Welcome to a new season of the podcast! ❤️

Since the 1970s Kamalashila has been exploring meditation and, as an author and teacher in the Triratna Buddhist Order, shaping our understanding of meditation in all its practical magic and mystery. 

These days he spends much of his time at home in rural England, leading in-depth meditation retreats online for members of the Order. Join us in his garden amongst the summer birds and wildflowers of Suffolk for a conversation about how sadhana – a lifelong, 360º approach to Buddhist meditation and practice – transforms our consciousness and our whole way of experiencing the world.

You can't understand it all rationally, Kamalashila says, and this perspective sits comfortably with his embrace of technology and the Internet as effective, if imperfect, tools with which to pursue a personal and communal exploration of the Dharma. What emerges is a vision of Buddhism that knows to be genuinely learning we must also accept that how we see things is often simply wrong. In giving himself to a relationship with something truly mysterious, Kamalashila invites us to be open to a kind of magic whose roots in Indian and Tibetan tradition are made most meaningful today by our own sustained, faithful practice.   

Show Notes
This podcast includes a short closing meditation on the sounds of nature! 

Listen to episodes of Kamalashila's Quarterly from the podcast

Visit Kamalashila's website for resources on Buddhist meditation

Buy ‘Buddhist Meditation: Tranquillity, Imagination and Insight’ by Kamalashila

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Subscribe to The Buddhist Centre podcast: On Apple Podcasts  |  On Google Podcasts  |  On Spotify  |  On other podcast networks

News, event coverage, mantras and rituals, Dharma discussion with diverse guests from the Triratna Buddhist Community around the world, keeping you up-to-date with the latest in our sangha. 

Subscribe to our Buddhist Voices Podcast: On Apple Podcasts  |  On Google Podcasts  |  On Spotify  |  On others podcast networks

Our long form podcast, featuring great in-depth conversations with Buddhists from around the world. Inspiring stories that illuminate for modern times the Buddha's example of how to live and find true freedom.

We’re pleased to announce the publication of the new edition of Vessantara’s Meeting the Buddhas. If you live in the UK or Europe, you can buy it now. If you live in North America, our US distributors will be stocking it from late January, but you can pre-order it now.

To celebrate the release, we've got a great offer for you. If you buy the paperback edition of Meeting the Buddhas from our website (the first link below), you can get 40% off Vessantara's Tales of Freedom.

Buy ‘Meeting the Buddhas’ (UK & Europe)

Pre-order ‘Meeting the Buddhas’ (US & Canada)

Buy the eBook (worldwide)

Three reasons to buy Meeting the Buddhas

It's a modern Buddhist classic. The original edition, published in 1993, soon became essential reading for Buddhists from a range of traditions. Out of print for the past fourteen years, this new and improved edition will be of interest not only to those whose original copy has become dog-eared, but also to a whole new generation of practitioners.

It's beautiful. Generously illustrated with 27 full-colour plates and 37 black-and-white inline images, and printed on high-quality paper, this is a truly stunning book.

It's accessible, yet profound. Vessantara’s relaxed writing style and his skill in storytelling make the book suitable for newcomers to Buddhism. At the same time, he brings a depth that comes from more than fifty years of Buddhist practice and teaching, which makes the book equally suitable for experienced practitioners wishing to go deeper in their practice.

Praise for Meeting the Buddhas

‘An invitation to experience our lives in a completely new way – infused with imagination, light, love, power, and mystery.’ – Vidyamala Burch OBE, co-founder of The Breathworks Foundation

‘Here is a path for Buddhist practice, which engages the heart as well as the mind.’ – Dr Elizabeth English (Locana), Mindfulness Practitioner at the University of Cambridge

‘Every practitioner’s shelf needs room for it!’  – Kamalashila, author of Buddhist Meditation

About the author

Vessantara is a senior member of the Triratna Buddhist Order, who also has extensive experience of practice under the guidance of Tibetan Buddhist teachers. Vessantara is much in demand as a Buddhist teacher and has led retreats and courses around the world. He has written several books, including Tales of Freedom and two books on Buddhist meditation: The Breath and The Heart.

Vessantara on Meeting the Buddhas

‘First born in 1993, after a five-year gestation period, it flourished for fifteen years. Then, in 2008, it was dismembered and reborn as three volumes. Now, fourteen years on, Windhorse Publications are reconstituting those three into a new one-volume edition. I’m pleased about this. Once again you have everything together, to read through, or to use for reference to learn about all the main Indo-Tibetan Buddhist figures.

Apart from adding a section on Vajrakīla, I have confined myself to making hundreds of small changes. Some are stylistic, but many reflect my deepening knowledge and understanding of these figures.

Rereading the book, I’m happy to find how relevant and useful it is. Fundamentally, these extraordinary figures are timeless. They embody and convey the amazing wisdom and positive qualities of the deepest levels of our minds. Over these three decades, I have continued practising with them myself and guiding others, and I am in awe at how deeply transformative meditating on them can be.

So, in all important respects, the book is just as valuable today as it was in 1993. Love, truth and freedom never go out of style.’

– Vessantara, 2022

Christmas deliveries

If you're planning on placing an order on our website for delivery to a UK address before Christmas, we recommend you place your order as soon as possible, and at the very latest by Thursday, 8th December. 

Unfortunately, due to postal strikes and other factors outside our control, we're not able to guarantee delivery in time for Christmas, even if you do place your order before the date above. 

In this blog post we’re pleased to announce our latest podcast episode and our Winter Sale, in which we’re offering 40% off selected books for three days only.

