Today’s FBA Podcast is the first talk in a brilliant series titled “Eight Verses for Training the Mind” by Dharmachari Subhuti. Based on the Tibetan text by Kadampa Geshe Langri Tangpa, Subhuti introduces the verses in the context of the development of Buddhism in Tibet and India. We then have a full treatment of the first verse itself:

“May I always cherish all beings,
Withe the resolve to accomplish for them
The highest good that is more precious
Than any wish-fulfilling jewel.”

Talk given at Madhyamaloka, Birmingham, 2004

For the full series: “Eight Verses for Training the Mind.”

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Today’s FBA Dharmabyte “I Bow Down To Compassion” is a preview to next Saturday’s FBA Podcast “Compassionate Koans – The Heart of the Matter,” containing an excellent, personal set of reflections by Vijayamala on the relationship between our longing and our pain.

Talk given at the Western Buddhist Order Women’s Convention, 2005

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Today’s FBA Podcast, “Transcending the Human Predicament”, Sangharakshita investigates various symbolic elements in the Parable of the Burning House and we are reminded of the importance of responding to ‘the call of the Divine’. The general significance of the parable is then discussed under the headings of escapism, universalism and sectarianism.

“The White Lotus Sutra is not only a religious classic, but a masterpiece of symbolic spiritual literature.” ~ Sangharakshita

From the classical ground-breaking series: Parables, Myths and Symbols of Mahayana Buddhism in the White Lotus Sutra given in 1971.

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In this talk, “Generating Bodhi Mind” Vajratara guides us through the second section of Tsongkhapa’s short text on “The Three Principle Aspects of the Path”. The verses contain some strong and striking images for what it feels like being caught in Samsara and they come to life in Vajratara’s talk. She relates how she nearly came to death herself swept away by a Indonesian river and that was just an ordinary river current, never mind the current of Samsara! At the end of the talk she suggests that of the Bodhicitta practises we might take up – the puja or the various reflections on the suffering of beings – the most useful and effective Bodhichitta practice is the practice of sangha, of spiritual community.

Talk given at Taraloka, May 2009.

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Welcome to the first installment of our new Dharmabytes podcast, where Free Buddhist Audio serves up a bite-sized portion of Dharma from the wealth of audio talks in our archives. In this excerpt from Sangharakshita’s talk “The Buddha, God & Reality,” he clarifies the gap between the clouded lenses of space and time through which we see the world and the ‘clear vision’ that comes with Enlightenment, as achieved by the Buddha.

Talk given in 1966. Part of the series Introducing Buddhism.

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