Tag: mahayana

Great Faith, Great Wisdom, Day 2 - Rainy Season Retreat 2017 by Ratnaguna

By Centre Team on Tue, 12 Sep, 2017 - 21:17

A wonderful second pair of talks, bringing to life Sukhavati, the great Pure Land or Happy Land of Amitabha.

Talk 3: The Deathless Buddha - Possible Roots of Sukhavati in the Pali Canon
In this fascinating talk, Ratnaguna shows us remarkable resonances between the Sukhavativuyha sutras and two late Pali suttas - the Mahaparinibbana sutta and Mahasuddassana sutta, and suggests the Sukhavativuyha sutras may have arisen from the distress of the Buddha’s followers after his Parinirvana.

We also explored meanings of...

Bristol Buddhist Centre

Great Faith, Great Wisdom Retreat, 2017 - day 3

By jvalamalini on Tue, 12 Sep, 2017 - 09:04

Great Faith, Great Wisdom Retreat, 2017 - day 3

By jvalamalini on Tue, 12 Sep, 2017 - 09:04

Another beautiful day in the pure land! On my way home, I sighed - “oh it’s all so lovely!”.

Today our sutra reading was sections of the text describing the land of Sukhavati, which is the Dharma aspect of the text. (Yesterday focused more on the Buddha - including beautiful descriptions of bodhisattva activity)

I found the description of the river particularly beguiling - the sound of the river is both soothing, and conveys the Dharma. It conveys the Dharma by murmuring the only,...

Bristol Buddhist Centre

Great Faith, Great Wisdom - Rainy Season Retreat 2017 by Ratnaguna, Day 1

By Centre Team on Mon, 11 Sep, 2017 - 20:54

Here are the two wonderful Dharma talks by Ratnaguna from the first day of the retreat this weekend, along with a led visualisation bringing the Pure Land of Sukhavati, made of all precious things, to life. As a treat to conclude, we also get the Bristol sangha chanting a beautiful, resonant version of Amitabha mantra.

OM AMIDEVA HRI

Talk 1: Why hear the Pure Land Sutras?

An introduction to the three Pure Land sutras and to understanding the practice of Mahayana sutras in general. Other...

Community Highlights

Great Faith, Great Wisdom Retreat Online!

By Centre Team on Mon, 11 Sep, 2017 - 16:37

Great Faith, Great Wisdom Retreat Online!

By Centre Team on Mon, 11 Sep, 2017 - 16:37

All this week we’ll be bringing you online resources and blogs from the Bristol Buddhist Centre’s Rainy Season Retreat on ‘Great Faith, Great Wisdom’ with Ratnaguna.

Follow the retreat online

On this retreat Ratnaguna will guide us on a journey into Amitābha’s Pure Land, Sukhāvati – a mythical realm where the ground is golden, trees are made of jewels, heavenly musical instruments play ravishing music, and magical birds sing the Dharma. It is...

Bristol Buddhist Centre

Great Faith, Great Wisdom Retreat, 2017 - day 1

By jvalamalini on Sat, 9 Sep, 2017 - 21:51

Great Faith, Great Wisdom Retreat, 2017 - day 1

By jvalamalini on Sat, 9 Sep, 2017 - 21:51

We had a wonderful first day of our Order-Mitra ‘Rainy Season Retreat’ today, with Ratnaguna on fine form exploring everything from what we can learn from the language of the heptapods in the film ‘Arrival’, through the way the Mahayana expresses insight cosmically, suggestions on how to listen to the sutras, to why birds have to be magical apparitions in the pure land.

We listened to one of the sutras twice, and discussed our responses.

When I walked out...

Bristol Buddhist Centre

Imagine! Notes from Sangha Night Series

By jvalamalini on Sun, 19 Feb, 2017 - 18:51

Satyalila’s notes from a series of talks on imagination, January 2017

File Name	Size
Imagination, the Buddha & Us	171.52 KB
Imagination, Mahayana & Us	1.46 MB
Imagination, Vajrayana & Us	1.23 MB
Imagination, Sangharakshita & Us	503.69 KB

Triratna Resources

Dharma Teaching - Beginners Buddhism: Mahayana Buddhism, A Six-Week Course (Achala)

By Centre Team on Sun, 17 Jul, 2016 - 21:36

Here you can download handouts for a six-week course introducing the various schools of Mahayana Buddhism. The handouts were provided by Achala from New Zealand. Please note that Achala says they all need further improvement!

This is what Achala said about his intentions when designing this course:

I tried to construct a course such that it:
covers what an average human being needs to effectively practice Buddhism.

doesn’t not have a scholastic bent (so a few Pali/Sanskrit terms seemed reasonable but not so many as
...

File Name	Size
Week 1 - The Emergence of Mahayana Buddhism (PDF)	111.49 KB
Week 1 Replacement - The Emergence of Mahayana Buddhism by Sagaraghosa (PDF)	807.07 KB
Week 2 - The Bodhisattva	117.94 KB
Week 3 - The Wisdom Schools (PDF)	117.94 KB
Week 4 - Yogacara and Zen (PDF)	110.83 KB
Week 5 - Pure Land, Hua-yan, and Vajrayana (PDF)	107.65 KB
Week 6 - The Unity of Buddhism (PDF)	114.12 KB

European Chairs' Assembly

Ratnaguna - Three Talks On The Pureland

By Centre Team on Wed, 13 Jan, 2016 - 00:09

Ratnaguna - Three Talks On The Pureland

By Centre Team on Wed, 13 Jan, 2016 - 00:09

A new three-part series from Ratnaguna introduces the Pureland texts as a practice in themselves, and discusses their relationship to Sangharakshita’s core teachings.

In the first talk Ratnaguna takes us on an excellent exploration of imagination itself, essential for understanding the sutras on their own terms. The second talk discusses how the texts hint at what Sangharakshita calls the supra-personal force of the Bodhichitta. The third talk is on the importance of sangha in the sutras and its relevance...

Adhisthana

Inconceivable Emancipation

By akasajoti on Sun, 13 Dec, 2015 - 16:24

Inconceivable Emancipation

By akasajoti on Sun, 13 Dec, 2015 - 16:24

Inconceivable Emancipation
An Order retreat on the Vimalakirti Nirdesa Sutra
29th January–5th February 2016
with Dhammarati, Lokeshvara, Parami, Saddhaloka + Saddhanandi

In 2016, Adhisthana will hold a series of Order retreats and seminars beginning with a week long retreat on the Vimalakirti Nirdesa sutra. On these events we hope to offer the same richness of vision that was witnessed on the Order weekend in celebration of Bhante’s 90th birthday, with its magnitude and diversity, though on...

Buddhist Centre Features

Sangharakshita's Complete Works Appeal Celebration and Book Launch

By Candradasa on Sun, 23 Aug, 2015 - 00:06

At the start of this recording Parami refers to the assembled Order taking part in a Mahayana Sutra. Never was a comment more prescient as the thunder rolls in, the skies pour forth torrents of rain and the shrine marquee is played on like a great drum! Afterwards, rainbows - a fitting way to greet Sangharakshita who joins the throng to celebrate the success of an appeal to fund his Complete Works and to hear Kalyanaprabha...

Tag: mahayana

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