New podcast episode with Satyadasa

In our latest podcast episode, Dhammamegha talks with Satyadasa about his wonderful memoir The Sound of One Hand, which is a tender account of one person’s ‘Dharma life’. What does it look like to live a contemporary Buddhist life, with a strong response to the Buddha’s teachings, as well as ambition, a partner, a sense of humour, one of the most interesting grandfathers imaginable, and a stump for a left hand?

Listen on the Windhorse Publications website, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or Spotify. 

Satyadasa self-published The Sound of One Hand earlier this year, and it’s almost sold out already. We’re delighted to announce that Windhorse Publications will be publishing the reprint, which will be available in the UK from mid-December. In April next year we’ll be releasing the paperback in North America and the audiobook worldwide.  

Big savings in our three-day Winter Sale

There’s a lot of suffering going on in the world at the moment, so it’s even more important to focus on compassion and generosity this coming festive period. We’ve curated a selection of meaningful books in our Winter Sale and we’re offering 40% off for three days only*.

With discounted prices starting at just £5.99, you don’t have to spend a lot to make a big difference in someone’s life. We hope these books support, comfort, and bring joy during the holiday season.

Browse the sale

*Sale ends at 23:59:59 GMT on Saturday 26th November 2022.

Strike action likely to affect deliveries

The Communication Workers Union (CWU) who collect and deliver parcels and letters for Royal Mail have called their members to take national strike action on Thursday 24th, Friday 25th and Wednesday 30th November. Our customers may experience some delays in deliveries because of this. 

We’re delighted to introduce a biography of Sangharakshita, due for publication in February. It’s Sangharakshita: The Boy, the Monk, the Man by Nagabodhi, and we’d like to invite you to consider sponsoring it.

It’s now four years since Sangharakshita’s death. Unlike generations before, people new to the Triratna Buddhist Community or interested in the spread of Buddhism in India and internationally can no longer meet and encounter him directly. So Windhorse Publications commissioned this book. We asked Nagabodhi to write something that would introduce Sangharakshita as a person, a teacher, and a founder. Nagabodhi is a great writer, and we knew he would be well placed to write a candid, engaging, and thoughtful portrait of a man he knew for most of his adult life. We look forward to sharing the book with you next year. 

Why sponsor a book?

Publishing in the 21st century is all about adapting to challenges, with lower profits from online sales. At the moment we are also operating in difficult conditions, with the costs of printing, freight and paper increasing, and lots of logistical challenges. We’re keeping our head above water at Windhorse Publications, but it definitely helps to get start-up funding for our books’ production and marketing. You can help us by choosing to sponsor one of our upcoming books.

How sponsorship works

Give £40 or more to sponsor a book and we will send you both the print edition and the eBook immediately on publication.

Sponsor Sangharakshita: The Boy, the Monk, the Man

About the book

Sangharakshita: The Boy, the Monk, the Man is a page-turning biography of Sangharakshita, the controversial British Buddhist teacher and founder of the Triratna Buddhist Order and Community. In an absorbing narrative, Nagabodhi takes us on a journey through the twists and turns of Sangharakshita’s life; the experiences, insights, and reflections that nurtured his approach as a teacher; and the legacy he left behind.

Praise for Sangharakshita: The Boy, the Monk, the Man

‘…a wonderfully engaging account of the life and work of a remarkable man….’

Maitreyabandhu, author of Life with Full Attention and founder of PoetryEast

‘Consistently subtle, perceptive, and engaging, this book is a vivid description of what it was like to be around Sangharakshita, and a perceptive account of Sangharakshita’s growing understanding of what it means to live an authentic Buddhist life….’

Vishvapani Blomfield, author of Gautama Buddha: The Life and Teachings of the Awakened One

About the author

Nagabodhi joined Sangharakshita’s new Buddhist Order in 1974 and has given his life to a range of Triratna projects in the UK and abroad. For many years, he was the director of Windhorse Publications. Nagabodhi worked closely with Sangharakshita, sometimes living in communities with him. In 1982 they travelled on tour in India, an adventure Nagabodhi chronicled in Jai Bhim! Dispatches from a Peaceful Revolution.

New online course on Mindfulness of Breathing

Bhikkhu Anālayo, the author of Mindfulness of Breathing, will be leading an online course based on the book in the new year. The course will be hosted by the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies and will run from January 21 to March 18, 2023.

Find out more about the course

Buy Mindfulness of Breathing (UK & Europe)

Buy Mindfulness of Breathing (US & Canada)

In case you missed it

If you missed our online book launch for Prajnaketu’s new book, Cyberloka: A Buddhist Guide to Digital Life, you can watch the recording on our YouTube channel.

Buy Cyberloka (UK & Europe)

Buy Cyberloka (US & Canada)

We're delighted to announce the release of Cyberloka: A Buddhist Guide to Digital Life, by Prajnaketu.

About the book

Welcome to the world of the cyberloka – the online realm in which so much of life now takes place. In this short, punchy, and often funny book, Prajnaketu offers deep Buddhist insights to help us manage and flourish in the digital age of hyperavailability, superstimulation, and social media.

Buy the paperback (UK & Europe)

Buy the paperback (US & Canada)

Buy the eBook

An excerpt from Cyberloka

You started out with such good intentions. Maybe you were going to thank your auntie for her lovely gift. Or just check the forecast to see if you’d need an umbrella for later. But you’ve just spent the last half an hour scrolling down the comments on a video that’s now a distant memory. Your shoulders are tense, your eyes are bleary, and you feel vaguely angry in a can’t-quite-put-my-finger-on-it way. Oh, and you’ve just missed your bus stop.

Welcome to the cyberloka.

