Dharmabytes from free buddhist audio

In today's FBA Dharmabyte, "What is Gratitude?", Sangharakshita reflects on the Buddha's achievement of Enlightenment, drawing our attention to an often overlooked feature of this great event - the Buddha's expression of gratitude to the tree that sheltered him. A timely look at ways to cultivate this essential positive emotion. This is an excerpt from the talk Looking at the Bodhi Tree given in 1999.

Today's FBA Dharmabyte, "Death & Clarity", by Vajradharshini brings us a beautiful piece on the hardest of subjects. Using zen poetry and a happily wide-ranging series of quotations (from Tibetan lamas to Ezra Pound), Vajradarshini explores her own father's death as a way to approach attitudes to death and dying. This excerpt, from the talk: "The Transitoriness of Life and the Certainty of Death," focusses on practice, a sense of urgency and being in the moment, she asks us: how do we want to spend our time?

Today's FBA Dharmabyte, "The Dharma is Everywhere, is a beautiful short talk by Aryashila of the Croydon Buddhist Centre exploring impermanence. She uses the challenging poetry of Leonard Cohen and others, as well as her own deep life experience, to show that reality does not conform to ordinary wishes, but yet facing it squarely can be supremely uplifting, not sad. Talk given at the Sangha evening of the West London Buddhist Centre.

Today's FBA Dharmabyte, "What Can We Be Sure Of?" is a taste of Jnanavaca's fabulous take on Einstein, Schroedinger, and all that stuff you wished you understood about quantum physics but despaired of ever knowing so as to impress at parties... Well, now you can learn all about it — as well as how it relates to Dharma practice and the Buddha's view of a truly luminous Reality. Very classy stuff from a great speaker with the most infectious laugh on the planet! We won't give any more away here — settle back and enjoy a brain-expanding, soul questioning except from the talk, "Buddhism and Quantum Physics" given at the  Triratna Buddhist Order Convention, 2005

More listening joy from Vajradharshini in today's FBA Dharmabyte, "Enlightenment is Different for Each of Us." From the talk "We Have a Huge Barrel of Wine But No Cups", this is another splendid journey around the idea of Enlightenment, using the languages of surrender and discipline from the Sufi context. It’s as heady as a sumptuous wine, but also sobering and down to earth, whether we’re “following a railing in the dark” or "wandering inside the red world”. Drink up! Talk given at Taraloka Retreat Centre, 2005

Today's FBA Dharmabyte, "On Creativity", is from a sparkling talk by Sangharakshita titled "Fields of Creativity" on a theme close to his heart. Full of warmth, wit and stimulating ideas. Talk given in 2001.

Today's FBA Dharmabyte, "Positive Change" is brought to us by Sangharakshita himself, founder of the Triratna Buddhist Order and Community. 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. From the talk "A Method of Personal Development" given in 1976 as part of the series Buddhism for Today and Tomorrow.

In today's FBA Dharmabyte, "The Greatest Tragedy", Subhuti invites us to look into the tragedy of not knowing what we want. He shares his thoughts on the nature of Samsara, contact with the Dharma and realisation as the deepest happiness. This is 'Eight Verses for Training the Mind': Talk 1 from the four-part series on this Tibetan text attributed to Kadampa Geshe Langri Tangpa.

Today's FBA Dharmabyte, "Everyone Needs the Dharma - Milarepa's Song" has Sanghrakshita delightfully reciting words from the song. The Dharma is defined as whatever contributes to the development of the individual. In the full talk, "Western Buddhists and Eastern Buddhism" Sangharakshita emphasizes the importance of distinguishing Buddhism as a universally applicable path of development from the specifically Eastern cultural forms it has been associated with in the past, and explains why an authentic, non-sectarian Buddhist movement is needed in the West. Talk given in 1979. This talk is part of the series "A New Buddhist Movement - the Meaning of the FWBO."

Today's FBA Dharmabyte, is titled "Buddhism and the Mind" is an excerpt from the talk "Meditation: the Expanding Consciousness" by Sangharakshita. A traditional exposition of Buddhist meditation looking at why we meditate; preparation for meditation; the five meditation practices designed to counteract the five mental poisons; and the three stages of meditation. Talk given in 1967.

Today's FBA Dharmabyte, "Pratitya Samutpada (Conditioned Co-production)," takes us right to the heart of the matter: How the Buddha sees things. Subhuti, with his sharp clarity and clear vision, explores one of the central teachings of the Buddha - that things arise and pass away in dependence upon conditions. Talk given at the Western Buddhist Order National Order Weekend, Wymondham 2006

Today's FBA Dharmabyte, titled "What is the Middle Way?" is extracted from the talk "Twenty Years on the Middle Way" by Sangharakshita. The Middle Way can be explored through three levels of application: ethics, psychology and metaphysics. Sagharakshita explores the extreme views associated with each as he points the way towards the Middle Way. Talk given in 1987

Today's FBA Dharmabyte, "What is the Spiritual Community," is an extract from the well-loved talk "The Individual, the Group, and the Spiritual Community" by Sangharakshita. Posing the questions: What is individuality? What is the difference between a group and a spiritual community? How can an ordinary group support our efforts to transcend the group? Talk given in 1971.

Today's FBA Dharmabyte, "Don't Leave Your Values at Home," Khemasuri passionately shares the case for embracing personal responsibility and community engagement as a way of effecting social change in our troubled world. This track from the talk, "Building an Ethical Underworld - Lessons from the Mafia", given at the Buddhafield Festival, Devon, 2007.

Today's FBA Dharmabyte, "Doubt from Faith," takes us into some crazy stuff as we hit koan country! In this track, Padmavajra explores materialist versus religious world views, spiritual life without God and the dialectic between Great Faith and Great Doubt. Uncompromising stuff towards a more profound level of awareness - steer to the deep! FBA Dharmabyte from the full talk, "Great Doubt,", featured in this Saturday's full podcast.