Buddhist Voices
Buddhist Voices

50 Years, 50 Voices: Karunadevi (Highlights)

By Candradasa on Thu, 24 May, 2018 - 15:00

…these issues that were very controversial, they didn’t make me want to run away. But they did make me wonder whether I could be a part of the Order.

Karunadevi’s Annals
In 1968 I had recently moved to the San Francisco Bay Area from Iowa with my husband. I was 24 years old, had graduated from Iowa State University in ’66 and was teaching 4th grade. California was a very different culture, especially around San Francisco, and I felt both overwhelmed and enthralled...

Buddhist Voices
Buddhist Voices

50 Years, 50 Voices: Ratnakumar (Highlights)

By Candradasa on Thu, 17 May, 2018 - 15:00

I asked him, “If I would go there, will I get food?” And he said “Yes, obviously there will be a feast and you can have enough to eat.” And I thought then, “I’ll go.”

Ratnakumar’s Annals
In 1968 I wasn’t born.

In 1978 I wasn’t born.

In 1988 I was four years old, having been born into a low caste Hindu family in Orissa.

In 1998 I was about 14. I went to the birthday celebration of Dr Ambedkar with my cousin and decided that day to learn...

Buddhist Voices
Buddhist Voices

50 Years, 50 Voices: Amarapushpa and Chandrasiddhi (Highlights)

By Satyalila on Thu, 10 May, 2018 - 15:00

I had been looking for so long.  And then I saw my first woman Order Member. And that was like the ‘fourth sight’… that inspired me to go for refuge.
Amarapushpa

It’s not something that has to do with ideas and concepts… It’s about more practical wholeness, with your heart.
Chandrasiddhi

N.B. Grabación en inglés y español / Recording in English and Spanish

Listen to the whole conversation with Amarapushpa and Chandrasiddhi—and subscribe to the Buddhist Voices podcast for more...

Buddhist Voices
Buddhist Voices

50 Years, 50 Voices: Manjusvara (Highlights)

By Satyalila on Thu, 3 May, 2018 - 15:00

Who needs perfection?  

Perfection is useless in the human life…

Listen to two component conversations with Manjusvara—and subscribe to the Buddhist Voices podcast for more full-length recordings from Fifty Years, Fifty Voices.

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A few months ago I remembered that I’d heard a talk Manjusvara gave in 2007 called ‘20 years in the WBO’ on the 20th anniversary of his ordination. I thought it might contain some useful material for this project, so I looked it up on Free Buddhist Audio, only to discover that it...

Buddhist Voices
Buddhist Voices

50 Years, 50 Voices: Danayutta (Highlights)

By Satyalila on Thu, 26 Apr, 2018 - 15:00

The moment she opened the door and I saw the Buddha… I felt fine.

Listen to the whole conversation with Danayutta—and subscribe to the Buddhist Voices podcast for more full-length recordings from Fifty Years, Fifty Voices.

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Danayutta’s Annals
In 1968… not alive.

In 1978… not alive.

In 1988… I was 6 years old, just about to start primary school in a convent in Malaysia. I lived in a big house that my grandfather built, with my father’s extended family (there were his 7 siblings, plus grandmother...

Community Highlights
Community Highlights

First Release From 50 Years, 50 Voices

By Candradasa on Wed, 18 Apr, 2018 - 23:27

50 Years, 50 Voices is our beautiful new online project to document 50 years of people’s commitment and practice within the Triratna Buddhist Order around the world.

This week we are delighted to release the first extracts from the recordings commissioned. And most fittingly these are by Ananda, one of the very first batch of Order members ordained in 1968. Here he is talking delightfully about his first meeting with Sangharakshita and his own quest for an exotic, magical way...

Buddhist Voices
Buddhist Voices

50 Years, 50 Voices: Ananda (Highlights)

By Satyalila on Wed, 18 Apr, 2018 - 22:55

So my impression of Bhante was that he was a magician who had some secrets that I wanted to get…

Listen to the whole conversation with Ananda—and subscribe to the Buddhist Voices podcast for more full-length recordings from Fifty Years, Fifty Voices.

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Ananda’s Annals 
In 1968 I was a 24 year old hippy living in a Buddhist commune in Purley.  I was also a sound engineer working at the BBC.  I was ordained into the Western Buddhist Order in April 1968.

In 1978 I...

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