Free Buddhist Audio

A short but sweet talk from San Francisco's very own Suvarnaprabha, in which she explores the Buddhist vision of compassion through her own experience of meditation and contact with inmates within the U.S. prison system. Moving stuff. Talk given at the Western Buddhist Order convention, 2005 Contents 01 Survanaprabha – poem by Jimmy Santiago Baca; a personal interest in violence 02 Violence as resistance in meditation; compassion as not resisting experience 03 Prisoners talking about self-perpetuating violence 04 The vastness of compassion; the difficulty of talking about shunyata and compassion 05 An anecdote about selflessness; quote from Shunryu Suzuki To help us keep this free, please think about making a donation.

Time for another talk from Vajradarshini. More poetry, more Rumi, more listening joy. Actually, we just liked the title so much we had to go for it this month – but, in fact, it's 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 walking lost "inside the red world". Drink up! Talk given at Taraloka Retreat Centre, 2005 Contents 01 Starting with a poem by Rumi – not a 'sensible' talk 02 'Enlightenment'; following a railing in the dark; wine in Rumi's poetry; the Dharma as studying the self; surrender and discipline 03 The Tavern – pushing off for Truth; 'managing' samsara and settling down 04 Fermentation; being cooked – slowly 05 How we are cups; two ways we limit ourselves – i. literalism; a quote from Aloka – abandoning ideas of what the 'path' is 06 Sangharakshita on literalism and craving; effective Going for Refuge and giving up limited ideas; the antidote to beauty 07 ii. Utilitarianism; Sangharakshita's idea of the Greater Mandala of Uselessness; literal takes on aesthetics; breaking the cups 08 Pushing off into truth; kinds of connection with Buddhas and Bodhisattvas; Reality and form and emptiness; visualistaion practice and life – things arising and disolving 09 'Fana' and 'baka' in Rumi's poetry – two streamings across the doorsill; Shams-e-Tabrizi – Rumi's teacher 10 The importance of reflecting on form and emptiness; the eight-point mind training – taking all obstacles with you on the path; the Bodhisattva Ideal from the perspective of emptiness; spiritual practice in a world neither real nor illusory 11 Pema Chodron on how to avoid burn-out; shunyata and unrealistic ideals; a quote by Dennis Potter near to death; the trivial and the important; birdsong 12 Hsuan-Tsang's 'trusting mind'; introducing the dirt we buy to the dirt we already have To help us keep this free, please think about making a donation.

Here is the second part of Paramabandhu's excellent exploration of the lessons Buddhist techniques around meditation and mindfulness training can bring to the field of mental health – especially to problems with depression and addiction. Drawing on many years of experience as a consultant psychiatrist and Dharma teacher, here he takes questions on his previous talk and elaborates on the general theme. There's a wide range of material opened up – and considerable detail about how we can actually go about applying these techniques to whatever challenges we face in your own lives. Essential listening. Please note – the questions in this recording were made at very low levels. We've amplified and clarified where possible – but the general sound quality drops noticeably at these points. However, they are all now audible and, in almost all instances, questions are repeated by Paramabandhu before he answers. Talk given at San Francisco Buddhist Center, 2006 Contents 01 Question-and-answer session – two books to reference on mindfulness; working with depression – discrepancy monitor and rumination 02 Knowing what you can and cannot change – considered action 03 Difficulty doing mindfulness work when actively depressed; noticing subtle shades of pleasant and unpleasant 04 Can mindfulness initiate depression? Stepping out of patterns of thinking; difference between rumination and 'staying with'; body awareness 05 Over-active mind; 12 step program – something to actually do; expectations and suffering; having your experience – the truth as sometimes uncomfortable 06 Letting go of what you don't have; relationship break-up; staying with unpleasant experience and not compounding it – the Buddha in the 'Dart Sutta' 07 Not identifying with one feeling; sexual addiction; recovery from addiction and mindfulness practice 08 Rumination in the body; working with internal sensations; using metaphors to work with your mind 09 Psoriasis and mindfulness 10 What is meditation? A brief introduction and exercise – the 'Three Minute Breathing Space' To help us keep this free, please think about making a donation.

