Free Buddhist Audio

Our FBA Dharmabyte today is another dip into the Yogachara from Subhuti called Our Illusory View. This is the last in a brilliant four-part series by Subhuti on the Yogachara school of Buddhist philosophy, which provides a comprehensive psychological overview of the workings of 'consciousness'. What can we do about the veils of our basic delusions? Where do ethics come into all this? Time to steep ourselves in reality again for another session with Subhuti as he grasps the slippery snake of the mind and tr

In today's FBA Dharmabyte Arthapriya creatively explores the question: What is actually happening? . Arthapriya explores the Buddhist understanding of what we call reality, and how it is less common sensical than we might imagine. In particular, he questions how much our 'outside world' is in fact so strongly conditioned by our state of mind. Covering karma, emptiness, impermanence and galaxies, this is a wide ranging talk! From the talk The Nature of Reality of a series of three talks entitled 'Reality an

Our FBA Podcast this week is called Mind and Mental Events by Subhuti.

These five omnipresent mental events (sarvatragas) constitute the basic mechanics of the mind; if you are conscious, they are present.

1. Feeling-tone (vedana)

2. Recognition (or conceptualisation) (samjna)

3. Directionality of mind (cetana)

4. Contact (sparsa)

5. Egocentric demanding (manaskara)

From this we can conclude that:

1. All our experience is feeling-toned. The more conscious we are of this, the less we will react and be driven by our likes and dislikes.

2. We are always interpreting our experience with varying degrees of accuracy and depth. We can make an ongoing effort to raise the level of our experience.

3. The mind is always moving towards things. We can use cetana skilfully to move in the direction of Going for Refuge by practising the precepts etc. But we need to want to go in that direction.

This talk is part of the series Mind and Mental Events (Subhuti 2001).

Today's FBA Dharmabyte is entitled What happens when we stop and listen? from the talk The Sound of Reality by Padmavajra. Fabulous stuff. This richly rewarding talk explores the place and function of sound in Buddhist practice and history, as well as within Padmavajra's own spiritual life. A wide-ranging cultural journey is made from John Coltrane to Sufi Qawwali, from mantra to Zen poetry, taking in Andre Gide, Renaissanace Neoplatonism and the ancient Pali Verses en route. Not to be missed! Talk given a

Today's FBA Dharmabyte is entitled The Buddha and Reality from the talk The Buddha, God, and Reality by Sangharakshita. Having considered Buddhism (in 'The Buddha - Man or Superman' and 'Evolution: Lower and Higher') in terms of process in time, and the Buddha himself as a historical figure, Sangharakshita now uses stories and quotations from the scriptures to show that the Buddha and reality are ultimately outside time. Talk given in 1966. This talk is part of the series Introducing Buddhism.

Our FBA Podcast this week is calledThe Buddha Beyond Siddhartha by Dassini.

The first half of the talk looks at the Buddha's early life and his battle with and the defeat of Mara. Then Dassini looks at the traditional Buddhist concept of time, and the division of time into Kalpas, inconceivably lengthy periods of time.

The talk concludes by looking at the Dharma niyama, the order of conditionality through which the attainment of Enlightenment is possible.

Please not that as this talk progresses there is some sound disturbance that gets louder as the talk goes on. Apologies for this.

Today's FBA Dharmabyte is entitled Reality and Intuition from the talk All One Gorgeous Mistake by Vajradarshini. A jewelled casket of a talk by Vajradarshini, with poetic accompaniment. Rumi meets Tsongkhapa in the Tavern of Ruin, and Dogen, Milarepa and Nagarjuna join them to talk about 'self' and 'world'. Joanna Macy turns up too — then many voices, mixed and mingled, explore the experience of being part of an Order and following the Buddha's way. Quite splendid stuff. Talk given at the Western Buddhi

Today's FBA Dharmabyte is called Perception (Samjna) - A Definition, taken from the 6th talk in the series The Diamond Sutra - Taking Mind to its Limits by Padmavajra. This is the sixth in a sparkling, wide-ranging, thoroughly comprehensive ten talk series by Padmavajra on 'The Diamond Sutra'. Down to the nitty-gritty now, with a useful and considered introduction to the nature and workings of perception itself. With a special emphasis too on moving from a utilitarian attitude to other people towards a gen

Our FBA Podcast this week is calledAnapanasati – Contemplation of Feelings given by Guhyavajra during the 2016 Anapanasati retreat at Padmaloka.

The Anapanasati meditation practice and Four Foundations of Mindfulness are woven into a system of practice which when developed and cultivated is of great fruit and great benefit.

Based on the Buddha's principal discourse on the subject found in the Anapanasati sutta of the Pali Canon, we explore our human experience rooted in the six senses; from the perspective of body, feeling and mind in the context of mindfulness with breathing.

This talk is part of the series Anapanasati.

Today's FBA Dharmabyte is from a talk by Kulaprabha called The Alchemy of Happiness, a thoughtful take on the positive emotions cultivated in the 'Brahma Vihara' meditations. This excerpt, called The Fulcrum of Vedana, takes a look at the relationship between mindfulness and positive emotion. Talk given at the Western Buddhist Order convention, 2007.