This book is for human beings who use the Internet. Whether the above scenario is familiar or not, I’m sure we’ve all encountered what I call the cyberloka – the realm of online activity, screen time – and its effects. ‘Cyberloka’ is a made-up term combining ‘cyber’, adapted from Greek to refer to electronic communication, and ‘loka’, a Sanskrit word meaning ‘world of experience’. For Buddhists, as we’ll see, a loka is not a brute fact ‘out there’: what appears as the objective situation arises together with our minds. This teaching says we’re constantly co-creating the worlds that we inhabit along with our family and social conditioning, the previous choices we’ve made, and the products of our imagination. This co-creation has a sort of ‘logic’, consisting of the cyclical patterns we fall into, and the seemingly objective landmarks in that realm – all of which hang together as a piece. The message at the heart of this book is that it’s helpful to look at our relationship to digital technology in the same way – as if it ushers in a new realm: the cyberloka. We can think of the cyberloka, then, as the world of experience – our thoughts, feelings, actions, habits, relationships, and more – that we cocreate with digital technology.

– Prajnaketu, from the Introduction to Cyberloka

Cyberloka online book launch

Join us for the online book launch at 7:00 pm UK time on Thursday, 3rd November, when Maitreyabandhu will be in conversation with the book’s author, Prajnaketu.

Join the Zoom meeting on the day, or watch the livestream on our YouTube channel.

Praise for Cyberloka

‘An engagingly personal dialogue between Buddhism and how to survive life in the metaverse. Read it and be enlightened!’ – Robin Dunbar, Professor, University of Oxford

‘Offers a clear-sighted and refreshing Buddhist critique of our digital lives, free from dogma and moralizing.’ – Shantigarbha, activist, mediator and author of The Burning House

‘A deeply thoughtful, nuanced, contemporary account of how Buddhists can relate to their digital life.’ – Vidyamala Burch, OBE, author of Mindfulness for Health

About the author

Prajnaketu was born Timothy Holden in 1985 in Southampton, England. He began to embrace Buddhism while studying for a degree in mathematics and philosophy at the University of Oxford and was ordained into the Triratna Buddhist Order in 2014. He’s at his most inspired when reflecting, writing, and teaching at the interface between Buddhism and twenty-first century life.

A lot of life is spent online these days. It is the medium for news, entertainment, work, debate and perspective, music, keeping up with friends, dating, and, for some, pornography.

In our latest podcast episode, Dhammamegha speaks with new author Prajnaketu about his upcoming book Cyberloka: A Buddhist guide to digital life. Prajnaketu wants to open up ways of thinking and talking about our digital lives that draw on the teachings of the Buddha. 

We talk about hyper-availability and how to go mindfully into our digital lives, leaving space for depth. We discuss super-stimulation and in particular the use of porn and other potentially addictive sources of pleasure online. And we hear about how to have better conversations online, including how to disagree more skilfully.

Listen on the Windhorse Publications website, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or Spotify.

Cyberloka is due to be published in a couple of weeks, but you can pre-order your copy now.

Pre-order ‘Cyberloka’ (UK & Europe)

Pre-order ‘Cyberloka’ (US & Canada)

And finally, an old favourite that’s been out of stock for a while – Sangharakshita’s translation of the Dhammapada – is now back in stock.

Buy ‘Dhammapada’ (UK & Europe)

Buy ‘Dhammapada’ (US & Canada)

Originally published in 1993, Vessantara’s Meeting the Buddhas rapidly attained the status of a classic not only within Triratna, but also in the wider Buddhist world. Out of print since 2008, it’s been carefully revised and updated, and in December we’ll be releasing a brand-new edition. The new cover was designed by Akasajoti, and many of the images that illustrate the text are new.  

How you can help

As we’ve mentioned before, it’s a precarious time in publishing, with high inflation and global trade difficulties pushing up print costs and resulting in very small margins to sustain our work.

One of the ways you can help is by sponsoring the new edition of Meeting the Buddhas. The money we receive in sponsorship will help us to cover the cost of printing, which will be particularly high for this book, given its length and the large number of illustrations.

Sponsorship starts at £40 (we’ll be very grateful if you can give more than this) and as a sponsor you’ll be sent a print copy and an eBook as soon as the new edition is released.

Sponsor Meeting the Buddhas

Vessantara on Meeting the Buddhas

‘First born in 1993, after a five-year gestation period, it flourished for fifteen years. Then, in 2008, it was dismembered and reborn as three volumes. Now, fourteen years on, Windhorse Publications are reconstituting those three into a new one-volume edition. I’m pleased about this. Once again you have everything together, to read through, or to use for reference to learn about all the main Indo-Tibetan Buddhist figures.

Apart from adding a section on Vajrakīla, I have confined myself to making hundreds of small changes. Some are stylistic, but many reflect my deepening knowledge and understanding of these figures.

Rereading the book, I’m happy to find how relevant and useful it is. Fundamentally, these

extraordinary figures are timeless. They embody and convey the amazing wisdom and positive qualities of the deepest levels of our minds. Over these three decades, I have continued practising with them myself and guiding others, and I am in awe at how deeply transformative meditating on them can be.

So, in all important respects, the book is just as valuable today as it was in 1993. Love,

truth and freedom never go out of style.’

– Vessantara, 2022

Praise for Meeting the Buddhas

‘An invitation to experience our lives in a completely new way – infused with imagination, light, love, power, and mystery.’ – Vidyamala Burch OBE, co-founder of The Breathworks Foundation and author of Living Well with Pain and Illness, Mindfulness for Health, and Mindfulness for Women

‘Here is a path for Buddhist practice, which engages the heart as well as the mind.’ – Dr Elizabeth English (Locana), Mindfulness Practitioner at the University of Cambridge, and author of Vajrayogini: Her Visualisations, Rituals and Forms and Journeys to the Deep: A Gentle Guide to Mindfulness Meditation

‘Every practitioner’s shelf needs room for it!’  – Kamalashila, author of Buddhist Meditation

Mind in Harmony back in stock

We’re pleased to announce that Subhuti’s Mind in Harmony is now back in stock.

