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Happy Holidays, Everyone! So, this is as close as we could get to a Christmas edition… You know, ‘Buddha Nature – easily confused for ‘incarnation’, all that…

No? Oh, well, what this most definitely is is an absolute cracker of a talk from Sagaramati. A brilliant, scholarly-but-accessible, look at the origins and development of the Tathagatagarbha (Buddha Nature) school of Buddhist thought through the lense of early Buddhist scripture.

Many misunderstandings are addressed as Sagaramati (aka. Professor Robert Morrison), with his usual wry, testy humour, takes us back to basics in considering just how – if at all – Tathagatagarbha doctrine is in harmony with Buddhist tradition. And he surprises himself in the process, evoking a path of practice rooted in kindness and a vision of ever-present possibility for all of us.

Talk given in 2004.

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 Is the Immanent Buddha a Fallacy? [00:52:54m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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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 Padmasambhava: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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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