This week Triratna Buddhist Centres all over the world will be marking the Buddha's last days and Parinirvana. It's a time when we come together to reflect on his life and death, and remember those we have known who have passed away. A chance to strengthen our practice of one of the most essential reflections in any spiritually healthy life - the recollection of impermanence - by engaging with the 'purification' practice of 'confession' associated with Vajrasattva.

Look for a Buddhist Centre near you and join us for sutta readings, stories, rituals and talks marking the inspiring life and death of the Buddha.

You can also listen to our special Parinirvana Dharmabyte podcast [opens iTunes], produced for the Buddhist Centre Online by Free Buddhist Audio. Titled 'Verses of Confession', Padmavajra reflects on the Verses of Confession of Faults as powerful expressions of the human situation, acknowledging small-mindedness in the context of impermanence, and concluding with a reading of the verses themselves from the Sevenfold Puja.

From the talk 'Death and Desire', the second in a great three-part series on 'The Alchemy of Love' given at Padmaloka, 2004.