‘The purpose of Mind in Harmony is to describe the mind from the Buddhist point of view. Since Buddhism is never interested in mere conceptual understanding, that means offering a description that can serve as a practical tool for transforming the mind so that it becomes more and more ethical, finds greater and greater fulfilment, and ultimately attains liberation.’ – Subhuti, from the preface

Buy Mind in Harmony (UK & Europe)

Buy Mind in Harmony (US & Canada)

Read on to find out about our latest podcast episode, a new addition to the books available on our website, and a chance to catch up with our latest book launch.

New podcast episode with Vimalasara
It’s always good news when one of our books starts selling well. But in this case, the popularity of Eight Step Recovery: Using the Buddha’s Teachings to Overcome Addiction points to the rise of compulsive and addictive behaviour and thought over lockdown and beyond. Dhammamegha sat down to talk with the book’s co-author, Valerie Mason-John (Buddhist Order name Vimalasara).

Perhaps you’re aware of compulsion in yourself or others. In this podcast, Vimalasara and Dhammamegha talk about ‘stinking thinking’ and the difficult and beautiful path to sobriety of thoughts and feelings: putting something positive and wholesome at the centre of our lives.

Listen on the Windhorse Publications website, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or Spotify. 

Buy ‘Eight Step Recovery’ (UK & Europe)

Buy ‘Eight Step Recovery’ (US & Canada)

We’re now stocking The Race Conversation

Dhammamegha writes:

‘The famous fifth verse of the Dhammapada (Sangharakshita’s translation) reads: 

“Not by hatred are hatreds ever pacified here (in the world). They are pacified by love. This is the eternal law.”

This verse kept coming to mind when I read Eugene Ellis’s recently published book The Race Conversation, and when I heard him talk at Buddhafield a few months ago about supporting difficult conversations around race. 

Eugene is a mitra at the London Buddhist Centre who’s in training for ordination. He’s also a therapist who works with black clients and trains therapists through The Black, African and Asian Therapy Network, which he founded and directs.

It can be so difficult and often painful to have personal and collective conversations about race and racism. We wanted to bring Eugene’s book to your attention and make it more widely available as a deeply compassionate and skilful resource for helping us to have those conversations in our sangha and beyond, whatever your identity or race experience. I hope you find it as helpful as I have.’

– Dhammamegha

Buy ‘The Race Conversation’

In case you missed it…

We recently released Nagapriya’s The Promise of a Sacred World: Shinran’s Teaching of Other Power. To celebrate the launch, Ratnaguna spent over an hour in conversation with Nagapriya about the book. You can watch their thought-provoking and in-depth conversation here.

‘I’ll bet you’ve never, ever read a Buddhist book like this one.’

– Ratnaguna

We've got a special offer to celebrate the release: for customers who buy the paperback edition of The Promise of a Sacred World from our website, we're offering Nagapriya's other books, Visions of Mahayana Buddhism and Exploring Karma and Rebirth at a whopping 40% discount. To take advantage of this offer, simply click on the first link below (UK & Europe).

Buy ‘The Promise of a Sacred World’ (UK & Europe)

Buy ‘The Promise of a Sacred World’ (US & Canada)

This week we’ve got a date for your diary: the online launch of our next book, Nagapriya’s The Promise of a Sacred World. We’ve also got news from the Order Convention, and a video clip from Complete Works editor-in-chief, Vidyadevi.

The Promise of a Sacred World: online book launch

Don't miss the launch of Nagapriya’s latest book, The Promise of a Sacred World: Shinran’s Teaching of Other Power. The launch will take place at 7:30 pm UK time on Tuesday, 30th August. Ratnaguna will be in conversation with Nagapriya about the book and there will be an opportunity for a Q&A session afterwards.

Click here to join the Zoom meeting on the day, or watch the livestream on our YouTube channel here.

We hope to see you there!

News from the Order Convention

If you were at the Order Convention at Wymondham last week, you may have spotted – and perhaps even bought books at – the Windhorse Publications stall. The stall was organised by two of our trustees, Dhivan and Ksantikara, assisted by volunteers Satyalila, Vajradevi, Tarajyoti, Paramabandhu, Sarvajit, Shantavira and Locana. We’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone involved.

Vidyadevi introduces A New Buddhist Movement II

In the video link below Vidyadevi, the principal editor of The Complete Works of Sangharakshita, talks about one of the newly released volumes, Volume 12: A New Buddhist Movement II.

Watch Vidyadevi's video here.

Buy Volume 12 (UK & Europe)

Pre-order Volume 12 (US & Canada)

We’re delighted to announce the release of the next three volumes in The Complete Works of Sangharakshita. This brings the total number of volumes published so far to 21. Those of you who have a subscription may need to think about getting another bookshelf! ;-) There are another six volumes yet to be published: three next year, and three in 2024.

The new volumes are available in hardback, paperback and eBook editions. There are various buying options: you can take out a subscription to all 27 volumes, buy the new volumes as part of a great-value bundle (hardback or paperback only), or buy them individually using the buttons below.

The new volumes are:

Volume 12: A New Buddhist Movement II

This illuminating collection of previously unpublished talks traces the development of Sangharakshita’s presentation of the Dharma in the West from 1965 to 2011.

