564335

Taking Responsibility for Our Mental States 12/30/2025

Taking Responsibility for Our Mental States An alive and dynamic spiritual community is vital to the individual flourishing of those that participate in it. In this keynote talk gives his reflections on over 30 years of practising within the LBC Sangha. Excerpted from the talk 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: /episode/index/show/dharmabytes/id/39564220

Living in the Present 12/29/2025

Living in the Present A thoughtful, sympathetic talk by i on the most delicate of tasks in any life - how to live in the present moment. Exploring the subtle aspects of past and present, of memory and expectation, we encounter impermanence as the touchstone of our experience through storytelling (Bahiya of the Bark Garment) and the practice of writing - especially poetry. A lovely set of challenges to become 'citizens of the present' and inhabit properly our own potential for change.Excerpted from the talk , 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: /episode/index/show/dharmabytes/id/39552150

Think Deeply, Stand Up and Celebrate 12/29/2025

Think Deeply, Stand Up and Celebrate In this talk, given at a sangha retreat for the Sangha, gives an inspiring talk about creating spiritual community. He starts with the end in mind: Becoming our best self. Exploring and cultivating this is a prerequisite for becoming a true individual and creating a spiritual community. From the talk entitled , 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: /episode/index/show/dharmabytes/id/39552110

Context is Everything 12/18/2025

Context is Everything This talk delves into the concept of 'Sangha' and its deep connections with truth and relationships. shares personal reflections and experiences, emphasising the importance of community and spiritual friendships in understanding and embodying Dharma. He offers a deep dive into how interconnectedness is fundamental to understanding the nature of reality. 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: /episode/index/show/dharmabytes/id/39438930

We Are Deeply Connected to Each Other 12/17/2025

We Are Deeply Connected to Each Other explores how war, destruction and conflict are on the increase in the world, as are conflicted and destructive individual lives. How do we live in a way that brings about a less conflicted world and a more creative, integrated way of being? Excerpted from the talk entitled 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: /episode/index/show/dharmabytes/id/39438725

Collectively and Individually Spreading the Dharma 12/16/2025

Collectively and Individually Spreading the Dharma explores gender and leadership under the five aspects of Sangharakshita’s teaching of the true individual. Excerpted from the talk given in the context of Triratna Regional Order Weekend held at the , 2014. *** 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/39424745

The Spirit that Comes Through Us 12/09/2025

The Spirit that Comes Through Us On this special Dharma night, interviewed local Buddhist artist Amitajyoti about her work and practice. Excerpted from , 2016. More on Amiyajyoti’s work: *** 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/39336185

Everyone Needs the Dharma- Milarepa’s Song 12/05/2025

Everyone Needs the Dharma- Milarepa’s Song Here, emphasises the importance of distinguishing Buddhism as a universally applicable path of development from the specifically Eastern cultural forms it has been associated with in the past, and explains why an authentic, non-sectarian Buddhist movement is needed in the West. Excerpted from the talk entitled part of the series , 1979. *** 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/39290080

Grow Into Real Individuality 12/04/2025

Grow Into Real Individuality explores the place of meditation in the bigger context of the growth of oneself as an individual, exploring how we can develop a coherent answer to the question "Who am I and where am I going in my life?" 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: /episode/index/show/dharmabytes/id/39266110

Bringing Mindfulness More Into Our Lives 11/27/2025

Bringing Mindfulness More Into Our Lives In this talk explores how paying attention to reality - rather than mental or media noise - can bring our life alive and give us a vivid experience of beauty. But is "being here now" enough to bring real happiness? Or do we need a deeper idea of the meaning of awareness? 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: /episode/index/show/dharmabytes/id/39191520

People Just Want to Be Happy 11/27/2025

People Just Want to Be Happy Peace, happiness, contentment we all want it, but where and how to find it. The Buddhist tradition would say that it is in how we relate to our experience that either satisfaction or grasping can be found. Does this stand up, how do we do it, what difference does it make in the world. talks here about the essential problem of life. Excerpted from the talk 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: /episode/index/show/dharmabytes/id/39191150

Three Points of Transition 11/27/2025

Three Points of Transition In this masterly lecture to an American conference audience, reminds us of the basic conceptual formulation of the Buddha's enlightenment experience. The twelve negative and twelve positive nidanas ('links') represent two trends - reactive and progressive - within the same conditionality. Excerpted from the talk entitled given as part of the series , 1994. *** 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/39190975

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

Dharmabytes from Free Buddhist Audio

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