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The History of My Going for Refuge

by Sangharakshita

An often inspiring autobiographical lecture taking up Sangharakshita's story from his earliest experiences of Buddhism and telling how he came progressively to understand the centrality of Going for Refuge in the Buddhist life.

Note: parts of this long lecture were read by Dharmacharis Devamitra and Srimala.

Talk given in 1988.

Tracks (click play to listen)

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1. The founding of the Western Buddhist Order - Introduction to the paper (15:04) 
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2. The Diamond Sutra and the Sutra of Wei Lang (Hui Neng) (6:25) 
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3. Taking Pansil from U Thittila (5:08) 
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4. Reflections on Going Forth (14:58) 
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5. Shramanera ordination (7:46) 
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6. Bhikshu ordination (5:59) 
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7. 'Taking refuge in the Buddha' (10:10) 
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8. A Survey of Buddhism; Going for refuge and the Bodhisattva ideal (19:56) 
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9. An article on Tibetan Buddhism - first contact with Dhardo Rimpoche (6:32) 
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10. Dr. Ambedkar and the ex-Untouchables (6:58) 
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11. The Jewel Ornament of Liberation; More light from Tibetan Buddhism: the Going for Refuge and Prostration Practice (18:33) 
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12. Literary work (1959-1964); 'The Three Jewels' and other writings;-Going for Refuge as the central act of the Buddhist life (16:30) 
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13. Bodhisattva ordination (6:12) 
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14. The danger of triumphalism - light from Vatican II (6:03) 
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15. 'The Meaning of Conversion in Buddhism'; conversion within Buddhism (15:19) 
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16. Founding the Western Buddhist Order; four grades of ordination; 'the Bodhisattva Vow' (18:01) 
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17. The communal context of Going for Refuge: the Sangha; the higher-evolutionary context: the twelve positive nidanas; the cosmic context: the Bodhisattva Ideal and the Cosmic Bodhichitta (15:23) 
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18. Levels of Going for Refuge (12:24) 
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19. 'The Threefold Refuge' - Nyanaponika Thera; Nyanaponika's 'Four Modes of Refuge' (11:41) 
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20. 'Upasaka' into 'Dharmachari' - a change in Order nomenclature; the mula-pratimoksha - the 'fundamental moral code' (10:59) 
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21. 'Ambedkar and Buddhism': Ambedkar and Going for Refuge (9:33) 
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22. Recapitulation of paper; Buddham saranam gacchami, Dhammam saranam gacchami,Sangham saranam gacchami (14:42) 


Total running time: 4:14:16

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