This is a timely and invaluable talk from Paramabandhu. Drawing on many years of experience as a consultant psychiatrist and Dharma teacher, he invites us to consider the lessons Buddhist techniques around meditation and mindfulness training can bring to the field of mental health – especially to problems with depression and addiction. The talk evokes the Buddha in the Satipatthana Sutta to explore the four traditional foundations of mindfulness and discuss their potential use in therapeutic contexts. It is a kindly and empowering expression of practical hope, whose message applies to us all as we struggle to overcome whatever it is that holds us back from greater freedom in our lives. Part 2 of this podcast will feature a question-and-answer session based on the material Talk given at the San Francisco Buddhist Center, 2006 Contents: 01 Contemporary interest in mindfulness; brief therapeutic history of meditation since the 1960s; the Buddha as behavioural therapist – the obese king, Kisa Gotami and her baby 02 John Kabat-Zinn and mindfulness-based stress reduction; other therapies based around mindfulness 03 Mindfulness in Buddhist tradition; the Satipatthana Sutta; sati and sampajanya; analogies for mindfulness; the four foundations of mindfulness – an analysis of technique in practice 04 Four aspects of mindfulness in therapeutic context; i clocking what's going on – being on automatic pilot 05 ii Sitting with your experience; Rumi's poem 'The Guest House'; the kindly aspect of awareness; body awareness and mental proliferation 06 iii Perspective; cognitive behavioural therapy and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy – the implicit and the explicit; not taking our thoughts so seriously; iv choice – mindfulness of purpose 07 Taking awareness deeper; freedom; Kotita's 'Song of Realization' To help us keep this free, please think about making a donation.

Settle back and touch base with this very enjoyable and, at times, inspiring talk by Saddharaja on the great blue Buddha of the eastern quarter of the mandala – the Unshakeable One, the Imperturbable Akshobya. This is particularly good because it departs from standard fare on the figure. We get a great reading from Wordsworth, a stimulating discussion of ethics and their relationship to issues of doubt and self-confidence, as well as a meeting with a wooly mammoth… Listen out too for a terrific story about standing inside a mountain which communicates something essential about the depth of presence and mystery Akshobya is all about. Talk given at Padmaloka Retreat Centre, Winter Retreat 2001 To help us keep this free, please think about making a donation.

This wonderful talk by Ratnaguna looks at the Pureland tradition of Shinran, comparing some of his approaches to those of the contemporary teacher John Kabat-Zinn, pioneer of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction. The nature of 'problems' versus 'difficulties' is explored – notions of 'acceptance', 'development', and awareness itself are considered from new angles that can shed light on our experience of failure and suffering. A lovely, sympathetic and good-natured look at the foolishness of human beings which can, when held in the heart, begin to approach wisdom itself. To help us keep this free, please think about making a donation.

To get us moving again now the new site is up and running, here's a cracking and wonderfully detailed talk by Vessantara, author of 'Meeting the Buddhas'. He is the ideal person to introduce us to the complex and fascinating Tantric figure of Vajrapani – 'Lord of Secrets', embodiment of "virya' ('Energy in Pursuit of the Good'). Vessantara's style is familiar and well-earthed, and therefore eminently suited to material that bristles with electricity and is not always so easy to communicate. We get the origin and development of the Tantra itself, as well as of this key figure who meets the impermanent nature of Reality head-on and embodies the tremendous possibilities of change. Look out too for a great introduction about darts…! To help us keep this free, please think about making a donation.

