Image of the sea and the raft: we hold onto our raft, but this brings suffering - can we let go, enter the sea and become spiritually reborn? This is the question Arthabandhu asks us.

Spiritual death does not only mean esoteric meditation practices; it means confronting the vagaries and difficulties of life with honesty and courage and seeing what we can learn from them. By opening up to new experiences, life becomes more vivid and enjoyable - if we can just face the fear.

Excerpted from the talk entitled The Sea As Spiritual Death given at Young Men Retreat, Padmaloka Retreat Centre, 2012.

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Orientation towards Enlightenment is a keynote talk by Kusaladevi marking both the Buddha's enlightenment over 2,500 years ago and the 30th anniversary of the Nottingham Buddhist Centre. Exploring themes of lineage, connection, and the symbolism of the Vajrasana as a point of orientation in a suffering world. Kusaladevi reflects on how Dharma practice and the life of a Buddhist Centre offer a bridge from disorientation towards the transcendental through the light of the Dharma. Excerpted from the talk entitled Orienting Towards Enlightenment given at the Nottingham Buddhist Centre, 2026. ***

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Vaddhaka delves into the Buddha's unanswered questions; questions that Vacchagotta, Malunkyaputta and others asked him. Among them: 'What happens to a Buddha after death?' And what happens at our own death; what did the Buddha really say; and why did the renowned Buddhist scholar Paul Williams convert from Buddhism to Roman Catholicism? Excerpted from the talk entitled Death and the Self, and the Buddha's Unanswered Questions given at Stockholm Buddhist Centre, 2010.

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Maitreyabandhu draws out the deeper meaning and finer detail of five different poems, each around the theme of death with the final poem focusing on spiritual rebirth. By discussing the background of the poems and poets, the intricacies of their structure, and bringing in a Buddhist interpretation of the themes raised in the poems, Maitreyabandhu shows us the importance and profundity of poetry and how it can help us to explore Dharmic themes more deeply. Here he discusses the poem "I heard a Fly buzz – when I died - by Emily Dickinson. Excerpted from the talk entitled A New Knowledge of Reality-Buddhism and Poetry given at Padmaloka Retreat Centre, 2018.

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In this talk Alokadhara explores these beautiful verses which evoke the Buddha, his qualities and the profundity of his teaching. Excerpted from the talk entitled Celebrating the Buddha Pingiya's Praises to the Way to the Beyond given at Padmaloka Retreat Centre, 2014. ***

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Dhivan relates tales of some of the colourful characters who visit the Buddha to receive teachings.Here, we here about a killer-bandit named Angulimala. Excerpted from the talk A Courtesan, a Killer and a King given at Bristol Buddhist Centre, 2016. ***

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What was the Buddha really like? Jayabodhi explores this important question with particular emphasis on how this is related to our own lives and how we may follow in the footsteps of the Buddha ourselves. Excerpted from the talk entitled What the Buddha Was Really Like given at Birmingham Buddhist Centre, 2017. ***

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Sangharakshita outlines his view of the historical background to current world problems (essentially, problems within and between groups), which can only be solved by people either withdrawing support from groups or influencing them positively through an experience of Spiritual Communities.

Excerpted from the talk entitled Evolution or Extinction: Current World Problems given as part of the series Where do we go from here?, 1971.

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Partisan politics, hurricanes and earthquakes, mass shootings, nuclear threats … our world at times feels like a living nightmare. Sunada reflects: How do we as Buddhists respond, individually and as a sangha? And how do we keep our sanity? Excerpted from the talk entitled Practice During Times of Chaos and Uncertainty given on a Sangha Day celebration at Aryaloka Buddhist Center, 2017. ***

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Here, Prajnamati describes how a range of dharma practices can be seen as a finding of the point of freedom where a more creative option becomes apparent as an alternative to the more familiar reactive choices. In ethical practice this is developing a sensitivity to the wholesome quality of skilful intentions, in meditation finding a way of relaxing in to the practice and in sangha engaging in a free association of individuals, as an individual, from one's point of freedom. Excerpted from the talk entitled The Point of Freedom, given at Bristol Buddhist Centre, 2017. ***

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