Free Buddhist Audio
Free Buddhist Audio

Dharmabyte: Good Friends Reflect Us Back

By Sadayasihi on Mon, 30 Mar, 2020 - 14:00

Maitreyi shares the story of Meghiya to illustrate the importance of having strong friendships on the spiritual path.

From the talk entitled Sanghakaya and the Heart’s Release given at Manchester Buddhist Centre, December 2015.

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Free Buddhist Audio

FBA Podcast: Good Friends

By Sadayasihi on Sat, 28 Mar, 2020 - 13:00

Kalyana Mitrata is spiritual friendship, even ‘the lovely intimacy’, the need for close and supportive connections with others in treading the path. Ratnaprabha  explores why the Buddha said spiritual friendship is ‘the whole of the Buddhist Life’. Is it as important now as it was in the Buddha’s time? Is a Kalyana Mitra the same thing as a guru or teacher? How can we make the intimate connections in our lives really stimulating and nourishing? How do we...

Free Buddhist Audio
Free Buddhist Audio

Dharmabyte: Keeping Good Company

By Sadayasihi on Thu, 26 Mar, 2020 - 13:00

Here Padmasuri shares stories of friendship between the early Buddhist nuns and the Buddha. Featuring glimpses into the lives of Mahapajapati, Patajara, Dhammadinna, Kisagotami, Mitta, Queen Mallika. Many of these women would have gone forth for friendship, a sort of cradle of friendship, in which the truth teachings would be held and practiced. Just so then, so now.

Exerpted from the talk The Buddha Was a Friend As We Can Be a Friend, the fourth and final in a...

Free Buddhist Audio
Free Buddhist Audio

Dharmabyte: Armed with Love Flowers

By Sadayasihi on Mon, 23 Mar, 2020 - 13:00

Here Karunadhi  introduces us to the Red Rite of Fascination. Friendship emerges from love for our friends, but also can evoke strong attachment. Communication and the samgrahavastu (means of unification) of loving speech are the antidote for grasping and projection.

Excerpted from the talk Spiritual Friendship and the Red Rite of Fascination as part of the series Spiritual Friendship and the Tantric Rites given on a joint Tiratanaloka and Buddhafield retreat...

Free Buddhist Audio
Free Buddhist Audio

FBA Podcast: A Helping Hand

By Sadayasihi on Sat, 14 Mar, 2020 - 13:00

Ratnaghosha reflects on how friendships and connections are woven into the tapestry of his life, how other people give our lives a sense of richness and abundance. In the sangha, people are passing on the Dharma through their relationships – living, breathing Dharma is passed on through spiritual friendship. The Buddha was the original spiritual friend, exemplifying for us that Enlightenment demands communication.

From a series of talks given during the Year of Kalyana Mitrata at the Cambridge Buddhist...

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Adhisthana

47 Years of Friendship and Service: Saddhanandi Interviews Sona

By Maitriyogini on Thu, 31 Oct, 2019 - 15:42

47 Years of Friendship and Service: Saddhanandi Interviews Sona

By Maitriyogini on Thu, 31 Oct, 2019 - 15:42

On the 30th October 2019 there was a community practice day at Adhisthana to mark the first anniversary of the death of Sangharakshita, the founder of the Triratna Buddhist community. Sangharakshita spent the last few years of his life at Adhisthana and is now buried there.

During that day Saddhanandi, the chair of Adhisthana, interviewed Sona about his relationship with Sangharakshita. Sona was ordained by Sangharakshita in 1974 and had a long-standing friendship with him.

Recorded at Adhisthana, 30th October 2019.

Sangharakshita Memorial Space
Sangharakshita Memorial Space

Remembering Sangharakshita Through His Friendships

By sanghadhara on Fri, 25 Oct, 2019 - 17:57

Remembering Sangharakshita Through His Friendships

By sanghadhara on Fri, 25 Oct, 2019 - 17:57

Urgyen Sangharakshita - simply “Bhante” to his friends and to many who practice in the Triratna community world-wide - was a complex, even sometimes complicated, man. Much has been written and said about his contribution to the flourishing of Buddhism in India and the West since the 1960s - and about some of his more controversial sides as a teacher and leader. But we know a lot less about him as a friend.

In this film commissioned to...

Free Buddhist Audio
Free Buddhist Audio

Dharmabyte: A Garland of Going Forth

By Sadayasihi on Mon, 16 Sep, 2019 - 14:00

This is one of a series of talks on the Therigatha, the songs or poems of the nuns at the time of the Buddha.

Gunasiddhi begins by saying that the songs are trying to communicate a level of spiritual experience to the hearer. The talk contains three themes: Going Forth, Friendship and Impermanence.

In this Dharmabyte we hear about the topic of Going forth which happened in a variety of ways for different reasons for these nuns. For us, we don’t go...

Free Buddhist Audio
Free Buddhist Audio

FBA Podcast: How to Build a Buddhaland

By Sadayasihi on Sat, 20 Jul, 2019 - 14:00

Today we have instructions for How to Build a Buddhaland by Padmavajra.

1. Make yourself

2. Gather wisdom

3. Make friends

4. Make a world together

5. Revere the mystery


Talk given at London Buddhist Centre, 2017.

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Buddhist Centre Features
Buddhist Centre Features

Podcast: Manjusvara - Part 2: Half My Life

By Sadayasihi on Mon, 15 Jul, 2019 - 17:47

“Buddhism gave me an understanding - or at least a suggestion that one could change.”

In this second in the two part series about Manjusvara we hear about the three things that fundamentally changed his life: a car accident, coming across the London Buddhist Centre and fundraising. 

From his time in the US through to the practice of writing as a means of transformation to his involvement in fundraising for Karuna, Manjusvara celebrates having spent...

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