Cambridge Buddhist Centre
Cambridge Buddhist Centre
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Free Buddhist Audio
What Happens When We Die? - Things and Consciousness (6)
In this concluding talk Vaddhaka looks at the nature of things and at the nature of consciousness. He brings in views from various scientists and philosophers, and discusses their relevance for what might happen to consciousness after the death of the physical body. Vaddhaka finishes with his personal reflections on Sangharakshita’s notion of ‘cosmic going for refuge’ and its relevance for what happens after death.
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Free Buddhist Audio
In the final two talks of the series Vaddhaka broadens the scope beyond Buddhist notions of rebirth to explore more generally what might happen when we die. In this talk he looks at different writers imagining in fiction what might happen if our consciousness continues after the death of the physical body.
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Free Buddhist Audio
Free Buddhist Audio
What Happens When We Die? - Is Rebirth True? (4)
In this second talk on the truth or otherwise of rebirth and karma, Vaddhaka focuses on three specific areas; (i) the phenomenon of tulkus or reincarnate lamas, (ii) the scientific evidence for rebirth, and (iii) near-death-experiences. He concludes with Sangharakshita’s considerations on rebirth.
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Free Buddhist Audio
Free Buddhist Audio
What Happens When We Die? - Is Rebirth True? (3)
In this first of two talks on whether rebirth is true, Vaddhaka explores when and where beliefs in rebirth and karma emerged. Did they emerge from the desire for the universe to be a just universe?
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Free Buddhist Audio
What Happens When We Die? - Who Is Reborn? (2)
What exactly does Buddhism teach about rebirth? Is the person who is reborn the same as the one who lives now? Or are they different?
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Free Buddhist Audio
What Happens When We Die? - Who Lives and Dies? (1)
Is there life after death? The Buddha taught rebirth, but what exactly did he teach? What’s the evidence for rebirth? Do we have to believe in rebirth to be a Buddhist? What can modern writers, philosophers and scientists add to the debate around life after death? In this series of six talks Vaddhaka will guide us on an exploration of these and other questions to help us develop our own beliefs and views on what might happen when we die. --------------------------------- To understand the Buddha’s teaching on rebirth we first need to ask who we are, right now, alive in this world. Is there a real me, a permanent essence of self, a soul? Do persons exist? Or are we an illusion?
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Free Buddhist Audio
Steering For the Deep: The Awareness Aspect
In this short series given at the Cambridge Buddhist Centre in early 2016, Vessantara explores Sangharakshita's idea that fundamentally there is one spiritual experience, which has different aspects that we can unfold. All the talks are linked together not only through ideas but also through a thread of stories and imagery related to the Pacific Ocean. Steering for the Deep: the Awareness Aspect. This final one explores how to contact and influence deeper levels of mind, culminating in the turning about of the basis, the transformation of the deepest level of mind.
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Free Buddhist Audio
Ferrying Across: The Altruistic Aspect
In this short series given at the Cambridge Buddhist Centre in early 2016, Vessantara explores Sangharakshita's idea that fundamentally there is one spiritual experience, which has different aspects that we can unfold. All the talks are linked together not only through ideas but also through a thread of stories and imagery related to the Pacific Ocean. This third talk is all about love and compassion, and how it flowers in the arising of Bodhicitta.
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Free Buddhist Audio
The Empty Boat: The Insight Aspect
In this short series given at the Cambridge Buddhist Centre in early 2016, Vessantara explores Sangharakshitas idea that fundamentally there is one spiritual experience, which has different aspects that we can unfold. All the talks are linked together not only through ideas but also through a thread of stories and imagery related to the Pacific Ocean. This second talk covers deepening insight into the nature of things, from reflection to direct experience, stream entry and beyond.
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Free Buddhist Audio
Free Buddhist Audio
Wayfinding: The Volitional Aspect
We've remastered this short series of talks given at the Cambridge Buddhist Centre in early 2016, where Vessantara explores Sangharakshita's idea that fundamentally there is one spiritual experience, which has different aspects that we can unfold. All the talks are linked together not only through ideas but also through a thread of stories and imagery related to the Pacific Ocean. This first talk looks at going for refuge to the Three Jewels, which is the central aspect.
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Free Buddhist Audio
Life and Death In the Dharma: Padmavajra In Conversation
Padmavajra has nearly 50 years experience of practising Buddhism. A cherished teacher and friend throughout Triratna and close disciple of Sangharakshita. Amidst the ever changing nature of life one thing is certain - we will die. Buddhism has a unique perspective on this explored in this series. We will hear how decades of practice of Buddhism can change one’s relationship to death and so life too.
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Free Buddhist Audio
Life and Death In the Dharma: Arthapriya In Conversation
Arthapriya, much loved friend, Kalyana Mitra, public and private preceptor, diagnosed with terminal cancer early 2024 shares his remarkable experience in this tender, uplifting interview: Amidst the ever changing nature of life one thing is certain - we will die. Buddhism has a unique perspective on death. We hear how decades of practice of Buddhism can change one’s relationship to death and so life too.
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Free Buddhist Audio
Catching the Spirit of Enlightenment
When Vaddhaka first came into contact with Buddhism in his mid-forties he was, to use his own words, "a hard-bitten materialist, a disillusioned, sceptical Marxist, a rationalist." He was ignorant of the basics of Buddhism, and yet he was caught by something in Sangharakshita's communication of the spirit of enlightenment. What was it that caught him? And how does that spirit still inspire Vaddhaka?
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Free Buddhist Audio
Nagabodhi: The Boy, The Monk, The Man
Nagabodhi's book : The Boy, the Monk, the Man examines the life of Sangharakshita - audacious reformer, and for some a deeply controversial figure. In an absorbing narrative, Nagabodhi takes us on a journey through the twists and turns of Sangharakshita’s life; the experiences, insights, and reflections that nurtured his approach as a teacher; and the legacy he left behind. For this Dharma Night Padmasuri will interview Nagabodhi - two long time friends in conversation and exploration.
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Free Buddhist Audio
The Jewel of the Sangha
Padmasuri talks about the nature of Sangha as part of our annual Sangha Day festival.
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Free Buddhist Audio
Themes From the Mahaparinibbana Sutta
A talk by Amarachandra for Parinirvana Day, during the Coronavirus lockdown, on Themes from the Mahaparinibbana Sutta.
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Free Buddhist Audio
Radical Kindness In a Violent World
Part of our Sangha Night series on Compassion for a Modern World. The Buddha represents the spiritual ideal of Buddhism and through his life and teaching he exemplified a path of increasing selflessness, loving-kindness and a deep desire to help people achieve liberation. So how do we follow the example of the Buddha in our own time? In this age of modernity, what would the total, radical response of a Buddha to the world look like? And is it still possible to be liberated from the world while choosing to work for its good? These are some of the key questions we'll be exploring in this six week Sangha Night theme. In this second week, Viryajyoti talks on the theme close to her heart: radical kindness in a violent world.
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Free Buddhist Audio
Free Buddhist Audio
Radical Kindness In a Violent World
Part of our Sangha Night series on Compassion for a Modern World. The Buddha represents the spiritual ideal of Buddhism and through his life and teaching he exemplified a path of increasing selflessness, loving-kindness and a deep desire to help people achieve liberation. So how do we follow the example of the Buddha in our own time? In this age of modernity, what would the total, radical response of a Buddha to the world look like? And is it still possible to be liberated from the world while choosing to work for its good? These are some of the key questions we'll be exploring in this six week Sangha Night theme. In this second week, Viryajyoti talks on the theme close to her heart: radical kindness in a violent world.
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Vidyasakhi
Vidyasakhi

