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Ok, buckle up. ‘Padmasambhava’ by Danavira is, as we’ve come to expect from the man, a rollicking ride of a talk. Actually, ‘talk’ doesn’t really do it justice: try incantation, wrong-footing evocation, dramatic monologue and enactment through storytelling, with a good dose of chanting and singing thrown in - some planned, some spontaneous. Sprinkle in a healthy quotient of hilarity and excitement and you’ve pretty much got yourself a knock-out, world-spinning excursion into the magical realism of the Great Guru, the Second Buddha, the Master of Enchantments. Be shaken by this. Be beguiled…

Please note: In this talk Danavira uses and adapts verses from the excellent ‘Self-Liberation Through Seeing With Naked Awareness’ by John Reynolds (Station Hill Press 1989)

Talk given at Padmaloka Retreat Centre, 2001

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So the story behind this is that around the year 2000 (which somehow still sounds really sci-fi), a study course some people do in our community was being revamped to include some basic Pali suttas. At the time, we were finishing a project to digitally remaster all of Sangharakshita’s main lectures, poetry recordings and sutra readings for release on cd, and it occurred to us that it would be neat if we could get him to record readings of the Pali texts chosen for the new course, so we could use it as a launch disc for the new cd series. So we asked, he said yes, and we produced a commemorative cd pack with a beautifully designed slipcase and a little booklet of the texts themselves. The designer was Dhammarati, and it’s another example of working wonders with a very limited budget and little time… Many thanks are due to all the publishers who gave us permission to reprint these essential Dharma (or should that be Dhamma?) texts.

A prosaic enough subtitle for this week’s update - but one that belies the rather marvellous diversity of the new material we’re featuring today. The Western Buddhist Order is nothing if not diverse, and here we have two talks that, taken together, probably encapsulate that better than any plain old discourse ever could…

Kulananda (Michael Chaskalson) is first up with his beautifully elegant take on the last of the traditional four levels of mindfulness - Mindfulness of Reality itself. This is potentially confusing territory, but Kulananda proves an excellent and calm pilot around the main streams and backwaters of Buddhist thought regarding the nature of life, the universe and everything. A good reference if you’ve ever lost your way a bit and needed to steady the boat.

Then contrast this approach to what really matters, with the almost rambunctious - Padmasambhava - by Danavira. To call this a ‘talk’ doesn’t really cut it - more like a controlled explosion of sound, a ‘performance piece’ in the best sense of that phrase. And the Great Guru is, indeed, called forth onto the stage of things with much laughing and singing. “Uncle Padma” is doubtless smiling at this young “nephew” who is so clearly moved in praising him - listen and find out why.

So, there you have it: two of the fairest talks, most alike in dignity, and certainly worth an hour of your time…

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This week we have news of two recent talks by Urgyen Sangharakshita, which we’ve now posted to the site for your listening and downloading pleasure. The first is from the Buddhafield Festival 2007 - Entering the Sangha - and finds the man in splendid form in a summer field amongst the hot tubs and revellers.

The second - Recollections and Reflections on My Going Forth - is fresh from the Men’s Order Convention, and has many a tale to tell from Sangharakshita’s days as a wandering ‘Dharma Farer’ in India. It’s also kind of challenging!

We also want to tell you about a fuller version of our new podcast for September - the splendidly titled Building an Ethical Underworld - Lessons from the Mafia - from Khemasuri.

Now you know we were always going to publicise this one, because the title is just so good. And because we could put up a picture of Tony Soprano. Underneath Bhante. But this is the extended version - incorporating a question-and-answer session (a bit like the ‘Director’s Cut’…) - of another thought-provoking and insightful talk from the Buddhafield ‘Dharma Parlour’ series. Listen and be inspired - and, well, not very afraid.

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Over here, Clemenza! Ever wanted to know about ‘General Systems Theory’ - one of those subjects you always hear vague things about yet never quite know what it actually is? Ever wondered why we seem to love a good gangster? Well, then this is for you! To tell the truth, we would have picked this anyway for the podcast because the title was just so good! But it happens to be an excellent and very full short talk by Khemasuri on a growing area of contemporary Buddhist philosophical thought. This one requires a bit of concentration - but it pays off with her passionately argued case for embracing personal responsibility and community engagement as a way of effecting social change in our troubled world. Just like “going to the mattresses”. But in a good way…

Talk given at the Buddhafield Festival, Devon, 2007

Contents

01 ‘Evolution or extinction’ by Sangharakshita (1971) - this talk as a response; the Buddha’s basic teaching and experience; conceptual constructions of a specific time and culture - ‘pratitya samutpada’ (’dependent arising’) and ‘general systems theory’

02 The difference between causality and conditionality; Cartesian thinking - from the holistic to the mechanistic; conditionality through the whole of human culture and experience; properties of all systems; feedback mechanisms; systems evolving in complexity - evolution and change; points of instability - the possibillity of collapse; non-predictability and synergy

03 Repercussions for how we act; the Cartesian model of the world and its effect on behaviour; systems theory, actions and consequences; means and ends as the same thing

04 Social networks, systems and change; ‘event-triggering process’ - shocks to the system and creative response; change with a community of individuals; the properties of a living community

05 What the Mafia can teach us about supporting change; Fritjof Capra’s ideas on the criminal underworld’s success; what the Mafia does well as a community; towards an ethical underworld

06 What we can do individually and collectively; the revolutionary nature of the ‘metta bhavana’ meditation (’development of loving kindness’); actions and consequences again; taking risks; different ways of doing community; collective change is not comfortable - the validity of strong emotions

07 The importance of passing on knowledge and promoting another vision of the world; diversity; don’t leave your values and principles at home; acting from the heart; the ‘infinite game’; profound personal feedback from your efforts

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