Dharmabytes from free buddhist audio

Today's FBA Dharmabyte "The Golden Drum," by Sangharakshita, is an excerpt from the talk 'The Bodhisattva’s Dream'. The Bodhisattva Ruchiraketu dreams of a golden drum radiating golden light which fills a totally transformed world... Talk given in 1976. This talk is part of the series 'Transformation of Life and World in the Sutra of Golden Light'.

Today's FBA Dharmabyte "Samsara & the Three Laksanas," by Dhammadinna, is from the first talk in a five-part series from Tiratanaloka's retreat on the 'Four Mind Turning Reflections' of the Tibetan tradition. This introductory talk by Dhammadinna is an ideal entry point to the world of the mind-turnings. Seen as foundations for the building of practice, the reflections encourage us to make life meaningful in the face of a relentlessly ungovernable reality. Here she explores seeing conditioned existence in terms of the three laksanas and ways of giving up craving without harmful side effects. A strong look in the mirror of the heart. Talk given at Tiratanaloka Retreat Centre, 2005

Skandha is another of those untranslated terms - it literally means a trunk of a tree! In today's FBA Dharmabyte Sangharakshita offers his understanding of the "The Five Skandhas." From the inspiring talk, "The Awakening of the Bodhi Heart", from the 1969 series "Aspects of the Bodhisattva Ideal."

In today's FBA Dharmabyte titled "What Karma Is" Nagapriya offers a good, pithy introduction to the traditionally thorny and rather misunderstood area of karma and rebirth, teasing out its relationship to Buddhist ethics in general. This excerpt is from the talk "Understanding Karma and Buddhist Ethics" given in Manchester, 2003

Today's FBA Podcast is another reading from The Perfection of Wisdom Sutras. This one, "A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Perfection of Wisdom Sutras" Chandana talks about the Perfection of Wisdom Sutras, a category of Sutras in the Mahayana tradition.

Today's FBA Dharmabyte is another reading from The Perfection of Wisdom Sutras. This one,  "A Reading of the Suchness of the Skandhas" beautifully shared with us by Kulaprabha from the talk, "Reflection on the Five Skandhas", the second guided reflection in the series 'Night Lily Garden of the Midnight Way - Emptiness and the Great Compassion'. "As stars, a fault of vision, as a lamp, a mock show, dew drops or a bubble, a lighting flash or a cloud, so we should view that which is conditioned."

Today's FBA Dharmabyte today is "A Reading of the Heart Sutra" is just that, and it's very beautifully read indeed! This is an excerpt from the talk, "Reflection on the Five Skandhas" by Kulaprabha, the second guided reflection in the series 'Night Lily Garden of the Midnight Way - Emptiness and the Great Compassion'.

Although innumerable beings have been led to nirvana, no being at all has been led to nirvana. Sangharakshita eloquently delivers today's FBA Dharmabyte "The Diamond Sutra's Fundamental Insight" from the talk "The Diamond Sutra" given in 1969.

Seeing is a good word to describe the dawning of insight. Today's FBA Dharmabyte "Seeing with Insight" is from the fourth talk in Padmavjara's wonderful series on the Dhammapada, the most popular of early Buddhist texts. All of the Buddha's core teachings are here - held in heart and mind there's more than enough in the Dhammapada to take us as far in our practice as we can imagine, and then on beyond... This material is intended for use with the Dharma Training Course for Mitras (see our 'Study' section, year three). Talk recorded at Padmaloka Retreat Centre, 2007 The full talk, also titled "Seeing with Insight", is part of the series The Dhammapada - the Buddha's Way of Truth.

In today's FBA Dharmabyte titled "In response to the Buddha" Sangharakshita explores how we come into contact with the Buddha through our intellect, emotion and our will. From the talk "Intellect, Emotion and Will" given at the opening of the Manchester Buddhist Centre in 1996.

Exploring the first of the four 'superconscious states' today's FBA Dharmabyte titled "Integration" by Sangharakshita takes us in for a closer look at the energies of both the conscious and unconscious mind and how the process of integration leads to greater harmony and ease. Excerpted from the talk, "A Method of Personal Development," given in 1976 as part of the series "Buddhism for Today and Tomorrow."

Today's FBA Dharmabyte, "The Clouded Dragon", is an excerpt from a gem of a talk from Abhaya. With his customary dry wit and sharp eye he leads us on the crazy paving path through the Diamond Sutra - a text guaranteed to turn your world upside-down. Sharing his love for one of Sangharakshita's poems titled The Clouded Dragon, Abhaya makes some excellent evocations of rigorous Dharma practice as part of the everyday business of life. This is an excerpt from the talk titled  "The Diamond Sutra" given at the Triratna Buddhist Order National Order weekend 2003

In today's FBA Dharmabyte, "Life Gone Forth is Wide Open", Padmavajra takes us into the strong experience of Going Forth into homelessness. Sometimes life presents us with extremely difficult choices that seem to set us apart from those we love. Through personal reminiscence and classic Zen poetry that evokes a truly rich awareness, we see the Buddha, Hakuin, Dogen and Ryokan as they struggle to make sense of this fleeting world of form. This excerpt is from the talk "The Buddha, Hakuin, Birth and Death" given at Padmaloka Retreat Centre, 2004 This talk is part of the series "Tangling Eyebrows with Zen Masters."

In today's FBA Dharmabyte, "Four Reasons Why We Fear Death ", Kulaprabha explores the Abhaya Sutta on the theme of spiritual death. The death of our fixed, bounded self, the self that is made up of bundled habits and preferences and views - especially views about existence and non-existence. So don't be surprised if, when contemplating the impermanence and unreliability of that small self, you taste fear. It's natural enough in the circumstances. This is an excerpt from the full talk "Spiritual Death, Fear and Fearlessness" focussing on the Abhaya Sutta. This talk was given on retreat at Taraloka Retreat Centre in 2008.

In today's FBA Dharmabyte, "The Third Great Stage of the Path", Sangharakshita talks about the process of spiritual death as the cultivation of unselfishness. This talk, titled, "The Path of Spiritual Development" is a book launch for 'The Essential Sangharakshita' published by Wisdom Publications. Recorded 2009 at Essen, Germany. Talk translated in German.