The Buddhist Centre

An emergency appeal from us to you, dear friends. Will you help? The humanitarian crisis unfolding in India is of a scale that can seem overwhelming. It is understandable that, in the midst of our own undoubted trouble, we may wish to turn away. Perhaps we may even feel a sense of hopelessness. But when you listen to our guests from the Karuna Trust and the India Dhamma Trust, the moral force of their work is itself a bright example of the best kind of human response to suffering. Working with 50+ NGOs on the ground in India and Nepal, the Karuna Trust has set itself the aim of raising £200,000 in 6 weeks. This money will enable local people to alleviate immediate food shortages affecting 300-400 million day-labourers left without work or money after the sudden lockdown. In this episode, we hear about amazing work going on in densely packed slums right now that you could support from wherever you are. And how your donation will bolster the longterm planning that's already happening to set up conditions for

Dr. Paramabandhu Groves is the co-author with Dr. Jed Shamel of 'Mindful Emotion - A Short Course in Kindness', and the pioneering spirit behind the Breathing Space project in London. Using mindfulness-based cognitive therapy he specialises in recovery work with those suffering from long-term depression and addiction issues. As you might expect from someone who has lived for 30+ years in Dharma-centred community, Paramabandhu has also turned to developing resources for mental health based around core Buddhist practices designed to cultivate radical kindness (mettā). His practical, courses in Kindness Behaviour Training have broken new ground in the mindfulness field, and in this episode we get to hear the story of how they developed. A lovely conversation about great, quietly compassionate effort - and about his books that capture the fruits of this for everyone to access. Check out our Dharma Toolkit space for details of all we have on offer to help you make it through the weirdness and stay inspired. Co

Gain and Loss Praise and Blame Fame and Infamy Pleasure and Pain Today we look forward to the start of our first Home Retreat of these coronavirus times in the company of Dassini and Vajragupta, sailing through our human relationship to the Worldly Winds (lokadhammas), a lesser known gem of a Buddhist teaching we think will be a useful tool for anyone living through our current shared crisis. Vajragupta's book will be the basis of our online course, designed for you whether you have a lot of time or hardly any at all in the lockdown. The book itself was born in the midst of family grief and has been a touchstone of Vajragupta's own practice for many years. What he has to say about it in today's episode is worth the time. The challenges of trying - and sometimes failing - to be kind and pliable in the face of great uncertainty and loss of control are urgently relevant. The plan is, there is no plan! The message is: give yourself to the flow of life as lovingly as you can in any given moment. Join us for

A crucial and rather beautiful conversation about how we relate to our bodies in relative isolation. Some down-to-earth, open-hearted sharing of experience about things physical: the signs and symptoms and weathers of our bodies; the beneficial effect on our mental health of imaginative connection with other embodied beings; and the kindly wisdom in learning to see and name our actual physical experience instead of becoming lost in speculation. We're joined for an all Southern Hemisphere affair by Suvarnadhi from Auckland, NZ and her fellow Kiwi Vidyamala, founder of Breathworks, and pioneer of mindfulness work for people dealing with chronic pain. Life is flowing through our bodies and through everything else. An encouraging, practical episode about how much we might open up to this reality. Includes a beautiful reading of Derek Mahon's poem 'Everything is Going to Be All Right'. And we also learn how to play "rummy cup". Sort of! Mentioned in the episode: Mindful Movement routine from Breathworks Onlin

Standing in the idyllic gardens of Chintamani Buddhist Retreat Center in México and Manjupriya from São Paolo, via Dublin, is telling us, "Time is poetry in Brazil." Listen to the birdsong, close your eyes and you can almost smell the blossom. Tom Jobim used to say "Brazil is not for beginners". Manjupriya attests to this in the best of ways, describing frankly what it's like to change culture and learn the long lessons of experience away from all you know. We discuss the lifelines of mindfulness training and of Skype; the loneliness and togetherness of a Buddhist Order; the "martial art of the heart" that is the cultivation of kindness towards our enemies; and the great project of awakening to profound compassion in your life, meeting all disappointment with forgiveness and with love. The first of our Friday excursions further afield as part of this series of podcasts designed to keep you in touch with a sense of community and with your own delight as we navigate uncertain times together. Check out our Dh

The Internet doesn't always make things better! What do you do in the face of 24 hour news media that is just not going to stop?  Join us for a conversation about how to guard the gates of our senses when it matters in order to stay sane. Inspiring words about the practice of beauty, being rooted in the body and the senses, staying centred in a storm of input and opinion and views. And a practical pathway towards life done differently, steeped in appreciative awareness of the simple, the good and the true, whatever that looks like to you. Also discussed today: Fear of Covid-19 is a mental contagion – and that's something we can fight by Ben Okri Thought for the Day from Dublin A one-take journey through Russia’s iconic Hermitage museum: the trailer |  the full movie (5+ hours!) Check out our Dharma Toolkit space for details of all we have on offer to help you make it through the weirdness and stay inspired. Come meditate with us any week day! *** Theme music by Ackport! Used with kind permission.

