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Gambhiralila
Gambhiralila
Dreaming the Real: Poetry Night
A fundraiser for Tiratanaloka Unlimited
by Gambhiralila, 22/02/2024 15:46

Dreaming the Real: Poetry Night
Saturday 24 February, 7:00pm-9:00pm
With special guests including Vishvantara and Annabeth Glittermouse Orton
A fundraiser for Tiratanaloka Unlimited, suggested donation: £15
In person and on Zoom

"Buddhism and art [...] are indispensable to a balanced spiritual life." Sangharakshita, The Meaning of Buddhism and the Value of Art   Developing the imagination and sensitivity for beauty is a key part of the spiritual path. Art can have a profound emotional impact and communicate the mystery of the Dharma to the depths of our being. It can be both the igniter and expression of our devotion.

Join us for an evening of poetry with around 15 poets from around the country including members of the Croydon Sangha, while also fundraising for Tiratanaloka Unlimited, a project supporting women training to join the Triratna Buddhist Order.

Vishvantara is an award winning poet who has been running 'Wolf at the Door' creative writing workshops and retreats for the last ten years. After six years in the community at the Buddhist women's retreat centre, Taraloka,  Annabeth is currently enjoying a sabbatical in the Welsh countryside as she continues to train for ordination

Zoom Details
Meeting ID:  846 8096 6572
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84680966572

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Centre Team
Centre Team

Dreaming the real poetry night - with friends and special guests from around the country Friday 7.00-9.00pm 17 February - a fundraiser for the Croydon Buddhist Centre (CBC)

15 poets from all over the country will be reading for your enjoyment. Warm up the cold February evening by coming and supporting these varied poets at different stages of exploration in their writing journeys.

The night will be headed by Satyadaka and Annabeth Glittermouse Orton.

Since placing first in the Kingston Young Poets award in 1989, Glittermouse has continued to entertain and delight with her ability to hold a myriad of weighty topics in lightness and ease. Her broad and lyrical use of language is as comfortable to skip along to at a rhythmic pace as it is to flow into free verse. She lives in the community at the Buddhist women's retreat centre, Taraloka.

Satyadaka was involved at the CBC for 12 years (1984 - 1996). Besides writing poetry and an autobiography ('Everything That Arises') he has been translating German poetry (into English). Since 1996 he's lived and worked in Norwich and been closely involved with the Norwich Buddhist Centre. He's also involved in 'Wolf At The Door' writing workshops and retreats.

Zoom link to join on the night of what promises to be a fine evening of poetry.

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81524274611 
Meeting ID: 815 2427 4611