Drawing on a wide range of sources, from the Pāli canon and The Tibetan Book of the Dead to Beowulf and William Wordsworth, there are many intriguing perspectives: an exploration of Buddhist psychology, the histories of great teachers like Padmasambhava and Atīśa, reflections on going forth, creativity, the demons around and within us, the role of the will in the spiritual life, and much more. The final talks in the volume, given towards the end of Sangharakshita’s life, are more personal, and they include reflections on dreams, old age and rebirth.

Buy Volume 12: New Buddhist Movement II

Volume 24: Through Buddhist Eyes

Through Buddhist Eyes continues Sangharakshita’s five volumes of memoirs. Covering journeys across five continents and two decades, this volume is made up of nineteen travel letters and one talk. They are Sangharakshita’s heartfelt communications to the growing membership of the new Buddhist movement he founded: the Triratna Buddhist Order.

Part reflection, part travelogue, part chronicle of a vibrant new spiritual movement, Through Buddhist Eyes opens a window on the inner life and the outer world of Urgyen Sangharakshita, one of the greatest Buddhist teachers of the twentieth century.

Buy Volume 24: Through Buddhist Eyes

Volume 26: Aphorisms, the Arts, and Late Writings

This multi-faceted volume includes a collection of aphorisms, a selection of teachings on Buddhism and the arts, and two collections of late writings.

The aphorisms, from the first phase of Sangharakshita’s teaching in the West, are by turns uncompromising, provocative, witty, self-evident, gnomic and plain common sense. The sequence on the arts sheds light on one of Sangharakshita’s most distinctive perspectives on the Dharma. The late writings cover an astonishingly wide range of themes, from his childhood memories to the lucid reflections of Sangharakshita’s old age.

Buy Volume 26: Aphorisms, the Arts, and Late Writings

If you’re interested in knowing more about Sangharakshita’s life, head over to www.sangharakshita.org where you’ll find information about his childhood and his life as a Buddhist teacher and friend.

______________________________________________________________________________

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT 

There’s still time to sponsor one of our upcoming books.

Cyberloka: A Buddhist Guide to Digital Life

by Prajnaketu

Buddhist insights to help you flourish in the ‘cyberloka’ – the online realm in which so much of life now takes place     

Sponsor Cyberloka                                        

We’re delighted to announce the latest episode in our podcast. Dhammamegha interviews Nagapriya, author of The Promise of a Sacred World: Shinran’s Teaching of Other Power, which we will be publishing in a few weeks.

Nagapriya encountered the writings of the Japanese Pure Land teacher Shinran at a point of crisis in his own spiritual life. Shinran and his teaching of Other Power opened a different way of thinking about enlightenment and a life in the Dharma.

Listen to the new podcast episode on the Windhorse Publications website, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or Spotify. 

‘I thoroughly enjoyed speaking with Nagapriya about his life and practice. In this generous and spacious interview, I found him warm and deeply thoughtful about what it means to be a Buddhist. Through reflection and mythic and poetic thinking, Nagapriya explores Shinran’s existential liberation, and the nature of connection, openness, and an encounter with something beyond the known self.’

– Dhammamegha

Pre-order The Promise of a Sacred World

Nagapriya’s The Promise of a Sacred World is now available to pre-order.

Pre-order (UK & Europe)

Pre-order (US & Canada)

Essential Wisdom from the Deer Park | Sabiduría esencial desde el Parque de los Venados

Home Retreat with Parami, Now Booking | Un retiro en casa dirigido por Parami. ¡Reserva tu entrada!

September 16-22 | Del 16 al 22 de Septiembre

A⁠ Home Retreat based on the Dasadhamma Sutta⁠ | Un retiro en casa basado en el Sutta⁠ Dasadhamma

Reserve a space! | ¡Reserva tu entrada!

***

🧘🏽‍♀️ 🧘🏽‍♂️ Seven days of meditation, lively exploration, and strong, supportive friendship: a space to formulate your own path towards a better life.

Led by Parami and friends in English and Spanish

What to expect
The sessions will be a mix of meditation, presentation, practice, interaction and inquiry, including breakout groups.

There will also be a private community message board for all taking part in the retreat.

Read the Dasaddhama Sutta

Take a deep dive into our growing archive of online Home Retreats!


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🧘🏽‍♀️ 🧘🏽‍♂️ Siete días de meditación, exploración dinámica, y amistad profunda y compasiva: un espacio para formular tu propio camino hacia una mejor vida.

Dirigido por Parami y amigos en Inglés y Español.

***

¿Qué debería esperar?
Las sesiones serán una mezcla de meditación, presentación, práctica, interacción y reflexión, incluyendo grupos pequeños de interacción.

También habrá una plataforma de mensajes comunitarios privados para los participantes del retiro.

Leer el Sutta Dasadhamma

Vuelve a visitar el retiro en casa de Parami: Cómo realmente cambiar el mundo

25 September 2022

This day involves two sessions. Feel free to attend one or both.

First session (4 hours): USA PST 05:00 | Mexico 07:00 | USA EST 08:00 | IE & UK 13:00 | Europe 14:00 CET | India 17:30pm | Australia AEST 22.00 | New Zealand NZDT 01:00 (next day)

Second session (2 hours): USA PST 11:00 | Mexico 13:00 | USA EST 14:00 | IE & UK 19:00| Europe 20:00 CET | India 23:30pm | Australia AEST 04.00 (next day) | New Zealand NZDT 07:00 (next day)

Find out more and book your place here!

***

About the day

Last year we held a wonderful and much-loved series of writing events with Yashobodhi.

For 2022 we’re back with the second of two day retreats: this one in Autumn in the northern hemisphere, spring in the southern hemisphere. As the clocks spring forward or fall back, here is an opportunity to reflect on the past and ponder the future.

