This weeks FBA Podcast, “Spiritual Death and Rebirth, a New Perspective On the Dharma Niyama”, takes us deeply into the stages of spiritual death and rebirth that are key to the system of meditation, representing the culimination and fulfilment of the Buddhas vision. During this talk given at Padmaloka Subhuti explains some new elements of Sangharakshita’s thinking about how they relate to the Niyamas, particularly the Dharma niyama – exciting, and challenging stuff.

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In today’s FBA Dharmabyte, “Four Reasons Why We Fear Death “, Kulaprabha explores the Abhaya Sutta on the theme of spiritual death. The death of our fixed, bounded self, the self that is made up of bundled habits and preferences and views – especially views about existence and non-existence. So don’t be surprised if, when contemplating the impermanence and unreliability of that small self, you taste fear. It’s natural enough in the circumstances. This is an excerpt from the full talk “Spiritual Death, Fear and Fearlessness” focussing on the Abhaya Sutta.

This talk was given on retreat at Taraloka Retreat Centre in 2008.

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In today’s FBA Dharmabyte, “The Third Great Stage of the Path”, Sangharakshita talks about the process of spiritual death as the cultivation of unselfishness. This talk, titled, “The Path of Spiritual Development” is a book launch for ‘The Essential Sangharakshita’ published by Wisdom Publications.

Recorded 2009 at Essen, Germany. Talk translated in German.

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Today’s FBA Podcast, “The Transitoriness of Life and the Certainty of Death”, is by Vajradharshini who brings us a beautiful piece on the hardest of subjects. The third talk in a five-part series from Tiratanaloka’s retreat on the ‘Four Mind Turnings’ of the Tibetan tradition.

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. She considers death in the light of the four mind-turning reflections of Atisha: the result is an inspiring, funny, truly challenging look at the heartbreak of our mortality, and how the Dharma helps us to meet and be present with the ultimate experience.

Talk given at Tiratanaloka Retreat Centre 2005.

This talk is part of the series The Four Mind-Turning Reflections.

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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.

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