Buddhist Centre Features
Buddhist Centre Features

A Luminous Emptiness - Meditating and Loving in Reality

By Candradasa on Fri, 16 Feb, 2024 - 23:30

In this latest episode of the Buddhist Centre podcast, we are delighted to welcome back Tejananda, one of the most experienced meditation teachers within the Triratna Buddhist Community. Tejananda will be bringing insights from decades of practice to his upcoming Home Retreat on The Buddhist Centre Live, ‘Emptiness and Compassion: The Divine Abodes’, starting March 29th. 

The retreat is part of a trilogy (so far!) exploring the Buddhist concept and experience of ‘emptiness’ (shunyata - pointing to the...

Free Buddhist Audio
Free Buddhist Audio

Dharmabytes: The Present Moment is our Joy

By Centre Team on Mon, 29 Jan, 2024 - 11:00

Dhivan moves through an exploration of joy, in both its mundane and grander manifestations. As he does so, he recalls the Buddha’s realization that joy and happiness arise when our life coalesces around our deepest values, often connected with relaxing in meditation. This is what may lead to Awakening for any and all of us…

From the talk In the Cool Shade of the Tree: Planting the Seed of Joy In Our Meditation Practice

given at ...

Free Buddhist Audio
Free Buddhist Audio

Dharmabytes: Meditating in the Midst of Activity

By Centre Team on Thu, 12 Oct, 2023 - 11:00

A fascinating talk about the Buddha’s relationship with both the urban environment and the forest. Ratnaprabha then relates this material to our own lives, which for most of us are likely to be mainly urban. Can we really practice the Dharma in the city? Are there even advantages to living and practising there? From the talk Buddha In the City, Buddha In the Forest given at Croydon Buddhist Centre, 2023.

...

Free Buddhist Audio
Free Buddhist Audio

FBA Podcast: The Alchemy of Meditation - Desire

By Centre Team on Sat, 7 Oct, 2023 - 11:00

How do we keep our meditation alive and fresh - especially over the long-term? Can we get lost and bogged down in our meditation and lose connection with creativity, play, and freshness? How do we go deeper? Responding to these questions, Vajragupta (m) looks at the Four Iddhipadas - the four ‘powers’ or ‘means of accomplishment’ taught by the Buddha. These are: desire, discernment, heart/mind, and resolve. They are both four ingredients of a creative meditation practice,...

Free Buddhist Audio
Free Buddhist Audio

Dharmabytes: Allowing Things to Resolve

By Zac on Tue, 16 May, 2023 - 12:06

Nagesvara describes samadhi as collectedness, integration of our energies, wholeness, openness, rather than concentration as primary. Excerpted from the talk What Is Samadhi?, part 5 of a series from the 2021 Buddhafield online retreat Body of Bliss: ways into Samādhi.

***

Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast:  On Apple Podcasts | On Spotify | On Google Podcasts

A...

Free Buddhist Audio
Free Buddhist Audio

FBA Podcast: Dhyana Paramita, The Perfection of Meditation

By Zac on Sat, 11 Mar, 2023 - 06:00

Kamalashila, author of ‘Buddhist Meditation: Tranquillity, Imagination, Insight’, introduces the fifth perfection, dhyana, in a series at the West London Buddhist Centre, 2012.

***

Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast:  On Apple Podcasts | On Spotify | On Google Podcasts

A full, curated, quality Dharma talk, every week. 3,000,000 downloads and counting!

Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast:  On Apple Podcasts...

Free Buddhist Audio
Free Buddhist Audio

FBA Podcast: On the Poetics of Awakening

By Zac on Sat, 4 Mar, 2023 - 06:00

Bodhilila’s first talk as part of the ‘Poetics of Awakening’ retreat. Looking at the symbolic and practical aspects of practice she considers how meditation itself is an expression of ourselves as a way to change through, moment by moment, being who we are in the light of the Dharma. An encouraging and inspiring approach to sitting aligned to the nature of things.

Get more resources on ‘The Poetics of Awakening’ Home Retreat with Paramananda and Bodhilila

Given at ...

Free Buddhist Audio
Free Buddhist Audio

Dharmabytes: The Arising of Bodhicitta

By Zac on Mon, 23 Jan, 2023 - 06:00

The Enlightenment of the Buddha was an irreversible breakthrough into a new kind of consciousness for the world. All our practice flows from this endless stream of wisdom and compassion, flowing throughout the history of humanity. Dhammarati explores this momentous event, and its implications for us today. 

From the talk entitled The Awakening Mind given on Buddha Day Festival at the London Buddhist Centre, 2022.

***

Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast:  ...

Buddhist Voices
Buddhist Voices

Fifty Years, Fifty Voices: Samasuri (Highlights)

By Zac on Wed, 24 Aug, 2022 - 15:48

It’s the wounded healer myth. I guess part of me wanting to be Doctor is my psyche trying to sort all that suffering out… Helping others like I’ve been helped or am being helped.

Samasuri’s Annals:

In 1968 I was not born yet!

In 1978 I was 4 years old, so probably at a play group and living in South Devon with my parents.

In 1988 I was 14 years old. Living with parents and younger brother in South Devon still. At private girls’ school in Exeter.

In 1998...

Buddhist Voices
Buddhist Voices

Fifty Years, Fifty Voices: Manjuvajra (Highlights)

By Zac on Wed, 10 Aug, 2022 - 09:55

What’s happened over the years is I’ve got more and more confident in the existence of the Buddha, the effectiveness of the Dharma and the joy of the Sangha.

Manjuvajra’s Annals:

In 1968 I was 21 years old, living in London, enjoying the ‘Swinging 60’s’, studying physics at Imperial College, exploring sex and drugs, dabbling in religion and psychology, and spending the summer hitch-hiking with my future wife across Europe to Yugoslavia and Turkey.

In 1978 I was doing research connected with...

Pages