And what better way to do that than in the here and now, in the company of like-minded friends? We will be following a series writing prompts that allow us to reflect on our lives, where we are and how we got there.

What have we learnt? What was important? What not so much…?

In this way images, patterns and thoughts can emerge that may show us a thread to follow into the future.

Come and join us for a seasonal marking of the changes in our lives, and the world around us.

***

What to expect

We will explore and practise through meditation and reflective writing. We will also interact in small breakout groups to give spoken words to our experience and be kindly witnessed by others.

This day consists of two sessions that can be attended separately. To get the most of the day, it would, of course, work best to take part in the whole day. 

In the first session we will focus on the past. In the second we will looking towards the future. Both parts of the day will finish with a short ritual.

Reserve your space here!

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About Yashobodhi

Yashobodhi has been teaching Buddhism, meditation and mindfulness in different settings for over 15 years. She is originally from the Netherlands, but has lived and worked in the UK since 2010, initially mainly teaching at the West London Buddhist Centre. In the last few years she has been teaching mindfulness and meditation in a range of contexts, and continues to do so online during this pandemic.

Yashobodhi is also a writer. She had two books on Buddhism published in the Netherlands, and for many years contributed to an annual publication, writing short explanations to Buddhist quotes. She also published articles in a variety of magazines and was the editor of a Dutch Buddhist magazine. A few years ago Yashobodhi completed a course for facilitating expressive and therapeutic writing. She has been running a weekly writing group since the beginning of the pandemic.

Watch Yashobodhi’s previous events & subscribe on YouTube

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Find out more and book your place here!

10th September 2022

This day involves two sessions to allow maximum participation internationally across time zones. Feel free to attend one or both.

First session (4 hrs): USA PST 04:00 | México 06:00 | USA EST 07:00 | IE & UK 12:00 | Europe CET 13:00 | India 16:30 | Australia AEDT 21.00 | New Zealand 23.00

Second session (2 hrs): USA PST 11:00 | México 13:00 | USA EST 14:00 | IE & UK 19:00 | Europe CET 20:00 | India 23:30 | Australia AEDT 04.00 (next day) | New Zealand 06.00 (next day)

Find out more and join us!

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About the retreat

If we dive deep enough into the sea, we reach a depth where the body is no longer buoyant enough to float nor heavy enough to sink. We remain suspended, hanging in deep blue space, able to move in any direction without the least bit of friction. 

This place is called the doorway to the deep and it promises to open us to our true nature, our deepest potential when freed from afflictive mental states that bind us to suffering: either by taking us back to the surface or pulling us under. From this place we discover a more creative response to life, full of awareness, love and transformation.

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What to expect

The sessions will be a mix of presentation, practice, interaction and inquiry, and may feature breakout groups.

Book a place here!

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About Singhashri

Singhashri is a queer, Latinx-American dharma teacher and writer. They teach mindfulness and compassion as a means to awakening to love, beauty and truth, and have committed their life to supporting collective liberation for all and the joy and freedom found there. They teach at various retreat and urban centres across the UK, Europe and the USA, and support a number of projects aimed at creating greater diversity and inclusion within Buddhist sanghas and the secular mindfulness field. They currently live in London with their partner.

www.radicalembrace.org

https://www.facebook.com/radicalembrace

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Find out more or book your place here!

We’re pleased to announce a new podcast episode and our plans for Buddhafield.

NEW PODCAST EPISODE

In February this year, we published a memoir by a man diagnosed with life-threatening prostate cancer. That man is Devamitra, and his book, Entertaining Cancer, covers his remarkable story of working with his mind through diagnosis, treatment and recovery.

In this podcast episode Dhammamegha interviews Devamitra to learn more about the man behind the cancer journey, and finds out what conditioned his strength of character, and his Buddhist practice.

After a period of remission, Devamitra’s cancer has returned, and in this forthright and often unexpected conversation he talks about facing uncertainty, death and the beauty and love that can come from meeting ill health fully. It’s a longer listen than usual, so sit back and enjoy.

Listen to the new podcast episode on https://www.windhorsepublications.com/podcast/">the Windhorse Publications website, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or Spotify. 

Buy Entertaining Cancer (UK & Europe)

Buy Entertaining Cancer (US & Canada)

BUDDHAFIELD

The 2022 Buddhafield Festival is on next week, from Wednesday, July 13 to Sunday, July 17. Each year, the festival is centred around a particular theme, and this year’s theme is ‘Seeds of the Heart’.

Sowing seeds, and cultivating wisdom and loving-kindness in the heart, are both offerings to the future. Whether poppy seed or acorn, a moment’s generosity or a lifetime’s practice, what we nurture will bear fruit, for us and for others.

From the Buddhafield Festival Programme

A stall for Windhorse Publications

Windhorse Publications will have a stall at Buddhafield again this year, selling a selection of our books. It will be run by three generous volunteers: Frances, Rowan and Vilasamuni. If you’re attending the festival, please do swing by the stall and say hello.

A talk by Dhammamegha

Our Publishing Director, Dhammamegha, will be giving a talk at Buddhafield this year, entitled ‘Seeding Community’. How can we equip ourselves to co-operate in collective action and play? How do we work with negative emotions and polarised views? Dhammamegha will look at the tender and necessary ground for sustained community building. The talk is scheduled for midday on Sunday, in the Dharma Parlour.

In this final episode of the current season of the podcast, Bodhilila, Chair of the West London Buddhist Centre, is in conversation with Lama Rod Owens, bestselling author of ‘Love and Rage: The Path of Liberation Through Anger’. 

