Dharmabytes From Free Buddhist Audio

Today's FBA Dharmabyte is Knowing Our Patterns by Karunavapi. We live by patterns, mostly unconsciously. Using personal reflections, poetry and imagery of the Five Buddha Mandala, Karunavapi talks of mandalas as patterns of the unenlightened and enlightened mind. 'Personal mandalas' as the patterning of our own, unenlightened minds and the Five Buddha Mandala as the pattern of the Buddha's enlightened mind. To appreciate the qualities of the Buddha, we can see them like light through a prism splitting into the colours of the five Buddhas of the Mandala. Excerpted from the talk Mandalas: Mythic and Personal given at Bristol Buddhist Centre during a year long series on the System of Practice. *** 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

Today’s FBA Dharmabyte, is Expanding Views by Nandaraja. How to step outside of polarisation and find freedom of heart and mind. From the talk Empathising with the Enemy given on a People of Colour Sangha Day retreat. *** 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

In today’s FBA Dharmabyte, Sangharakshita discusses The Four Limitless States. In Buddhist practice, the traditional method of choice for effecting positive change in one’s life is meditation. Here Sangharakshita takes a closer look, focussing on the ‘superconscious states’ (characterised in turn by integration, inspiration, permeation, and radiation), the practice of developing universal friendliness, and the distinction between calm and Insight. Talk given in 1976. From the talk, A Method of Personal Development, given as part of the series Buddhism for Today and Tomorrow. *** 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

Today’s FBA Dharmabyte is Turning Towards by Saddhanandi. How do you make a meaningful practice of loving kindness in a difficult world? How do we turn towards, rather than away...? This is excerpted from the brilliant talk given on the Metta and Insight Retreat, 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

Our FBA Dharmabyte today brings us face to face, as it were, with "our root fear", that of selflessness. From the talk Ethics as Insight Practice by Guhyavajra. *** 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

Our FBA Dharmabyte today is called Be More Than Your Culture by Maitreyabandhu. How do we make the most of life? Buddhism is a non-theistic, practical path of human growth and fulfilment. This series includes highlights from the eight-week course that leads participants step by step along the Buddhist path from mindfulness and emotional strength to receptivity, spiritual death and rebirth. And, as you can see from the talks, Maitreyabandhu always comes back to the here and now; how we put our spiritual insights into practice. From the talk The Journey and the Guide - Week Four - The Mandala of Positive Emotion. *** 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

Our FBA Dharmabyte today is called Generosity Leads to Happiness by Vijayasri. This is another talk in our exploration of The Journey and The Guide. Vijayasri considers how having generosity at the centre of a mandala, based on the positive precepts, can help us to develop positive emotion. From the talk, Generosity As A Foundation Of Positive Emotion, given at Croydon Buddhist Centre in February 2016 as part of the regular Saturday Morning Sangha Class. *** 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

Our FBA Dharmabyte today is called Supporting Brilliance by Singhamati. A heartfelt talk about Integration as a path to wholeness. Looking at the what, how and why of this crucial aspect of the spiritual life. From the talk Integration: a Path to Wholeness. *** 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

Our FBA Dharmabyte today is called Integration Mandalas by Vajragupta. In this talk, exploring the Journey and the Guide, Vajragupta leads us through creating a personal mandala so that we can discover the shape of our lives. He discusses how to use a mandala to shine a light on changes we may wish to make in our day to day conditions. If you want to engage fully with this talk you will need a pencil and paper! From the talk Using Personal Mandalas to Help Integration given at the Croydon Buddhist Centre in January 2016 as part of the regular Saturday Sangha Morning class using Journey and the Guide by Maitreyabandhu.

and#8220;May I deliver all beings from difficulties; may I eradicate all passions; may I master all dharmas; may I lead all beings to Buddhahood.and#8221; This is the Bodhisattvaand#8217;s resolve upon the awakening of the Bodhi Heart. Todayand#8217;s FBA Dharmabyte is called Bodhichitta and the Bodhisattva Vow by Sangharakshita. From the talk The Bodhisattva Vow given in 1969. This talk is part of the series Aspects of the Bodhisattva Ideal.

