Tag: sukhavati

Buddhist Voices

Fifty Years, Fifty Voices: Aloka & Surata (Highlights)

By Centre Team on Thu, 22 Dec, 2022 - 11:36

Aloka’s Annals:

My name is Dharmachari Aloka (long first ‘a’) – born 31 March 1948, London.

In 1968 I was in Maidstone (Kent) in my penultimate year at my third and final Art School, in the midst of my love affair with hallucinogens and narcotics. I spent all of the 60s in various Art Schools starting at the age of 13.

In 1978 I completed six years doing part-time Art teaching - I contacted the movement in 1974 (Wesak) and was Ordained...

Great Faith, Great Wisdom - Complete Retreat Recordings By Ratnaguna

By Centre Team on Fri, 22 Sep, 2017 - 15:05

On this retreat, recorded during the recent Rainy Season Retreat at Bristol Buddhist Centre in the UK, Ratnaguna guides 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 a vast ‘illumined image’ – a symbol of the beauty and joy of the spiritual life. The three Pure Land sutras invite...

Bristol Buddhist Centre

Great Faith, Great Wisdom, Day 6 - Rainy Season Retreat 2017 by Ratnaguna

By Centre Team on Sat, 16 Sep, 2017 - 15:23

All this week, Ratnaguna and the Bristol Triratna sangha have turned their urban Centre into a realm for exploration of Sukhavati, the Pure Land of Amitabha. Now on the last day of our retreat, we meet the Buddha. This is what the retreat has been building up to…

With readings from the Guan Jing and from the Life and Liberation of Padmasambhava.

Recorded as part of Ratnaguna’s retreat on Great Faith, Great Wisdom at Bristol Buddhist Centre, Sept 2017.

Talk 9: The Buddha Beyond the Buddha
Ratnaguna...

Bristol Buddhist Centre

Great Faith, Great Wisdom, Day 5 - Rainy Season Retreat 2017 by Ratnaguna

By Centre Team on Thu, 14 Sep, 2017 - 22:04

On the 5th day of the Rainy Season Retreat, Ratnaguna takes us into the world of the the Sutra on the Visualisation of the Buddha Amitayus, or Guan Jing. Some wonderful guided meditations, conversation, and another excellent talk await…

The Guan Jing or Sutra on the Visualisation of the Buddha Amitayus - Introduction and Reading, Queen Vaidehi’s Predicament Followed by a Visualisation of the Setting Sun
Ratnaguna starts the fifth day of the retreat with a brief introduction to the Guan...

Bristol Buddhist Centre

Great Faith, Great Wisdom, Day 4 - Rainy Season Retreat 2017 by Ratnaguna

By Centre Team on Wed, 13 Sep, 2017 - 20:20

Day 4 brings us a bumper crop of great Dharma exploration and evocation from Ratnaguna and friends in the Bristol sangha as they deepen into their retreat together.

Talk 6: The Sutra as a Practice of Annussati - Recollection of the Three Jewels
Ratnaguna introduces the practice of reading the longer Sukhavativuyha Sutra as a recollection of the Buddha, Dharma and arya-Sangha.

Reading from the Longer Sukhavativyuha Sutra - The Living Beings of the Buddhafield
Ratnaguna briefly recaps on how...

Bristol Buddhist Centre

Great Faith, Great Wisdom, Day 3 - Rainy Season Retreat 2017 by Ratnaguna

By Centre Team on Tue, 12 Sep, 2017 - 21:34

Two more recordings from Ratnaguna’s beautiful retreat, going on all week in Bristol, UK, with the Triratna community in the heart of the city. A great fifth talk, and a different approach from the first day’s visualisation to imagining Sukhavati, the great jewelled realm of Amitabha.

Talk 5: The Mystery of the Pure Land
This talk corrects some common misunderstandings about the Pure Land texts. The sutras are not to be read as philosophy but appreciated as...

Bristol Buddhist Centre

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 - 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...