In this talk Bhadra describes the six realms as a mirror in which to fully know the particulars of our own self created universe. This talk was given at Bristol Buddhist Centre, 2017. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast: A full, curated, quality Dharma talk, every week. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dharmabytes-from-free-buddhist-audio/id416832097 Spotify: https://op...
Jan 10, 2026•41 min•Ep. 752
Vadanya explores three great Buddhist symbols that describe the way things are: the wheel of life, the spiral path and the ultimate goal of Enlightenment. Together they form a guide to escape from the ultimate vicious circle into the complete freedom and fulfilment of Awakening. This talk was recorded at Sheffield Buddhist Centre , 2020, as part of the series The Wheel, The Spiral and The Goal . *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Sub...
Jan 03, 2026•39 min•Ep. 751
In this talk, Dharmasara relates the story of how Padmasambhava subdued the demons of Tibet to build Samye monastery. The monastery works as a symbol for a flourishing spiritual community which is not affected by the destructive forces in the world but instead puts them to the service of the Dharma. To subdue our own gods and demons, we have to become true individuals, and true individuals are what constitute the spiritual community. This talk was given during a young men's retreat held at Padma...
Dec 27, 2025•52 min•Ep. 750
In this talk, given during the 2013 Young men's retreat at Padmaloka, Padmavajra describes the qualities of the Dharma Warrior and how Dharma Warriors are fighting in the great battle between the spiritual community and the group - fighting for the liberation of the truly human individual against the forces of mediocrity and uniformity - the battle with Mara who embodies those forces. Padmavajra concludes with David Jones' magnificent evocation of a warrior in his poem 'The Hunt'. Given at Padma...
Dec 20, 2025•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 749
Mahasraddha speaks about becoming a true individual to the Oslo Sangha. He starts with the importance of being in touch with the bodhisattva ideal and the dangers of losing this connection. He then explores the relationship between the true individual, the positive group and the unhealthy group. This leads to an awareness of values and the importance of forgiving both ourselves and others when we don't manage to live up to the ideal. He also distinguishes individualism from individuality. Talk g...
Dec 13, 2025•41 min
How do we listen to the 'voice within'? How do we become an individual? How can imagination free us? Satyalila weaves together Sangharakshita's teachings on the True Individual with Blake to show us how to follow our golden thread towards greater clarity, receptivity and awareness. Talk given on a retreat for women who have asked for ordination as part of a series on 'The Group, the Individual and The Spiritual Community' given at Tiratanaloka Retreat Centre , as part of the series Becoming an i...
Dec 06, 2025•58 min•Ep. 747
Vajragupta offers a Buddhist reflection on the social and political times we are living through. The talk takes the myth of the asuras (the Titan realm on the Wheel of Life) as a way of seeing and understanding the kind of world we are creating. In that myth, the Buddha appears in the realm of the asuras holding a sword. What does that symbolise? Vajragupta suggests it can be seen as a sword of fearlessness, a sword of truth and wisdom, a sword of justice, and the sword of the archetypal "king"....
Nov 29, 2025•46 min•Ep. 746
In the game of life we wander between realms, moving from lower states to higher as our actions affect the state of our mind. Pradaya tours of the third ring of the wheel of life, the six realms of worldly existence which depict the kinds of world we can live in according to our state of mind. His talk focuses on the worlds of animals, gods and humans, informing us on how to recognise which realm we're in and how to create opportunities for growth. This talk was given at Sheffield Buddhist Centr...
Nov 22, 2025•49 min•Ep. 745
Sanghagita explores some of the most evocative and mysterious imagery from the Wheel of Life. In this talk we'll turn our attention to three realms that speak vividly to the struggles of human existence: the asuras, the pretas, and the hell realms. Expect support for home practice, practical ideas of how to bring these traditional teachings into your everyday life, and reflections on how to make your Great Escape! This talk was given at Sheffield Buddhist Centre , 2025. *** Help us keep FBA Podc...
Nov 15, 2025•35 min•Ep. 744
Suddhayu introduces the Wheel of Life beginning with an exploration of the three poisons and how our actions form our lives. From 'The Wheel of Life: A User's Manual for Samsara. Talk given at Portsmouth Buddhist Center , Portsmouth, NH (USA), 2025. ••• Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast: A full, curated, quality Dharma talk, every week. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dh...
