Tag: Pali Canon

The final talk in Padmavajra’s wonderful series on the Dhammapada, the most popular of early Buddhist texts. All of the Buddha’s core teachings are here - held in heart and mind there’s more than enough in the Dhammapada to take us as far in our practice as we can imagine, and then on beyond…

From the talk Flowers - Dhammapada Verses 44 to 59, part of the series The Dhammapada - the Buddha’s...

Amoghavajra takes us back 2,500 years to the Kingdom of Magadha in Northern India to the birth of a boy called Kassapa. He grows up happily and as he gets older he becomes less and less worldly. Kassapa marries Bhadda who has equally renunciant tendancies. They both go forth together.

Kassapa meets the Buddha, becomes his disciple and gains Enlightenment. He is known as a superb meditator and was foremost among the bhikkus for practising austerities. According to Amoghavajra’s story,...

Ratnaprabha is a brilliant storyteller. Here, he shares the Alavaka Sutta where an troll tries to trick the Buddha with a series of spiritual questions, which the Buddha answers with calmness and clarity, converting the troll to become a Dharmapala, a protector of the Dharma. 

From the full talk entitled The Story Hatthaka given at Stockholm Buddhist Centre, 2007, as part of a two-part series with the companion talk: ...

Dhivan offers this short discourse showing the Buddha addressing a group of people called the Kalamas, who have heard all too many religious teachers telling them what to think, even when it contradicts what the last teacher said. The Buddha instead advises them how to judge for themselves about religion. He also teaches them how to practice the brahma-vihara meditations, and to think for themselves how effective they are.

Talk given at Bristol Buddhist Centre as...