Free Buddhist Audio
Free Buddhist Audio

Dharmabyte: A Measuring Worm

By Sadayasihi on Thu, 30 Jan, 2020 - 14:00

Maitreyabandhu draws out the deeper meaning and finer detail of the poem entitled A Measuring Worm, by Richard Wilbur. In the full talk entitled A New Knowledge of Reality-Buddhism and Poetry, Maitreyabandhu discusses five different poems, each around the theme of death, with the final poem focusing on spiritual rebirth.

By discussing the background of the poems and poets, the intricacies of their structure, and bringing in a Buddhist interpretation of the themes raised in...

Free Buddhist Audio
Free Buddhist Audio

Dharmabyte: Poems On Impermanence

By Sadayasihi on Mon, 27 Jan, 2020 - 14:00

A well read poem can help us deepen our understanding of Buddhist principles. Achala shares his practice of reflecting on impermanence through poetry. In this Dharmabyte we hear two poems. The first is entitled “Life” by Sangharakshita, the second entitled “Letter to a Nobleman in Kyoto” by Kukai, (774-835 CE), Japanese poet, scholar, painter, engineer, and great Buddhist teacher.

Translated into Marathi by Amitayush. Excerpted from the talk entitled Poems On...

Free Buddhist Audio
Free Buddhist Audio

Dharmabyte: Cracks in the Ice

By Sadayasihi on Thu, 26 Dec, 2019 - 14:00

This is a gem of a talk, with a wintery theme.

Parami starts by singing ‘In the Bleak Midwinter’ by Christina Rossetti. She then goes on to bring out the underlying meaning of some of the imagery in the poem.

The first metaphors are about bleakness, with the earth as hard as iron and water like a stone, times when we struggle and it seems as if no growth is possible. She talks about her early experience of doing the metta bhavana and...

Free Buddhist Audio
Free Buddhist Audio

Dharmabyte: The Art of Disappearing

By Sadayasihi on Mon, 2 Sep, 2019 - 14:00

How free would your life be if you gave up unreal expectations? Try to remember something too important to forget. Renunciation is where you are allowing yourself to be obedient to the call of the heart – what do you really want to say ‘yes’ to? One of her telling quotes is ” … there is no spiritual development without renunciation, and no renunciation without spiritual development …”

Saddhanandi begins this Dharmabyte with a poem by Naomi Shihab...

Community Highlights
Community Highlights

Prakasha on Buddhism and William Blake (with Satyalila)

By Free Buddhist Audio on Thu, 11 Jul, 2019 - 20:55

In this interview, Prakasha shares the remarkable story of the unfolding of his Dharma Life from a fascination with the English poet, painter and visionary William Blake in the late 1970s and early 80s and how this led him to a deep immersion in the Vajrayana approach to Buddhism. Following on from Bhante, in ‘Buddhism and William Blake’ he elucidates the common basis between the symbolic worlds of Blake and the Vajrayana.

Recorded at a retreat on William Blake, Adhisthana 2017.

...

Free Buddhist Audio
Free Buddhist Audio

Dharmabyte: Trusting the Process

By Sadayasihi on Thu, 18 Apr, 2019 - 14:00

Our FBA Dharmabyte today is by Varasahaya called Trusting the Process.

Drawing on her experience as a poet, Varasahaya discusses creativity, imagination, and the writing process as a spiritual practice. She reads some of her poems, and explains the process by which they came to birth, and what she learnt about letting go of self as she grappled with writing.

An excellent and very accessible talk given to Sangha night at the West London Buddhist Centre. Taken...

Dublin Buddhist Centre
Dublin Buddhist Centre

Maitreyabandhu at Poetry Day Ireland 2018

By Sadayasihi on Wed, 25 Jul, 2018 - 18:06

Maitreyabandhu discusses his childhood, forbidden love, his path to writing poetry and what Buddhism can learn from poetry (and what poetry can learn from Buddhism) in this wide-ranging interview with Jnanadhara, the chair of the Dublin Buddhist Centre. 

He also reads a selection of his poetry - including from a forthcoming book on the painter Paul Cézanne - as part of this special evening held as part of the programme of events during the 2018 Poetry Day Ireland festival.

...

Free Buddhist Audio
Free Buddhist Audio

Dharmabyte: Kindness - A Poem & A Story

By Sadayasihi on Mon, 23 Jul, 2018 - 11:30

This Dharmabyte podcast is the reading of the poem ‘Kindness’, by Naomi Shihab Nye (1952) followed by the back story to the poem.

‘Kindness: A Poem & A Story’, by Ratnaguna, is a commentary on two poems: ‘Singapore’ by Mary Oliver and ‘Kindness’ by Naomi Shihab Nye. In this excerpt we hear of the latter poem.

The full talk, The Tender Gravity of Kindness, was by Ratnaguna on Sangha Night at...

Free Buddhist Audio
Free Buddhist Audio

Dharmabyte: A Prayer to the Moon

By Sadayasihi on Mon, 14 May, 2018 - 12:51

In this Dharmabyte podcast, ‘A Prayer to the Moon’, Paramananda shares a David White poem about the moon as a means of expressing consciousness that is inspired by longing for something greater than us.

From a talk called ‘The Moon’ given at the West London Buddhist Centre.

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