Nov 08, 2025•29 min•Ep. 743
Suryagupta explores the story of Padmasambhava, the great tantric master, who was invited to Tibet when Buddhism could not take root through reason and philosophy alone. She describes how Padmasambhava confronted and transformed the unseen forces of Maras, demons, and gods, turning their energies towards the Dharma rather than away from it. The talk urges us to face our own inner and collective forces with courage, love, ritual, and devotion, calling on Padmasambhava's blessing for personal and ...
Nov 01, 2025•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 742
The Bodhisattva Ruchiraketu dreams of a golden drum radiating golden light which fills a totally transformed world...Classic Sangharakshita delving into one of the core texts studied in the Triratna Buddhist Order and Community. Part of the series Transformation of Life and World in the Sutra of Golden Light given in 1976. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast: A full, curated, quality Dharma...
Oct 25, 2025•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 741
Ratnaprabha takes us through this great, but short, Buddhist text, using his own re-rendering, and inspired by Han Shan's commentary. This talk was given at West London Buddhist Centre , 2012. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast: A full, curated, quality Dharma talk, every week. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dharmabytes-from-free-buddhist-audio/id416832097 Spotify: h...
Oct 18, 2025•56 min•Ep. 740
Bhante Sangharakshita described the Diamond Sutra as one of two books 'by which I have been most profoundly influenced.' We could see it as the keystone in the central arch of the architecture of his thinking about the Dharma. In this talk, Satyalila introduces the Sutra in its context of the Perfection of Wisdom (or Prajnaparamita) tradition and explores its significance for Sangharakshita, and for us. Talk given on a Bristol Buddhist Centre Sangha Retreat at Adhisthana, 2019. *** Help us keep ...
Oct 11, 2025•50 min•Ep. 739
Using Shantideva's 'Bodhicharyavatara' as a root text, Padmavajra brings us face to face with the big questions implicit in any life that seeks to embrace change and impermanence as facts of Reality. An excellent, strong talk - good medicine for hard times. Talk given at Padmaloka Retreat Centre , as part of the series The Alchemy of Love , 2004. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast: A full,...
Oct 04, 2025•39 min•Ep. 738
Amala speaks here on the fifth Paramita, of Meditative Absorption. This talk was given as part of Part of the series A Koan for Our Times , a series of lectures given by The College of Public Preceptors , 2024. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast: A full, curated, quality Dharma talk, every week. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dharmabytes-from-free-buddhist-audio/id41...
Sep 27, 2025•52 min•Ep. 737
Satyaraja offers this practical exploration of some themes from the Bardo Thodol, or the Great Liberation through Hearing in the Intermediate State. The talk was given at Padmaloka Retreat Centre , 2022. ••• Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast: A full, curated, quality Dharma talk, every week. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dharmabytes-from-free-buddhist-audio/id416832097...
Sep 20, 2025•40 min•Ep. 736
In this talk Vajradevi reflects on our good conditions, and our own conditioning in the light of Pratitya Samutpada and relates this reflection to the Women in Early Buddhism. This talk was given on the Women's UK and Ireland Area Order Weekend at Taraloka Retreat Centre , 2018. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast: A full, curated, quality Dharma talk, every week. Apple Podcasts: https://po...
Sep 13, 2025•54 min•Ep. 735
Padmavajra explores the great text that reveals the realms between death and new life, where anything is possible in the Bardo - the 'intermediate state'. This is also an excellent introduction to the recent history of the text itself as it has come into the West and influenced practitioners and cultural figures in many significant ways. Overall, this is a challenging and insightful series looking at how a true classic of spiritual literature has relevance to our modern ways of living and dying....
Sep 06, 2025•54 min•Ep. 734
A personal talk about gifts and teachings that Satyaraja has received from his Teachers, from the first retreat with S. N. Goenka in India early 1970's, to his first contact with Triratna and meeting Bhante Sangharakshita a few years later, to several very significant meetings with Bhante, and concluding with what his two kalyana mitras, Kamalashila and Padmavajra, have given and what they mean to him. Given at Stockholm Buddhist Center , 2025. *** This month's FBA Podcasts and Dharmabytes celeb...