Arthasiddhi, myself and around 40 friends, mitras and Order members from Cambridge sangha have been following the Being Divine Online Home Retreat as a community within the wider community, adding to the mix some of our own meditation sessions (every day at 8 am), three zoom plenaries (or check-ins) and WhatsApp home groups, as well as attending evening events at Cambridge Buddhist Centre online. It has been such a joy: and we’ve deeply appreciated the richness of Ratnavandana’s experience and teachings on the Divine Abodes. 

I’ve been leading some of the meditation mornings from my community’s shrine room at Abbey House (Grade 2 listed, it dates back to 1580 – I honestly don’t know what I’ve done to deserve living here, in this divine abode), and I can confidently state that never has it held so many meditators in one sitting! It feels a bit like the magic of a Mahayana Sutta – the Vimalakirti Nirdesa perhaps – as we greet people Zooming in of a morning. The experience of sitting in an online meditation session brings a poignancy to the fact that spaciousness is a state of mind. Although most of the retreat community is located in Cambridge, we’ve also had participants from Istanbul and the Netherlands. Some of us have been dealing with sadness and difficulties in our lives as we’ve followed the retreat: but I think we also all have been heartened by an upwelling of joy and pleasure that being part of the retreat has brought us. In my particular WhatsApp home group we’ve shared pictures of birds bathing, the gorgeousness of tulips and the audacity of ducks, and these simple delights have woven us together into a sustaining community of meditators.

When I get up from meditation in the mornings I often go out into our garden and fill up the bird bath. I can see this bird bath out of the window where I work in my room, so during the day I can see a procession of birds making use of it, either washing or drinking: blackbirds, sparrows, robins, blue tits, magpies and pigeons. I think there’s a little wren nesting nearby, but I don’t often see it in the bath – perhaps it’s observing social distancing!

I notice that it gives me such pleasure to see the birds making use of the bath – availing themselves the simple and yet absolutely crucial and sometimes elusive commodity of water. Sometimes the birds seem to be forming an orderly queue, or a smaller bird will give way to the approach a bigger bird. They seem to thoroughly enjoy the sensations of bathing, and the effect of the cascading droplets of water arcing into the air from their wings. To catch sight of this fills me with delight, which I imagine they are totally unaware of. 

And when I investigate the joy I feel, I notice there is a tenderness there – awareness of the birds’ need for a safe watering place, and of my ability to fulfil that need. There’s a connection, based on my wish for the birds to be well and free from fear. Also my delight at seeing them being happy and playful.

We - me and the birds - are connected by this ritual of the bird bath – and I notice that there’s also a connection between me and the birds when I’m gardening; I realise they are taking an interest (for gustatory reasons I imagine) in what I am doing; what I might be unearthing. Maybe as they sing and call out to each other, they are communicating something about the human activity in the garden… but let’s not get too solipsistic.

As Ratnavandana emphasises, it’s very important to practise the Brahma Viharas off the cushion as well as on, and I do think it’s important to acknowledge, reflect on and explore our place, physically and emotionally, in the ecosystem of our particular contexts – as an important element of what you might call the cultivation of ‘self-and-other metta’ in its subtle manifestations both as mudita and karuna – because it nourishes a sense of faith, confidence and effectiveness of meditation practice and the retreat community.

Visit the Being Divine Online home retreat page

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Breaking the Fetter of Superficiality
In a special virtual Sangha Night, Saddharaja continues the theme of 'the taste of freedom' exploring how freedom is won when we make the effort to untie the knots of superficiality that sap our energy, block our creativity and waste our true potential. The talk is introduced by Viryajyoti, with a summary of last week and including an invitation to a virtual shared meditation and tea break.
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