Free Buddhist Audio
Free Buddhist Audio

Dharmabyte: Great Art and Literature in the Modern West

By Sadayasihi on Thu, 24 Oct, 2019 - 14:00

In the 1980s, ‘Independent Arts’ ran an ambitious and extremely impressive Arts program through the Croydon Buddhist Centre in London. Here’s a first offering from the archive of recordings - an open conversation between Sangharakshita, founder of the Western Buddhist Order, and the renowned poet and scholar Kathleen Raine, one of the founders of the Temenos Academy.

The occasion was the launch of Sangharakshita’s book ‘The Religion of Art’ - and the discussion ranges widely and, at times, controversially through the subject...

Free Buddhist Audio
Free Buddhist Audio

Dharmabyte: A Dharma That Includes Passion and Beauty

By Sadayasihi on Mon, 21 Oct, 2019 - 14:00

How can we have a whole life of value and of meaning?

Subhadramati explores the essential integration of arts and asceticism that Sangharakshita struggled to find in his early years as a monk.

From the talk Beauty and Discipline, part of a series for Dharma Night focusing on Urgyen Sangharakshita’s unique contribution to Buddhism. London Buddhist Centre, 2015.

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Western Buddhist Review
Western Buddhist Review

Harold Bloom: the Embattled Canon and the Experiential Critic

By Vishvapani on Sat, 19 Oct, 2019 - 20:26

Harold Bloom: the Embattled Canon and the Experiential Critic

By Vishvapani on Sat, 19 Oct, 2019 - 20:26

This is a guest post by Vishvapani, re-published here from an early issue of The Western Buddhist Review


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The Western Canon
By Harold Bloom
Macmillan, London 1994, pp. 567


1. Introduction: contemporary criticism’s questions and answers
What should be our central question in approaching literature? The celebrated American literary critic Harold Bloom proposes one: What is literature for? This question may sound obvious, but it is not one with...

Buddhist Centre Features
Buddhist Centre Features

Bidding Farewell to Harold Bloom

By Vishvapani on Sat, 19 Oct, 2019 - 19:09

Bidding Farewell to Harold Bloom

By Vishvapani on Sat, 19 Oct, 2019 - 19:09

Here is a new appreciation of the critic and writer Harold Bloom, who died on October 14th 2019.

Vishvapani is a writer, broadcaster and Buddhist mindfulness teacher. His writing can be found at Wise Attention.

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The sadness I feel at learning of the death, aged 89, of the great literary critic Harold Bloom, is softened only by my incredulity that he was living at all; that is, living in a modern world to which he seemed so alien....

Free Buddhist Audio
Free Buddhist Audio

FBA Podcast: From Literal to Liberated Mind

By Sadayasihi on Sat, 19 Oct, 2019 - 14:00

In this talk, Sarvananda looks at how our engagement with the arts can help us move from literal mindedness to an imaginative engagement with Buddhist myth and symbol.

Talk given at Padmaloka Retreat Centre during the 2019 East Anglian Men’s Retreat.

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...

Buddhist Centre Features
Buddhist Centre Features

Culture's Peak: An Interview with Harold Bloom by Vishvapani

By Vishvapani on Wed, 16 Oct, 2019 - 23:23

Culture's Peak: An Interview with Harold Bloom by Vishvapani

By Vishvapani on Wed, 16 Oct, 2019 - 23:23

This interview with the literary critic Harold Bloom was first published in Dharma Life, 5, Summer 1997. Harold Bloom died on October 14th 2019.

Vishvapani is a writer, broadcaster and Buddhist mindfulness teacher. His writing can be found at Wise Attention.

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When I first encountered Harold Bloom’s work, I discovered a remarkable mixture. Bloom is Professor of Humanities at Yale University, and is widely considered America’s leading literary critic. His many books combine an enormous breadth of reading...

Triratna International Gathering 2019: Alchemy of the Dharma
Triratna International Gathering 2019: Alchemy of the Dharma

A Song...

By Centre Team on Sat, 24 Aug, 2019 - 01:08

A Song...

By Centre Team on Sat, 24 Aug, 2019 - 01:08

The first lunchtime concert of the International retreat. 🎼Manidhara and Natalia Kieniewicz performing.

More soon! Follow on Instagram for previews of the concerts each day.

More from Alchemy of the Dharma

Buddhist Centre Features
Buddhist Centre Features

Arts at the UK & Ireland Area Order Convention

By Sadayasihi on Fri, 9 Aug, 2019 - 17:19

Arts at the UK & Ireland Area Order Convention

By Sadayasihi on Fri, 9 Aug, 2019 - 17:19

Here’s just a sample of the fabulous artwork on display at the UK & Ireland Area Order Convention which is currently taking place at Wymondham College, UK

You might be interested to know that there will be a Triratna Arts Convention for Order members taking place at Adhisthana in October 2020. Follow @triratnaarts on Instagram to find out more!

See all posts about the UK & Ireland Order Convention

Read more posts...

Community Highlights
Community Highlights

Prakasha on Buddhism and William Blake (with Satyalila)

By Free Buddhist Audio on Thu, 11 Jul, 2019 - 20:55

In this interview, Prakasha shares the remarkable story of the unfolding of his Dharma Life from a fascination with the English poet, painter and visionary William Blake in the late 1970s and early 80s and how this led him to a deep immersion in the Vajrayana approach to Buddhism. Following on from Bhante, in ‘Buddhism and William Blake’ he elucidates the common basis between the symbolic worlds of Blake and the Vajrayana.

Recorded at a retreat on William Blake, Adhisthana 2017.

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