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Free Buddhist Audio
Free Buddhist Audio
Mind Or Matter? Awakening and the Restructuring of Mind
by Free Buddhist Audio, 06/05/2022 00:00
In this series of three workshops, Viraydeva is unpacking a fundamental Buddhist idea: the world as we know it is determined not by objective facts, but by the mind. In this final week, drawing on his recent conversation with philosopher Bernardo Kastrup, Viryadeva shows what a mind-only perspective means for practising the Buddhist path. How does the structure of consciousness need to change for a mind to "wake up"? And how does this affect our understanding of what Buddhism is really telling us about the evolution of life, the universe and everything?
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Free Buddhist Audio
Free Buddhist Audio
Mind Or Matter? Mind-Only and the Whirlpool of the Self
by Free Buddhist Audio, 06/05/2022 00:00
In this series of three workshops, Viraydeva is unpacking a fundamental Buddhist idea: the world as we know it is determined not by objective facts, but by the mind. In this second session, drawing on his recent conversation with philosopher Bernardo Kastrup, Viryadeva shows us how we can move away from thinking of everything as made of matter, towards a "mind-only" perspective. What would it be to imagine the world as made entirely of experience? Does this make the world of people and things disappear? Viryadeva draws on Kastrup's work and Buddhist philosophy to build new metaphors for answering these difficult questions, in service of the path to awakening.
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Free Buddhist Audio
Free Buddhist Audio
Mind Or Matter? Scientific Materialism and Its Discontents
by Free Buddhist Audio, 06/05/2022 00:00
In this series of three workshops, Viraydeva will unpack a fundamental Buddhist idea: the world as we know it is determined not by objective facts, but by the mind. Drawing on his recent conversation with philosopher Bernardo Kastrup, Viryadeva guides us beyond the maze of our in-built assumptions about reality, into the heart of Buddhist wisdom. In this session, he tries to clarify and draw out the implications of our society's default view: scientific materialism. He tries to show how, while this view is powerful and compelling, it has implications - philosophical and practical - that are hard to accept... as Buddhists, but also as human beings.
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Free Buddhist Audio
Free Buddhist Audio
An Overview of the Refuge Tree
by Free Buddhist Audio, 11/04/2022 00:00
Marking the 55th anniversary of the founding of the Triratna Buddhist Community, Vajragupta gives a simple overview and introduction of the Triratna Refuge Tree. This is a rich image, full of inspiring figures from the Buddhist tradition. This talk, however, looks not so much at the individual figures, but how the tree is "structured" and how this symbolizes and embodies key principles behind Sangharakshita's creation of Triratna and its place in the Buddhist tradition. Examples of this include the centrality of the Buddha, understanding the unity of the Buddhist tradition, seeing its full breadth and depth, and the centrality of Going for Refuge. A talk that can help understand what's distinctive about Triratna's approach to the Dharma and Buddhism.
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Free Buddhist Audio
Free Buddhist Audio
Mind and Cosmos Part 3
by Free Buddhist Audio, 26/03/2022 00:00
For almost its whole history, Buddhism has presented teachings not just about the human mind, but about the whole cosmos. In this talk (the second in a series of three), Viryadeva attempts to show why an understanding of traditional Buddhist cosmology is key to an understanding of the Buddha's teachings. He also shows how it has direct, practical relevance to urgent contemporary problems.
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Free Buddhist Audio
Free Buddhist Audio
Entertaining Cancer - Croydon Buddhist Centre Booklaunch
by Free Buddhist Audio, 14/03/2022 00:00
Devamitra in conversation with Vajragupta, launching his new book "Entertaining Cancer". This tells the story of Devamitra's discovery that he has a life-threatening cancer, and the gruelling regime of treatment that ensues. The conversation covers topics such as hope and despair, aliveness and complacency, fear and courage, and the Buddhist view of rebirth. An inspiring evocation of how Dharma practice can help us face challenge and difficulty, and keep initiative.
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Free Buddhist Audio
Free Buddhist Audio
Mind and Cosmos: Towards a New Buddhist Cosmology (Part 2)
by Free Buddhist Audio, 02/03/2022 00:00
For almost its whole history, Buddhism has been not only presented teachings about the mind, but also about the whole cosmos. In this talk (the second in a series of three), Viryadeva attempts to show why an understanding of traditional Buddhist cosmology is key to an understanding of the Buddha's teachings. He also shows how it has direct, practical relevance to urgent contemporary problems.
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Free Buddhist Audio
Free Buddhist Audio
Mind and Cosmos: Towards a New Buddhist Cosmology (Part 1)
by Free Buddhist Audio, 24/02/2022 00:00
For almost its whole history, Buddhism has been not only presented teachings about the mind, but also about the whole cosmos. In this talk (the first in a series of three), Viryadeva attempts to show why an understanding of traditional Buddhist cosmology is key to an understanding of the Buddha's teachings. He also shows how it has direct, practical relevance to urgent contemporary problems.
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Free Buddhist Audio
Free Buddhist Audio
The Alchemy of Meditation 4 - Keeping Going
by Free Buddhist Audio, 31/01/2022 00:00
How do we keep our meditation alive and fresh - especially over the long-term? Can we get lost and bogged down in our meditation and lose connection with creativity, play, and freshness? How do we go deeper? Responding to these questions, Vajragupta looks at the Four Iddhipadas - the four 'powers' or 'means of accomplishment' taught by the Buddha. These are: desire, discernment, heart/mind, and resolve. They are both four ingredients of a creative meditation practice, and they also draw out the alchemical process of meditation, or how the transformative process of meditation works. The fourth and final talk (36 mins) explores virya - energy and resolve. In particular, Vajragupta discusses stamina, keeping going, how we sustain a practice over the long-term through all the ups and downs of life. He offers four 'paradoxes' that we need to hold skilfully to maintain our inspiration.