Aug 30, 2025•35 min•Ep. 733
Nagabodhi's book : The Boy, the Monk, the Man examines the life of Sangharakshita - audacious reformer, and for some a deeply controversial figure. In an absorbing narrative, Nagabodhi takes us on a journey through the twists and turns of Sangharakshita's life; the experiences, insights, and reflections that nurtured his approach as a teacher; and the legacy he left behind. Here, Padmasuri interviews Nagabodhi - two long time friends in conversation and exploration. Recorded at Cambridge Buddhis...
Aug 23, 2025•28 min•Ep. 732
Subhuti gives us an early sight of the developing vision behind the Sangharakshita Library and Study Centre at Adhisthana, via a stirring evocation of the need for a deep knowledge of the Dharma strong enough to meet the considerable challenges of the modern world. In recalling Sangharakshita's conviction that something was working through him, Subhuti suggests that we cannot hope to understand the depth of vision available to us without fully immersing ourselves in the study of our teacher's em...
Aug 16, 2025•55 min•Ep. 731
Dayanandi shares how she was encouraged and inspired by Bhante's teachings on the Bodhicitta spirit. "Bhante encouraging shared collective community the creative conditions challenged us to go beyond us. As we were young and had a lot of energy, we took on Bhante's task of creating the conditions for the Bodhicitta to arise. It was spiritually nurturing to attend Bhante's lectures. They were very strong. It was through Bhante's dedicated, clear mind and friendliness, by him sharing his heartfelt...
Aug 09, 2025•36 min
Vessantara reflects on ways we create suffering through the tension of resistance and anticipation. Excerpted from a talk called Dukkha of Resisting and Anticipating Change given at Adhisthana as part of the series Dukkha and the Unbiased , 2018. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dha...
Aug 04, 2025•4 min•Ep. 1352
In the weeks following Urgyen Sangharakshita's death in 2018, Mahamati , one of his secretaries and companions, spoke informally at a number of Order gatherings about the experience of working closely with him during the last fifteen or so years of his life. Here, Mahamati reflects on aspects of their time together, and on aspects of Sangharakshita's personality and character which were not always visible publicly. We are afforded a series of glimpses into the concerns of his final years and tho...
Aug 02, 2025•44 min•Ep. 729
Saccanama explores the First Noble Truth of dukkha or unsatisfactoriness. Through looking at incidents from the life of the Buddha, he explores not just the individual aspect of dukkha but also the collective or social aspects of dukkha which are often overlooked or downplayed in Buddhist tradition. He also explores the traditional descriptions of dukkha before going on to examine what Joanna Macy calls apathy or our disconnection from the world. Through emphasising the collective and social asp...
Jul 26, 2025•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 728
Dhammarati explores Triratna's system of practice - its background in practice, its relationship to tradition, and its implications for the very nature of spiritual life. An encouraging, grounded, flexible take on the rigorous, meaningful, and rewarding challenges of a lifetime of working with the mind and the heart. Talk given at the national Triratna Buddhist Order weekend, February 2008. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscrib...
Jul 19, 2025•40 min•Ep. 727
Dassini looks at the Eight Worldly Winds and the Four Right Efforts, relating them back to the Four Mind Turning Reflections. This talk was given as part of the series Rainy Season Retreat , Glasgow Buddhist Centre , 2017. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast: A full, curated, quality Dharma talk, every week. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dharmabytes-from-free-buddhis...
Jul 12, 2025•58 min•Ep. 726
Dharma is the experience of reality, and also the expression of that experience in the form of the Buddha's teaching, especially the law of conditionality. It is the raft that carries you to Enlightenment, the further shore; it is whatever helps you to develop spiritually. This classic talk by Sangharakshita was given in 1968 as part of the series Introducing the Three Jewels of Buddhism . *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscribe...
Jul 05, 2025•58 min•Ep. 725
What is 'animism' and what kind of philosophy does it entail? Dhivan considers how animism rests on an intuition about the aliveness of the world, and how this intuition can inform a mode of philosophy that does not bypass the earth as the living presence behind all thinking. This talk was given at Adhisthana as part of the series Wisdom of the Earth: Philosophy and the Climate Crisis , 2023. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscr...
Jun 28, 2025•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 724