We're totally thrilled to announce the launch of Free Buddhist Audio, the new, free download and streaming service from The Dharmachakra Archives. If you've been enjoying our podcasts, you'll love this! The site features over 500 free recordings – mostly talks, but also guided meditations, retreat recordings, question-and-answer sessions and interviews! There's also a very extensive searchable text archive of seminars and talks on all aspects of Buddhist practice and culture, western and eastern. The site has been several years in the making, and is now live – so, we'd like to invite you over! Come and play…

This is pretty fantastic in its way. Danavira is one of the best speakers we know – he is very funny, can do poetic and profound, tends to the chaotic in his style, and has a particular genius for this kind of thing; this kind of thing being talking about death. The whole talk is a kind of respectful joyride through the hardest subject of all – sit back and enjoy a thoroughly adult treat that's likely to blow the heart wide open. To help us keep this free, please think about making a donation.

Kamalashila has spent a lot of his adult life exploring meditation – and this talk is a lovely little foray into the whole subject as a crucial aspect in life and practice, with special consideration given to reflection on the six elements. Oh, and look out for Brian the meditating dog… Table of contents: 01 Brian, the meditating dog, and the natural life; experience of the elements versus artificial living 02 Meditation exposing artificiality through awareness of experience; meditation as a kind of prayer for authenticity and truth; the buddhist path as a way of beccoming more natural 03 The six element practice as a focus on nature; historical suppression of pagan naturalness; naturalness as an issue of practice, not theory 04 The earth element; the easiest element to experience directly; hard, firm and durable 05 The water element; the shape depends on the container; the taboo of bodily fluids; accepting the elements as they are; the elements as co-existing qualities, not things 06 The fire element; relating to and learning from fire 07 The element of wind (air) as 'motion' – vayo dhatu; movement of emotional energy in the body and its oppression; element practice as recollection of spaciousness; the movement of the mind, thoughts and perceptions 08 The element 'space'; the great container of all things 09 The element 'consciousness'; all other elements embraced in consciousness; the element of experiences; seeing into what experience is 10 Questioning in practice – deepening; the reason for practice as the development of liberating awareness; the consequences of unawareness and awareness; letting the dharma in; the importance of study and discussion in deepening practice 11 The essence of meditation as realising the natural state of things and being changed by that realisation; having confidence in one's realisations; learning what to look for; the spaciousness of things 12 Two ways into spaciousness; noting inconsistencies as opportunities for realisation; the incongruity and illusory nature of 'me' and 'mine'; relaxing the tendency to arousal opens up simplicity and naturalness 13 A second approach to emptiness; seeing directly the free and spacious nature of things; motion in the mind; the elusive nature of thoughts; words and thoughts; the emptiness of thoughts; emptiness as the natural element; nirvana as naturalness 14 Returning to earth and befriending the elements; the extremity of artificiality in present culture; Buddhafield as an attempt to find simplicity; true simplicity as whatever allows more room for comparison and wisdom To help us keep this free, please think about making a donation.

Vaddhaka can usually be relied on to give a pretty great talk – and this is no exception. Here we have a real treat – a terrific, energetic exploration of the green Buddha of the north: Amoghasiddhi (Dundubishvara), the Unobstructed One. This is kind of a multi-media affair – listen for the 13th Century Spanish processional music in honour of the Virgin, and a blast of Sibelius too! Marvellous. Talk given at Padmaloka Retreat Centre, winter retreat 2001 Please note that some small noise artefacts can be heard occasionally on this talk due to a poor original recording. To help us keep this free, please think about making a donation.

This is a fascinating, challenging and, in the end, realistically affirming look at Buddhist practice in the face of global climate crisis. What can we do? How can we change the ways we think and respond to the seemingly insurmountable problems the planet faces? Akuppa's thoughtful introduction to the worlds of scientific and deep ecology asks us the hard questions and offers some hope for possible answers. Drawing on the work of Joanna Macy, amongst others, he traces positive lessons to be learned from simply observing and engaging with nature's patterns and processes – and invites us all to prepare to be awestruck as a necessary first step. Please note that some small noise artefacts can be heard occasionally on this talk due to a poor original recording. To help us keep this free, please think about making a donation.

