The latest video talk from the 2013 Buddhafield Festival features Kulamitra and a talk with the paradoxical title ‘Warm our Hearts - Let the Rain Come In!’. Exploring loving-kindness, he emphasises that developing it takes sustained effort at frequent intervals - but this, paradoxically, means spontaneously opening to everything around us as we discover and expand our capacity to love.

The talk was given in the Festival’s Dharma Parlour area on July 18 2013, as part of the overall theme of ‘Fire In The Heart’, with Amitabha, the red Buddha of the West, presiding. Kulamitra is a long-time member of the Triratna Buddhist Order and a Trustee of Karuna.

The latest in our occasional series of video talks from the 2013 Buddhafield Festival features an engaging talk by Lokabandhu with the curious title ‘10 Ways to Misunderstand Buddhism, No. 6: “It's all about Detachment”’. What the first five ways (or the last four) might be have not yet been revealed, but no.6 makes the serious point that Buddhism is NOT about detachment from the world; rather, that it should be a path of spiritual training preparing the student for a far more effective engagement with the world.

The talk was given in the Festival's Dharma Parlour area, as part of the overall theme of the Festival which was 'Fire In The Heart', with Amitabha, the red Buddha of the West, presiding. Lokabandhu works for the Triratna Development Team and lives in Glastonbury, UK. He is a Trustee of Buddhafield.

here's the second in a series of video talks from the 2013 Buddhafield Festival - a thoughtful talk by Shantigarbha exploring the notion of 'The Empathic Buddha'. He asks "How did the Buddha embody empathy? How did he make it the basis of compassion?". Shantigarbha is a leading teacher of NVC and recounts a number of incidents from the life of the Buddha, shares his understanding of empathy in a Buddhist context, and - crucially - explores how empathy is the basis for both compassion and ethics.

The talk was given in the Festival's Dharma Parlour area, as part of the overall theme of the Festival which was 'Fire In The Heart', with Amitabha, the red Buddha of the West, presiding. Shantigarbha's website is www.seedofpeace.org

Here's the first in a series of video talks from the 2013 Buddhafield Festival - a great talk by Dhivan entitled 'The Buddha Broke my Heart...'. He introduces it thus: "The Buddha taught love as freedom of heart. But what if we get burned in love's fire? This is a talk on love, betrayal and broken-heartedness".

It was given in the Festival's Dharma Parlour area, as part of the overall theme of the Festival which was 'Fire In The Heart', with Amitabha, the red Buddha of the West, presiding. Other talks coming shortly!

Thirty eight different events in the Dharma Parlour this year - including talks, workshops, panel discussions, art sessions, study groups. Look out for Sand Art with Birmingham mitra Sean Whelan and three talks from the director of the Bhutan Nuns Foundation as part of their summer UK tour. Come to the festival and drop by!

Thanks to Upeksapriya from Triratna's VideoSangha, the remaining talks given in the recent Buddhafield Festival's Dharma Parlour are now online and available. Browse the set here, or just choose your favourite from the list below!

Akasati: Heart and Soul: the Power of Ritual.
Vajrasara: Embracing Love
Jayaraja: Love, sex and transformation of the heart
Dhivan: Doors to Freedom: the Buddha’s psychology of Liberation
Lokabandhu: Dharma Doorways and Dead Ends.
Khemasuri: Living an illusion... dying to escape
Padmadharini: “Not knowing it is near, they seek it afar. What a pity!”
Kulamitra: Sitting with Suffering: Relaxing with Reality

You'll also find them in audio format on the Buddhafield community page over at Free Buddhist Audio.

Plus there's three talks by guest speakers from other traditions:

Mark Leonard, from the Oxford Mindfulness Centre: Breaking down barriers: mind, body and environment.
Mindfulness changes the way we experience mind and body. How might embodied experience affect our relationship to ourselves, others and our environment?

Venerable Amaranatho, a wandering Theravadin Buddhist monk: The key is in the door.
An exploration of freedom and why most of the time we don’t want it.

Yanai Postelnik, a teacher at Gaia House: Living in Rental Accommodation: the reality of change.
All conditioned things turn out to be unreliable. Recognising and accepting the truth of impermanence and insecurity allows us to let go into the vast truth of life, to live with an open heart amidst the unbounded nature of existence.

Kicking off the program in the 2012 Buddhafield Dharma Parlour, a talk by Jayaraja: 'Love, Sex and Transformation of the Heart'. He asks - "How do we become free? How do we work with the deeper levels of our being? How do we become more awake as opposed to just changing the facade?" And lots more...

Many thanks to Upeksapriya from Triratna's ClearVision project for creating and uploading this recording.

Another talk from the 2012 Dharma Parlour at the Buddhafield Festival - this time by Lokabandhu on the subject of 'Dharma Doorways and Dead Ends'. As part of the theme "Doorways to Freedom" he explores the fascinating Buddhist notion of 'near enemies', those seductive but misleading lookalikes to authentic spiritual qualities.

Many thanks to Upeksapriya from Triratna's ClearVision project for creating and uploading this recording.

Vajrasara explores the joys and challenges of love, empathy, passion and compassion on the spiritual journey. A talk given in the Dharma Parlour on the 2012 Buddhafield Festival, under the overall theme of 'Doorways to Freedom'.

Hello everyone in the Dharma Parlour group - and (if you were there) I hope you enjoyed the Festival! It was definitely a wet one! But our spirits were unbowed, in fact I think I can safely say we loved it! SADHU to everyone who survived the 17th annual Buddhafield Festival - and you'll be pleased to know the talks and videos from the Dharma Parlour will be appearing here soon, in fact I'm working on the audio from the talks today.

Meanwhile, here's a photo just to remind you just how muddy it was... and how happy we were!

Hot off the press... The Buddhafield Festival's heart of Dharma practice!

Hot off the press - the 2012 Dharma Parlour program! Thanks so much to Maitrisara for pulling it all together... it looks great!

See you there...

Theme of the 2012 Dharma Parlour (and the Buddhafield Festival as a whole) is Doorways to Freedom... Here's what's confirmed for the programme so far:

* Dhivan, author of a new book on conditionality (called 'This being, That Becomes') will be leading study.
* Vajrasara will be giving a talk: Embracing Love.
* Lokabandhu will be hosting the Dharma Parlour and giving a talk: Dharma Doorways and Deadends: Not All that Glitters is Gold.
* Therevadin Buddhist Monk Amaranatho, and Mark Leonard from the Oxford Mindfulness Centre will be part of a panel discussion called Cultural Shift: Bridging the gap between Science and Dharma.
* Christopher Titmuss will be leading a Dharma Inquiry.
* Khemasuri will talk on the theme of Living an illusion, Dying to Escape.
* Akasati will give a talk: Heart and Soul: the Power of Ritual.
* Dearbhaile Bradley will be offering four workshops on the Work that Reconnects based on the work of Buddhist ecologist Joanna Macy.

Check back here for recordings of the talks, audio clips, photos and lots else... If you're coming to the Festival itself, please check notice boards for details/times and look out for the Dharma Parlour flyer.