Their exchange weaves across a number key Dharma threads, beginning with a sense of how being in the body can be a way to step out of systems that stop us reaching our full potential as human beings; a way to reclaim agency and autonomy; and a place for the aspiration to grow beyond our own sufferings and limited self-views.

Diversity in its fullest, most positively abundant sense, is never far away; nor is a sharp awareness of the need to turn aside from hatred towards empathy and compassion, always from a place of being well resourced. “It’s a hard thing to hear,” says Lama Rod. “When you think you’re normal but your normality comes at the expense of large groups of people, to the detriment of other people. But that’s not the same thing as hate.” We hear how vital it remains to continue to see that everyone deserves to be happy.

All this is particularly relevant to conversations about race, power and injustice, of course, but this episode keeps us clearly in the realm of Buddhist practice and the perspectives it has to offer a world both deeply familiar with suffering and simultaneously longing to escape it. Empathy is the key to humanizing people, and here two friends and respected Dharma teachers from different traditions open up the deepest possibilities of that empathy for all of us: liberation of the body, mind and heart.

Show Notes

• Love and Rage: The Path of Liberation Through Anger by Lama Rod Owens
   
• Watch the full event on YouTube–and subscribe!
   
• West London Buddhist Centre
   
• Lama Rod Owens also featured on 'The Gen-X 2019 Podcast' (Episode 362)
   
• Conversations About Race - A series from The Buddhist Center Online, curated by Vimalasara
   
• Visit Lama Rod Owens' personal website
   
• Get the Buddhist Voices podcast
   
• Follow the Free Buddhist Audio podcast
   
• Follow the Dharmabytes podcast

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Subscribe to The Buddhist Centre podcast: On Apple Podcasts  |  On Google Podcasts  |  On Spotify  |  On other podcast networks

News, event coverage, mantras and rituals, Dharma discussion with diverse guests from the Triratna Buddhist Community around the world, keeping you up-to-date with the latest in our sangha. 

Subscribe to our Buddhist Voices Podcast: On Apple Podcasts  |  On Google Podcasts  |  On Spotify  |  On others podcast networks

Our long form podcast, featuring great in-depth conversations with Buddhists from around the world. Inspiring stories that illuminate for modern times the Buddha's example of how to live and find true freedom.

We're on the road this week with a festive episode of the podcast to celebrate Vidyamala: the extraordinary inspiration behind Breathworks who has just been made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the Queen’s Birthday 2022 Honours List. She has been honoured for her Services to Wellbeing and Pain Management as Co-founder of Breathworks, an organisation which teaches mindfulness-based approaches to people coping with pain, illness and stress.

In a riot of birdsong, on a beautiful day in early summer, we were delighted to be able to join Vidyamala in her garden just after the news broke, along with her partner Sona, and her friend Aryajaya. As well as marking the occasion, we remember the very hard road travelled through pain that led to the foundation of Breathworks and its vital contribution to the welfare of so many people. 

Having passed on her wisdom to over 600 accredited trainers in 35 countries, Vidyamala's work isn't "just mindfulness"—it's now a whole transformative movement capable of reaching deep into society. In Vidyamala's approach the simple application of awareness and kindness becomes an emotionally intelligent and deeply responsive re-imagining of the Buddhist path itself, ready to meet the huge challenges of suffering in the 21st Century. Vidyamala has brought this beautiful work to bear in her own life with great courage, grace and equanimity, opening up portals to freedom in hearts and minds all around the world.

Show notes
Visit Breathworks

See Breathwork's Mindfulness for Managing Long Covid Course

Read more about Vidyamala's OBE

Listen to Vidyamala on this podcast back in March 2020: The Blue Sky at the Heart of the Body

Visit Vidyamala's personal website

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Subscribe to The Buddhist Centre podcast: On Apple Podcasts  |  On Google Podcasts  |  On Spotify  |  On other podcast networks

News, event coverage, mantras and rituals, Dharma discussion with diverse guests from the Triratna Buddhist Community around the world, keeping you up-to-date with the latest in our sangha. 

Subscribe to our Buddhist Voices Podcast: On Apple Podcasts  |  On Google Podcasts  |  On Spotify  |  On others podcast networks

Our long form podcast, featuring great in-depth conversations with Buddhists from around the world. Inspiring stories that illuminate for modern times the Buddha's example of how to live and find true freedom.

We’re delighted to announce the release of Episode 2 of the Windhorse Publications Podcast. Dhammamegha and Bhikkhu Anālayo continue their conversation, turning to the crucial question of the place of mindfulness of others in meditation, the importance of sanghaor community, and the relationship between what happens on the cushion and our ways of being in the world. 

Getting closer to some of our collective challenges, Bhikkhu Anālayo talks about climate change and the Six Element Practice. We then move onto Bhikkhu Anālayo’s concerns about the dangers of going too far in deconstructing truth and morality in current culture, particularly in the USA, as well as the overemphasis on subjectivity. 

You can listen to the podcast on our website, or on Apple, Google or Spotify.

BAM!

June is Buddhist Action Month, affectionately known as BAM! It’s an annual event organised by the Network of Buddhist Organisations in association with the European Buddhist Union.

BAM! has a different theme each year, and this year’s is Compassion and Connections in Times of Crisis. Juliet Hackney, this year’s BAM coordinator, writes:

This year has brought yet more crises to challenge us: the war in Ukraine, the cost of living, the omicron variant in the coronavirus pandemic, all on top of the background of the ever-worsening climate crisis.

How should we respond as Buddhists? In the Chan/Zen Buddhist tradition this exchange has been handed down: A monk once asked the ancient Chinese Zen master Yunmen, “What is the teaching of the whole lifetime of Buddha?” Yunmen replied, “An appropriate response.”

