The new video release now live on the Triratna Video Library

The Urgyen Sangharakshita Trust's third monthly contribution to Sangharakshita 100 is another video in the 'Unseen Sangharakshita' series now live on trirtanvideolibrary.org.

This talk is called 'The Relation Between Buddhism and Art'.

For his first talk in Kraków, Poland, Sangharakshita chose to explore the relationship between Buddhism and art. The lecture was held at a centre for Japanese Culture and so Sangharakshita first spoke of his youthful encounters with the writings of Lafcadio Hearn and his introduction to the Diamond Sutra. He recounted his personal conflict between the study of Buddhism and artistic pursuits and how a poem by Shelley led to a resolution. A consideration of the connections between art and Buddhism followed with an explanation of the four kinds or levels of art he detailed in his book 'The Religion of Art'.

The lecture, given on 7 May 2002, was translated by Nityabandhu into Polish and has English subtitles.

Watch the latest release on Triratna Video Library

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The Triratna Buddhist Community was founded by Urgyen Sangharakshita and 2025 marks the one hundredth anniversary of his birth. For this special anniversary year our online celebration of Triratna Day will be a rejoicing in his life and qualities. 

In each of the three sessions we will hear from three Order members - from different generations and parts of the world - about life changing encounters they had with Sangharakshita and the qualities that were communicated through those encounters. 

After the talk we'll meditate together as an international spiritual community.

April 6 2025

Session 1: A Garland of Roses (90 mins)
USA PST 01:00 | Mexico 02:00 | USA EST 04:00 | IE & UK 09:00 | Europe 10:00 CET | India 13:30 | Australia AEST 18:00 | New Zealand NZST 20:00

Session 2: A Garland of Lotuses (90 mins)
USA PST 08:00 | Mexico 09:00 | USA EST 11:00 | IE & UK 16:00 | Europe 17:00 CET | India 20:30 | Australia AEST 01:00 (next day) | New Zealand NZST 03:00 (next day)

Session 3: A Garland of Marigolds​​​​​​​ (90 mins)
USA PST 11:00 | Mexico 12:00 | USA EST 14:00 | IE & UK 19:00 | Europe 20:00 CET | India 23:30 | Australia AEST 04:00 (next day) | New Zealand NZST 06:00 (next day)

Led by Jnanadhara – International Movement Coordinator

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Jnanavaca recounts some humorous and meaningful experiences with Sangharakshita drawing out his capacity to communicate beyond just his words.

Sangharakshita 100 events continue with the next 'Unseen Sangharakshita' video.

This time it's a talk entitled 'Wesak and After' which you can now watch on the Triratna Video Library

In May 1992 Bhante Sangharakshita was invited to speak at a UK Western region Wesak festival gathering. He reminisces about his first Wesak celebration in 1949 and highlights the importance of understanding the significance of Wesak and the Buddha’s Enlightenment, asking the question 'What is Enlightenment?'

He recounts a recent trip to Kraków, Poland, where he gave three talks, exploring the relationship between Buddhism and art, Triratna’s six distinctive emphases, and the conflict between academic study and practical Dharma practice. He reflects on the prevalence of conflict in Buddhist life, drawing parallels to the Buddha’s own journey.

He retells the story of the Buddha's encounter with Mara and goes on to consider in detail the Buddha’s conquest of the four types of Māra: Devaputta-māra, Kleśa-māra, Maccu-māra, and Khanda-māra, representing the triumph over death, conditioned existence, and the five aggregates. He explores the five kleśas and their antidotes before discussing the meaning of death for a Buddha. After considering the precious opportunity for spiritual growth through the Triratna’s resources and community he encourages all to continue their spiritual journey, seeking enlightenment and conquering Mara for themselves.

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Padmavajra shares some key moments with Sangharakshita from his long life in the order touching on some important lessons that still have relevance for him today.

Dear friends of Triratna worldwide,

I am happy to write to you all at the start of the Birth Centenary Year of our precious teacher Urgyen Sangharakshita. 

This is not only about looking back, so as to better understand and appreciate our founder and teacher, important though this is; it is also a special opportunity to look forward and put in place the best conditions for the unfolding of Bhante’s presentation of the Dharma in the century to come.

An international Triratna 100 Birth Anniversary Kula is co-ordinating a programme to run throughout this year with events across Triratna honouring Bhante’s remarkable life and work. I am very happy to tell you about just some of the events coming up this year.