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Free Buddhist Audio
Free Buddhist Audio
The Alchemy of Meditation 3 - Heart and Mind
by Free Buddhist Audio, 31/01/2022 00:00
How do we keep our meditation alive and fresh - especially over the long-term? Can we get lost and bogged down in our meditation and lose connection with creativity, play, and freshness? How do we go deeper? Responding to these questions, Vajragupta looks at the Four Iddhipadas - the four 'powers' or 'means of accomplishment' taught by the Buddha. These are: desire, discernment, heart/mind, and resolve. They are both four ingredients of a creative meditation practice, and they also draw out the alchemical process of meditation, or how the transformative process of meditation works. Talk three (36 mins) of four investigates citta, or heart/mind - the stream of thoughts and emotions that form our experience. How do we work with that flow and re-channel it into more helpful and expansive directions when necessary?
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Free Buddhist Audio
Free Buddhist Audio
The Alchemy of Meditation 2 - Discernment
by Free Buddhist Audio, 31/01/2022 00:00
How do we keep our meditation alive and fresh - especially over the long-term? Can we get lost and bogged down in our meditation and lose connection with creativity, play, and freshness? How do we go deeper? Responding to these questions, Vajragupta looks at the Four Iddhipadas - the four 'powers' or 'means of accomplishment' taught by the Buddha. These are: desire, discernment, heart/mind, and resolve. They are both four ingredients of a creative meditation practice, and they also draw out the alchemical process of meditation, or how the transformative process of meditation works. This second talk (25 mins) in a four-part series looks at discernment - good judgement, investigation, curiosity and interest, learning about how the mind creates experience.
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Free Buddhist Audio
Free Buddhist Audio
The Alchemy of Meditation 1 - Desire
by Free Buddhist Audio, 31/01/2022 00:00
How do we keep our meditation alive and fresh - especially over the long-term? Can we get lost and bogged down in our meditation and lose connection with creativity, play, and freshness? How do we go deeper? Responding to these questions, Vajragupta looks at the Four Iddhipadas - the four 'powers' or 'means of accomplishment' taught by the Buddha. These are: desire, discernment, heart/mind, and resolve. They are both four ingredients of a creative meditation practice, and they also draw out the alchemical process of meditation, or how the transformative process of meditation works. This first talk (26 mins) explores how we need to stay connected to our deeper desires, yearnings, and spiritual longing - and how to hold this desire in a way that sustains our practice.
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Free Buddhist Audio
Free Buddhist Audio
Buddhism and Politics - Talk 3
by Free Buddhist Audio, 22/07/2021 00:00
In this third and final talk for Buddhist Action Month 2021, Vajragupta takes the Quakers' involvement in the 19th-century anti-slavery movement as a case study of what happens when spiritual communities get involved in political issues. He highlights the potential power of a small community inspired by ethics, but is also realistic about the challenges and dilemmas that political issues will bring into a spiritual community. Vajragupta then explores the principle and practice of "consensus" - the way by which spiritual communities make decisions, before rounding up by highlighting Triratna's Indian movement as successfully combining the transformation of self and world.
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Free Buddhist Audio
Free Buddhist Audio
Buddhism and Politics - Talk 2
by Free Buddhist Audio, 11/07/2021 00:00
In another ambitious and wide-ranging talk, Vajragupta suggests that changes in Western societies in the last 40 years have undermined our sense of the "common good". He then reflects on what a Buddhist approach to the common good might be. A highly stimulating talk, drawing on the inspiration of Dr Ambedkar, as well as other thinkers and writers. Second in a series of three talks given for Buddhist Action Month 2021 at Croydon Buddhist Centre.
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Free Buddhist Audio
Free Buddhist Audio
Buddhism and Politics - Talk 1
by Free Buddhist Audio, 06/07/2021 00:00
Should Buddhist sanghas and Buddhist Centres get involved in politics or remain politically neutral? When political debate can be so fractious and polarised, how can Buddhists make a helpful contribution? In this ambitious and challenging talk, Vajragupta asks us to reflect on our political views and conditioning, so as to come to a deeper appreciation of what a Buddhist perspective might be. First of a series of three talks given for Buddhist Action Month 2021.
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Free Buddhist Audio
Free Buddhist Audio
What Is Nirvana and Do We Really Want to Get There? Talk 5
by Free Buddhist Audio, 20/03/2021 00:00
In the final talk in the series, Vajragupta responds to questions from participants: is Nirvana about escape from Samsara or is it the Bodhisattva Ideal? How would we know a Bodhisattva if we met one? And what’s our chances of gaining Enlightenment? In answering these questions, Vajragupta makes fascinating use of the teaching of the five niyamas.
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Free Buddhist Audio
Free Buddhist Audio
Sangha As a Gift to the World
by Free Buddhist Audio, 20/03/2021 00:00
A talk given on an online weekend retreat with Croydon Buddhist Centre. Having considered “sangha as a gift to each other” (the first talk - not recorded) Vajragupta considers how the sangha reaches out into the world, looking at three areas: loving-kindness and common humanity, community and service, and wisdom in an age of information overload.
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Free Buddhist Audio
Free Buddhist Audio
What Is Nirvana and Do We Really Want to Get There? Talk 4
by Free Buddhist Audio, 19/03/2021 00:00
Vajragupta talks about Nirvana as seen in the early Buddhist tradition - as the eradication of greed, hatred, and delusion, and the cessation of the whole samsaric process. And then he explores how Nirvana was seen in later tradition - linking this to the Bodhisattva Ideal and the realisation of emptiness and compassion.
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