This is 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 â€" a text guaranteed to turn your world upside-down. Some very funny parts to this talk â€" and some excellent evocations of rigorous Dharma practice as part of the everyday business of life. Watch out too for an intriguing discussion of the sutra as Vajrapani and as a zen master… Great stuff! To help us keep this free, please think about making a donation.

Jnanavaca is back! Last time it was mountaineering (see our very first podcast), this time it's Einstein, Schroedinger, double slits, 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 â€" 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 â€" settle back and enjoy a brain-expanding, soul questioning talk. To help us keep this free, please think about making a donation.

The Buddha as lover, as master of enchantments, as a vision of the sky. In this talk, Candradasa presents the story of the Buddha's life as a backdrop to three visions of practice, focussing on a progression through love and corresponding to the traditional path of ethics, meditation and wisdom. Myth, dream and archetypal images galore â€" from Jung and Star Wars to Giacometti and Jean Genet â€" as well as a healthy dose of sex, magic and death. But finally, we have the Buddha simply as a vision of how to know ourselves more fully and live our lives with a marvellous elegance of being… To help us keep this free, please think about making a donation.

Core meditation teaching from Viveka. Here is her fresh and vibrant take on the traditional practice of anapanasati – mindfulness with breathing. Using the breath as a stabilizing presence, this series of reflections is designed to help us discover the nature of reality itself by encouraging us to notice what is actually happening each moment in a direct and open way. Anapanasati is a complete path to awakening or enlightenment. To help us keep this free, please think about making a donation.

Lalitavira's splendid talk on mindfulness – especially mindfulness of the body – is here to ground you! Through vivid imagery, we encounter the root practice of Buddhism as it appears in earliest times. In doing so, we contemplate the assumptions behind our experience, as well as those behind traditional dharma practice and philosophy. This is good, strong medicine for flighty times – an unflinching but kindly look at death, sex and the nature of things! To help us keep this free, please think about making a donation.

A new year's talk by Subhuti to help dust away all those mental cobwebs hanging over from the last one! Just the thing for sharpening your wits, deepening your understanding of the thorny area that is ethics, and generally pulling your socks up on the awareness front… A friendly but thoroughly enagaging first step into a profoundly interesting area of Buddhist philosophy and practice â€" just how does the mind work? To help us keep this free, please think about making a donation.

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 â€" then many voices, mixed and mingled, explore the experience of being part of an Order and following the Buddha's way. Quite splendid stuff. To help us keep this free, please think about making a donation.

Fabulous stuff from Padmavajra. This richly rewarding talk explores the place and function of sound in Buddhist practice and history, as well as within the speaker'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! To help us keep this free, please think about making a donation.

A good, pithy introduction from Nagapriya (not to say quirky – check out the soccer references!) to the traditionally thorny and rather misunderstood area of karma and rebirth, teasing out its relationship to Buddhist ethics in general. Instant karma is yours… For more talks and to help us keep this free, visit freebuddhistaudio.com

A lovely, thoughtful exploration of the traditional Buddhist path of ethics, meditation and wisdom, using poetry and the ideas of contemporary science to evoke the mystery that lies at the heart of practice. Dhammadassin's beautifully weighted talk challenges us to look at how we think and how we act, and is rooted in a moving fidelity to experience as the ground of our inspiration. One to be treasured! For more talks and to help us keep this free, visit freebuddhistaudio.com

A sparkling discussion from 2003 on the use of images for accessing the Buddhist tradition. And an indispensable exploration of everyday practice of the Dharma in the beautiful light of the Tathagathagarbha Sutra. For more talks and to help us keep this free, visit freebuddhistaudio.com

In this moving talk Jnanavaca relates events in Joe Simpson's popular mountaineering book 'Touching the Void' to aspects of Buddhist practice. For more talks and to help us keep this free, visit freebuddhistaudio.com