Our FBA Dharmabyte today is called Our Next Teacher by Ratnaprabha. In the full talk entitled The Great Way, Ratnaprabha tells the Zen story of the maiden in the mud, explains the attitude of the Mahayana, the Bodhisattva, altruism and how Mahayana is not a school of Buddhism. He finishes with the grand vision of Vairocanaand#8217;s tower from the Gandavyuha Sutra.

Our FBA Dharmabyte today is called Let the Mind Roam by Vajradevi. What are the particular challenges we face in the 21st Century? There are many, and Vajradevi focuses on the mind precepts and our use of technology. From the talk Ethical Challenges In the Modern World by Vajradevi, given as part of a series at Shrewbury Triratna Centre focusing on the and#8217;21st Century Bodhisattvaand#8217;.

Our FBA Dharmabyte today is by Vajrapriya called Put Down the Burden. From the talk entitled Liberty Equality Fraternity from the series called The 21st Century Bodhisattva given at Shrewsbury Triratna Buddhist Group. Vajrapriya explores Dr Ambedkarand#8217;s slogan and#8220;Liberty, Equality, Fraternityand#8221;, looking at topics like the New Society, and Subhutiand#8217;s exhortation to start the Dharma Revolution in the West.

Our FBA Dharmabyte today is by Abhayavajra called Engaging with the Arts. What happens when Buddhist practice meets contemporary western art? Art East presents an evening with Abhayavajra at the London Buddhist Arts Centre, exploring how the Dharma life is expressed in art practice. Interviewed by Maitreyabandhu. Listen to the full talk entitled Painting the Void.

Our FBA Dharmabyte today is by Taradasa called Our Relationship with Arts. This talk asks us to look, and look again, at our relationship to the fine arts. Whether itand#8217;s music, painting, sculpture, performance and#8211; whatever we respond to in the Arts, Taradasa shows how we can approach it as spiritual practice. Excerpted from the talk entitled Buddhism and the Arts.

Our FBA Dharmabyte today is by Varasahaya called Trusting the Process. Drawing on her experience as a poet, Varasahaya discusses creativity, imagination, and the writing process as a spiritual practice. She reads some of her poems, and explains the process by which they came to birth, and what she learnt about letting go of self as she grappled with writing. An excellent and very accessible talk given to Sangha night at the West London Buddhist Centre. Taken from the full talk, Writing as Spiritual Practice.

Our FBA Dharmabyte today is by the lovely Satyalila called A Creative Response. Taken from the full talk, Imagination, the Buddha andamp; Us offering a practical and personal perspective on why Sangharakshita has taught that imagination is a vital ingredient in the spiritual life. Full of examples and poetry, the talk invites listeners to recognise and#8211; and harness and#8211; the great power of the imagination which is in all of us, whether or not weand#8217;re aware of it.

Our FBA Dharmabyte today is about The Caste System In India by Amoghasiddhi, a public preceptor in India, who shares about the influence of Dr. Ambedkar on his life and community. Listen to the Yashosagar, another public preceptor, on this same occasion The Caste System In India.

Todayand#8217;s FBA Dharmabyte gives us a glimpse into a Triratna retreat in India. Entitled A Jumbo Indian Retreat this excerpt is from the talk My Life and Dr Ambedkar by Chandrabodhi. Given at Sangha night, North London Buddhist Centre.

Maitrivir-Nagarjuna gives us todayand#8217;s FBA Dharmabyte: Buddhist Revival in India. This excellent talk was recorded for the San Francisco sanghaand#8217;s celebration of the anniversary of the great mass conversion initiated by Dr. Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar, the great leader of the Dalit community of Indian Buddhists. It is a pretty comprehensive overview of why Dr. Ambdekar converted to Buddhism, the significance of the anniversary itself, and Ambedkarand#8217;s vision of and#8216;prabuddha bharatand#8217;: Enlightened India, and, in fact, an Enlightened world. From the talk Dr Ambedkarand#8217;s Conversion given in 2009.