The Unseen Sangharakshita: Treasures from the Triratna Video Archive
a never-before-seen talk by Bhante on the first of every month throughout 2025

The first is released today: 'The Ten Ornaments of the Buddhist’. On 19 January 1992 Bhante gave what he described as his last message to the people of Nagpur and India. Using the metaphor of jewellery he explored ten practices and qualities of the Buddhist that would ensure true spiritual beauty.

At Adhisthana
In August, following a large Order Weekend, Adhisthana will host an International Sanghas Retreat: Invoking Padmasambhava (24 – 31 August). On the birth anniversary during the retreat, Tuesday 26 August, Adhisthana invites day visitors for a special Festival Day celebration (details to follow, places limited).

Work a Day for the Dharma
This exciting initiative from FutureDharma will be launched in February. It will be a chance for anyone in our movement, whatever their circumstances, to work for the good of the Dharma. Everyone will be invited to donate a day's income each month to the Triratna charities that we care about. It is FutureDharma's offering to help protect Bhante's legacy for generations to come. Look out for this in February!

Dharmachakra (Free Buddhist Audio and The Buddhist Centre Online)
The Dharmachakra team has been recording and distributing Sangharakshita's core Dharma lectures since 1967. To mark the Centenary they will begin remastering all of Bhante’s talks on Free Buddhist Audio for future generations using new digital technology: 🎧 listen to a sample

Dharmachakra's team also produces and curates The Buddhist Centre Online, which now has a dedicated space for the Centenary. Watch this space for more events throughout the year.

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Finally, eight hundred Order members will be gathering at Bodhgaya later this month for our International Order Convention, when we will be in a very special place to celebrate the Centenary.

As we enter 2025 I wish that we can make this anniversary year an inspiration and impetus to strengthen and deepen our Going for Refuge to the Three Jewels, and that together we can help make Triratna a more and more potent force for good in this suffering world.

Mahamati
Chair of the College of Public Preceptors

Sumana sheds some light on the atmosphere of the movement in the 70s sharing experience of his first impressions of Urgyen Sangharakshita and later occasions that shaped the direction of his life.

Having worked as Sangharakshita's secretary, Vessantara illustrates qualities that he appreciated about him through humorous and important experiences in Vessantara's life.

Dayanandi talks about three encounters with Bhante Sangharakshita and the deeper meaning of these experiences in her life as a Buddhist.

Looking Ahead to 2025

Next year will mark 100 years since Urgyen Sangharakshita was born. This is not just a large number; it’s an opportunity to reflect on the impact that one lifetime can have on the world, and particularly the world of Buddhism. It’s not just about looking back 100 years, but looking forwards into the centuries to come, and how Buddhists of the future can continue to Go for Refuge to the Three Jewels through a connection with Sangharakshita.

These are of course questions that go far beyond the scope of our Trust alone, so we’ve begun coordination efforts with other central Triratna institutions to ensure these centenary celebrations are joined up and build on each other to create a cohesive year across our community. We’ve convened a group of friends from Adhisthana, the College of Public Preceptors, Dharmachakra, International Council, the Order Office, and Windhorse Publications. Collectively, we’re working out what story we want to tell in 2025 and how we’ll do that with our various projects.

In terms of our Trust, we’re planning to use the year to tell Bhante’s Life Story for the first time in Hindi and Spanish, bringing those incredible series of events from 1925–2018 to vast amounts of people who are often highly devoted to Sangharakshita as a teacher but know relatively little about how he lived.

And Beyond...

Urgyen House contains a huge wealth of artefacts, including hundreds of paper documents: letters, diary entries, lecture notes, and much more. Some of these we’ve displayed in our first two Urgyen House exhibitions. Most of these documents are not yet digitised, meaning they are only accessible in-person and are more liable to deteriorate.

Cataloguing and digitising these documents will be a large project, and something our current finances don’t support. Over time, we want to improve our financial situation to allow us to take on this huge task.

Read the rest of our Year in Review here: https://www.sangharakshita.org/about/urgyen-sangharakshita-trust/annual-reports/2023-2024-annual-report

On 26th August, 99 years ago, Urgyen Sangharakshita was born and at Free Buddhist Audio we have an extensive collection of his lectures given in his 40+ years of public teaching.

We are getting ready to celebrate his centenary next year by remastering his talks for audiences new and old! Using various remastering tools, we share these previews of a remastered talk. You can listen to the original and remastered preview of this famous talk "Who is the Buddha?", which is part of the series "Introducing the Three Jewels in Buddhism".

Original

Remastered

Hear more talks from Sangharakshita: https://www.freebuddhistaudio.com/sangharakshita