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. This week Sanghagita explores how we can really learn to see others and discover that when we truly pay attention, there we find love.

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’. As part of our Sangha night theme on living with awareness, Vimaladasa will be exploring how we as Buddhists can bring a voice of sanity and compassion into the world and act accordingly.

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.