This sounds simple, but it can be difficult to know what an appropriate response is in these turbulent and complex times. Taking part in Buddhist Action Month is an opportunity to engage in action, with compassion and connection at its heart, to help ourselves and others through these times of crisis.

You can find out more from the BAM 2022 space on the website of the Network of Buddhist Organisations.

Suggested reading

Finally, we’d like to suggest three books you might be interested in reading. We’ve chosen them because they tie in with some of the themes from the podcast as well as the theme of this year’s Buddhist Action Month. 

The Burning House by Shantigarbha

Buy ‘The Burning House’ (UK & Europe)

Buy ‘The Burning House’ (US & Canada)

Saving the Earth by Akuppa

Buy ‘Saving the Earth’ (UK & Europe)

Buy ‘Saving the Earth’ (US & Canada)

The Buddha on Wall Street by Vaddhaka

Buy ‘The Buddha on Wall Street’ (UK & Europe)

Buy ‘The Buddha on Wall Street’ (US & Canada)

Dhammamegha here. I’m very pleased to be writing to tell you about a new book we will publish in November, and to ask you to be part of making it happen. The book has been written by Prajnaketu, and it’s called Cyberloka: A Buddhist Guide to Digital Life.

This book is just what we need right now when our capacity to deal creatively with being online so much hasn’t caught up with the amazing technology and media we’re using. Through stories and a Dharmic focus on the mental states from which we engage in our digital lives, Prajnaketu tackles the issues of hyperavailability, superstimulation – including pornography – and the practical ethics of communicating through social media. In it you’ll find some great stories, helpful reflections, a ‘Facebook Sutta’ and skilful ways to think about the nature of the ‘cyberloka’ – the online world.

After working with Prajnaketu on his book, I’ve been thinking a lot about my own mental habits. Like many of you, I connect with many of my friends and loved ones online, and it is also how I read the news, work from home, seek entertainment and information, and sometimes it’s the medium for studying and practising the Dharma. With so much time in the cyberloka, I have found I’m often restless and discomforted in the ‘in between’ moments, and all too easily reach for my device in an unsatisfying attempt to settle or distract myself. As the volume of stimulus increases, so does my restlessness and craving, and the craving attaches itself to online shopping, or scrolling through images that reinforce the craving. Prajnaketu’s book is a great guide to being more mindful and intentional about life online, and it is making a difference to my own mental wellbeing.

Windhorse Publications is working hard to commission and support books that offer practical and direct expressions and applications of the Dharma in the world we live in. It’s a rather precarious time in publishing with high inflation and global trade difficulties affecting print costs and resulting in very small margins to sustain our work over time.

One of the ways you can help is by sponsoring one of our upcoming books. This helps us to cover the costs of producing these Dharma books, and you’ll get a print copy and an eBook hot off the press, as soon as it is released.

Click here to watch a short video of Prajnaketu telling you a bit more about Cyberloka and asking you to make his dream of becoming an author come true.

If you go to the sponsorship page for Cyberloka and click on ‘Look Inside’ you’ll be able to read a few extracts from the book and see for yourself what it is all about.

Here’s what Vidyamala and Candradasa wrote after reading it:

‘Prajnaketu has written a deeply thoughtful, nuanced, contemporary account of how Buddhists can relate to their digital life. Rather than offering simple solutions based on a now vanished, pre-Internet past, he accepts that the digital landscape is an inescapable part of our lives in the 21st century, and offers a wide-ranging critique of how we can best navigate this new world.’

– Vidyamala Burch, author of Mindfulness for Health and Mindfulness for Women, and Co-Founder of The Breathworks Foundation

‘Prajnaketu knows from experience the deep, restorative value of awareness and positive emotion when it comes to facing the new kinds of challenges inherent in an online world. His non-judgmental, unfailingly kind, and witty engagement with the thornier aspects of the Web promotes open-ended dialogue with the reader.’

– Candradasa, Founding Director of Free Buddhist Audio and The Buddhist Centre Online. Author of Buddhism for Teens

And now for a moment offline before I move onto the next thing.

When tens of thousands of Ukrainian refugees began to cross the border with Poland, the Triratna community at Krakow Buddhist Centre got involved with the same great generosity that has marked the Polish people's response to war flaring up uncomfortably close to home. 

In this episode we hear from Saddhajala and Nityabandhu on the ground in Krakow—not just about the war in Ukraine but about how Buddhist practice has enabled them to meet the crisis and try to bring to life "a blueprint for a new world". By turning their Centre into a place of refuge they have been able to help with families seeking shelter and live out their own ideals. It has made a difference.

A moving conversation about practical love and a community of friends finding new cultural expression for Buddhism in their own language as a way to get ready to meet the worst of the world with the best of it. And save Simon the bulldog!

Show notes
Sanghaloka - Buddhism in Krakow and Warsaw (Polish)

Sanghaloka -  Buddhism in Krakow and Warsaw (English)

Gallery from the creation of a Buddhist Centre for Krakow

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Subscribe to The Buddhist Centre podcast: On Apple Podcasts  |  On Google Podcasts  |  On Spotify  |  On other podcast networks

News, event coverage, mantras and rituals, Dharma discussion with diverse guests from the Triratna Buddhist Community around the world, keeping you up-to-date with the latest in our sangha. 

Subscribe to our Buddhist Voices Podcast: On Apple Podcasts  |  On Google Podcasts  |  On Spotify  |  On others podcast networks

Our long form podcast, featuring great in-depth conversations with Buddhists from around the world. Inspiring stories that illuminate for modern times the Buddha's example of how to live and find true freedom.