Free Buddhist Audio
Free Buddhist Audio

The Highly Potent Elixir of Transformation (FBA Podcast)

By Centre Team on Sat, 24 Aug, 2024 - 11:00

 In his first talk on Shantideva’s Bodhicaryavatara Padmavajra speaks of Sangharakshita’s evocation of the Bodhicitta. He goes on to talk about his discovery of the Bodhicarayavatara and what is known of the life of Shantideva. The main part of the talk is Padmavajra’s discussion of some of the verses of the first chapter of the Bodhicaryavatara, especially of verse ten, in which the Bodhicitta is likened to the highly potent quicksilver elixir of the alchemist, capable of...

Free Buddhist Audio
Free Buddhist Audio

A Limb of the Universe (FBA Podcast)

By Centre Team on Sat, 1 Jun, 2024 - 11:00

‘Just as I love and cherish my body, which is divided into many limbs, so I should love and cherish this whole world, which is divided into many beings.’ So says Shantideva in his famous ‘Guide to the Path of Awakening’. In this talk Vadanya will explore what Shantideva tells us about the wisdom teaching of ‘anatman’ – often translated as ‘no-self’ – and look at how this apparently negative doctrine opens up a positive and inspiring...

Free Buddhist Audio
Free Buddhist Audio

Forebearance in Friendship

By Centre Team on Mon, 20 Nov, 2023 - 11:00

In this talk, Maitrisiddhi shows us the importance and value in holding the Ideal of spiritual friendship alongside the reality of life in the Sangha. Excerpted from the talk Spiritual Friendship: Ideal Versus Real given at Taraloka Retreat Centre, 2018.

***

Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast:  On Apple Podcasts | On Spotify | On Google Podcasts

Bite-sized inspiration three times every week.

Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio...

Free Buddhist Audio
Free Buddhist Audio

FBA Podcast: The Sevenfold Puja: Salutation

By Centre Team on Sat, 11 Nov, 2023 - 11:00

Here Suryaka offers reflections on the third verse of Triratna’s Sevenfold Puja, Salutation, by exploring the range of possible responses we can have to Buddhism, from contentment with worldly life, to intellectual agreement with Buddhism, or to the wholesale devotion exemplified by Shantideva. This is the third talk in a series at the Manchester Buddhist Centre on the Sevenfold Puja, 2010.

***

Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast:  On...

Free Buddhist Audio
Free Buddhist Audio

Dharmabytes: The Flavour of Forbearance

By Zac on Thu, 23 Feb, 2023 - 06:00

This talk explores the emergence of the Bodhisattva Ideal in the Mahayana tradition. Nagapriya discusses the historical context in which this basic concept developed, its ties to early Buddhist texts, and what the bodhisattva’s life entails, on both the mundane and cosmic levels. Here, he shares a reading on forbearance from the Bodhicaryavatara by Shantideva. 

Excerpted from the The Ideal of Universal Awakening given at Manchester Buddhist Centre, as part of the series ...

Free Buddhist Audio
Free Buddhist Audio

Dharmabytes: Mountains of Merit

By Zac on Mon, 20 Feb, 2023 - 06:00

Prakasha takes us through the verses on transference of merit and self surrender from Shantideva’s Bodhicaryavatara, and communicates the feeling of completely letting go of a Bodhisattva. Excerpted from the talk Awakening Bodhicitta given at Shrewsbury Triratna Buddhist Group, 2018.

***

Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast:  On Apple Podcasts | On Spotify | On Google Podcasts

Bite-sized inspiration three times every week.

Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast:  ...

Free Buddhist Audio
Free Buddhist Audio

FBA Podcast: The Awakening of the Bodhi Heart

By Zac on Sat, 18 Feb, 2023 - 06:00

How do you become a Bodhisattva? Upon the Awakening of the Bodhi Heart (Bodhichitt-otpada). In this lecture Sangharakshita defines the Bodhichitta, and describes how one can prepare for its arising through the observance of Shantideva’s Supreme Worship and Vasubhandu’s Four Factors. Talk given in 1969 as part of the series entitled: Aspects of the Bodhisattva Ideal

***

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

Free Buddhist Audio
Free Buddhist Audio

Dharmabytes: Refraining from Anger

By Zac on Mon, 13 Feb, 2023 - 06:00

More counter-cultural stuff here, shouldn’t we always express how we feel? Shantideva seems to be saying something else when he encourages us to be ‘like a block of wood’… Maitrisara offers thoughts on patience and anger as described in the Bodhicaryavatara. 

Excerpted from the talk Like a Block of Wood, part of the series The Bodhicaryavatara, given at Birmingham Buddhist Centre, 2019.

***

Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast:  ...

Free Buddhist Audio
Free Buddhist Audio

FBA Podcast: Reflections From the Bodhicaryavatara

By Centre Team on Fri, 10 Feb, 2023 - 22:32

Jvalamalini offers suggestions to bear in mind when reading the Bodhicaryavatara, and a few reflections from the text on how to regard self and others. 

“In the same way that the hands and other limbs are loved because they form part of the body, why are embodied creatures not likewise loved because they form part of the universe?” 

“‘If I give, what shall I enjoy?’ Such concern for one’s own welfare is fiendish. ‘If I enjoy, what shall I give?’ Such concern...

Free Buddhist Audio
Free Buddhist Audio

Dharmabytes: One Moment Of Anger

By Zac on Thu, 9 Feb, 2023 - 06:00

The Bodhicaryavatara is an 8th century text written by Shantideva, a Buddhist monk from the monastic ‘university’ at Nalanda, India. Dhammadinna offers a few thoughts on the Perfection of Patience, differentiating between types of anger and noting that Shantideva is referring to the sort of anger that is retaliatory and unskilful.

Excerpted from the talk Some Thoughts on the Bodhicaryavatara given at Taraloka Retreat Centre, 2008.

***

Subscribe...

Pages