Dharmabytes from free buddhist audio

Dayapakshini explores the relevance of the First Precept to our lives with extracts from the Abhisanda sutta, especially that of freedom from oppression to limitless numbers of beings.

Excerpted from the talk entitled The First Precept given at the Croydon Buddhist Centre, 2015.

***

Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast - a full Dharma talk every week! Follow our blog for news and new Dharma

FBA on Twitter FBA on Facebook

FBA on Soundcloud

How can we decide between right and wrong? The Eastern criterion of ethics is psychological rather than theological: ethical behaviour is said to express higher orders of awareness.

Here, Sangharakshita details the first precept, that of abstention from all forms of violence and harm towards other beings. Cultivating the positive aspect of this precept is the embodiment of maitri, love, as expressed through our deeds of loving-kindness.

From the talk entitled The Principles of Ethics: Right Action given as part of the series The Buddha's Noble Eightfold Path, 1968.

***

Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast - a full Dharma talk every week! Follow our blog for news and new Dharma

FBA on Twitter FBA on Facebook

FBA on Soundcloud

Siladevi reflects on an aspect of Buddhism that is often played down, but is nonetheless an organic part of Buddhism - that of working together with others to effect change in the world. Excerpted from the talk The Ideal Society and the Ideal Individual entitled given at Manchester Buddhist Centre during a day in commemoration of the death of Bhante Sangharakshita, 30 October 2019.

***

Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast - a full Dharma talk every week! Follow our blog for news and new Dharma

FBA on Twitter FBA on Facebook

FBA on Soundcloud

Is awakening near or far, is the path sudden or gradual? Dharmashalin presents Sangharakshita's metaphor on Buddhahood being like an evolutionary process, this time with more emphasis on metta as both an essential basis and method for inviting a sudden shift towards awakening on the basis of a gradual approach.

From the talk Metta As Method and Support For Breaking Through to Buddhahood given at Birmingham Buddhist Centre, 2016.

***

Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast - a full Dharma talk every week! Follow our blog for news and new Dharma

FBA on Twitter FBA on Facebook

FBA on Soundcloud

Kulaprabha recounts an episode from the Vimalakirti Nirdesa to draw out how one generates the great love in response to the suffering of beings.

This is the third of four talks exploring Vasubandhu's Four Factors entitled Contemplating the Suffering of Beings given at Taraloka Retreat Centre, 2010.

In his treatise Generating Bodhi Resolve, Vasubandhu describes them as able to generate the resolve to cultivate and accumulate the bases for the Arising of the Bodhicitta. You can find out more about them in Sangharakshita's books The Meaning of Conversion in Buddhism and The Bodhisattva Ideal.

***

Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast - a full Dharma talk every week! Follow our blog for news and new Dharma

FBA on Twitter FBA on Facebook

FBA on Soundcloud

Jnanavaca discusses metta as the foundation of samadhi, taking us back to basics and reminding us to dwell with patience and acceptance in the body.

Excerpted from the talk entitled Metta as the Foundation of Samadhi given as part of the online retreat Towards Insight: Three Myths led by Jnanavaca and Maitreyabandhu at Adhisthana, 2020.

***

Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast - a full Dharma talk every week! Follow our blog for news and new Dharma

FBA on Twitter FBA on Facebook

FBA on Soundcloud

Jvalamalini introduces us to Vasakha, a generous laywoman disciple of the Buddha. Her story from the early sangha is about the Buddhist attitude to wealth and about the effects of generosity on the donor.

From the talk entitled As Garlands From a Heap of Flowers given at Bristol Buddhist Centre, 2017.

***

Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast - a full Dharma talk every week! Follow our blog for news and new Dharma

FBA on Twitter FBA on Facebook

FBA on Soundcloud

There is an unfolding process within us – in each moment we have a choice to move towards the painful and unskilful, or we can move towards liberation. Faith is the intuition that there is a way of responding to experience that moves us away from suffering and towards liberation. What most deeply matters to us? What conditions allow for the process of flourishing to happen?

Dhammarati calls on the story of Milarepa to draw out the relationship between faith and virya in Dharma practice. From the talk entitled Virya - Bending Towards the Wholesome given at Glasgow Buddhist Centre, 2020, as part of their online series on the paramita of Virya.

***

Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast - a full Dharma talk every week! Follow our blog for news and new Dharma

FBA on Twitter FBA on Facebook

FBA on Soundcloud

Intelligent and thought provoking, Candraprabha shares personally about three views, or three attitudes, she's uncovered in the course of her many years of spiritual practice. A helpful exemplification of how we can investigate our underlying attitudes in relation to our ability to live a Dharma life. From the talk entitled Bodhicitta: a Personal Talk from the Moon of the Mind: Bodhicitta Great Gathering, an (online) retreat for women training for ordination and Order Members offered by Taraloka & Tiratanaloka Retreat Centres, 2021.

***

Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast - a full Dharma talk every week! Follow our blog for news and new Dharma

FBA on Twitter FBA on Facebook

FBA on Soundcloud

Vajrasakhi leads a 'cherishing' metta bhavana based on the positive precepts. Here she introduces the practice emphasizing the crucial importance of a positive and loving relationship with ourselves. From the talk entitled Positive Precepts Metta Bhavana from the Moon of the Mind: Bodhicitta Great Gathering, an (online) retreat for women training for ordination and Order Members offered by Taraloka & Tiratanaloka Retreat Centres, 2021. Listen to the full meditation on Free Buddhist Audio.

***

Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast - a full Dharma talk every week! Follow our blog for news and new Dharma

FBA on Twitter FBA on Facebook

FBA on Soundcloud