"What went before — let go of that! All that's to come — have none of it! Don't hold on to what's in between, And you'll wander fully at peace." The Buddha Today we look a key aspect of this most strange of times: fear itself. Whether it's the virus, other people, or your own mind that sometimes gets to you. Whether you're oddly calm, having to work with mild anxiety, or find yourself in the throes of full blown panic – this is a podcast for you. A conversation amongst friends that neither shies away from the issue of fear nor tries to talk down its significance in our lives. And yet, there in the holding of it we catch glimpses of a much bigger perspective, one that comes out of everyday small acts of courage and kindness, and opens out into a full flowering of love. Moving accounts from our guests of personal challenges and the practice that helps overcome them. Join us for a good look at what scares and also at the hope that lies beyond fear's false horizon. ps. Sorry about the audio gremlins at var

A perfectly formed wee diamond of an episode featuring response and analysis from someone who knows what it's like at the sharp end of working with viruses in a laboratory setting. Danabhadri is our guest today, helping us move past the clinical language of "quarantines" and "isolation" towards a practical experience of interconnectedness. Evoking beautifully why that matters, she says: "The virus is not the monster from the deep. It evolved on this planet the same way we did." Hers is an urgent, challenging, ultimately empathetic perspective that embraces seeing our species as interdependent in ways that can mean we as individuals take a step away from horrified anxiety, opening up to a positive relationship to mortality itself. *** Check out our Dharma Toolkit space for details of all we have on offer to help you make it through the weirdness and stay inspired. Come meditate with us any week day! *** Theme music by Ackport! Used with kind permission. #coronavirus #Covid19 #Buddhism #Buddhist #Budd

Today's episode brings friends together from Ireland, England and the USA to look at the very technology that connect us for use in things like this. Come and get meta with us about Zoom! With the launch of our daily meditations we discuss how better versions of the Internet and its underlying technologies mean an evolution – and possibly a revolution – in how we conceive of Buddhist practice (and everything else) in community. What does a mature web context for practice look like on its own terms? How might going on retreat work online? In exploring all this we shine a light on the unexpected experience of intimacy to be had with people who come to classes online looking to create and be open to a genuine depth of connection. We also gather some favourite cultural highlights from the past week around the corona web. Things to cheer the heart! Featuring: Samuel West's free daily readings of poetry Laura Marling's guitar lessons on Instagram Rufus Wainwright's daily songs on Instagram Adrian Tchaikovs

Welcome to The Dharma Toolkit Daily, our new podcast from The Buddhist Centre to keep you company through the weeks or months ahead in these extraordinary coronavirus times. We'll be with you every week day with a diverse range of guests to renew your sense of a wider Dharma community standing with you. What better way to stay connected than to hear the voices of friends and strangers who understand something of what you may be going through in your particular lockdown situation? In our pilot episode, you'll hear tales and impressions from Scotland, Ireland, England, Mexico and the U.S.A. The strangeness of physical loneliness alongside too many Zoom calls; the positive effect on the natural world of less human presence; the surprising normalcy of meditating online; the deep need for community, beyond the boundaries of language itself; the collective versus the individual; the consequences of a cancelled long-term retreat; and, of course, the great reality of interconnectedness. Join us for 30 minutes of

"In a crisis you have to find new ways to be, you can't just carry on with the old ways...Buddhism gives you something new...a way of finding happiness, that comes from a different place." "I think the world, at the moment, is giving us lessons in the need for spirituality" On a recent visit to Venezuela, Parami speaks with Abhayasara (ordained in October) and Maria Elena, Wilman and Arsenio who are all involved in the Merida sangha. Full of gratitude and appreciation for what they have been given, we hear from these four about what it's like to be part of a sangha in a country which is in crisis and some of their hopes and dreams for the future. In this bilingual podcast - which delightfully finishes with a song! - we get a flavour of Venezuela: musical, colourful and warmly welcoming to visitors.  ***** "Durante una crisis tienes que encontrar nuevas maneras de ser, no puedes nada más continuar con los viejos hábitos… el Budismo te da algo nuevo.. una manera de encontrar una felicidad que viene de o

"I see philosophy as not only part of the great modernist, or western project of understanding, but feeding into the Buddhist project of bringing awakened values into the world" - Dhivan Sanghadhara chats to Dhivan, Silavadin and Dr Matt Drage who recently led a philosophy symposium at Adhisthana called 'Exploring Buddhist Modernism'.  The premise of this symposium being that western Buddhism has been deeply conditioned and informed by assumptions of the modern age: in particular, by affective scientific naturalism, romantic expressivism, and the Protestant reformation. Therefore those who are practicing as western Buddhists need to engage with these three themes. We hear about the talks and themes from this symposium as well as being given a framework in which we can position ourselves on the spectrum of Buddhist modernism. Celebrating the atmosphere of openness and friendliness, we are also given a glimpse into how events like this can help us both clarify our views and allow us get into dialogue with

Here are two wonderfully passionate members of the Order talking across generations about the need to open up effective pathways of commitment for young people as they connect and engage with the possibilities in a Buddhist life.  Subhadramati has pioneered such pathways for women for many years at the London Buddhist Centre, one of the biggest Centres in Europe. She discusses her plans for 2020 to start a women's community in London where she and a few experienced friends will share a home with several younger women exploring the Buddhist path.  Prajnaketu, the convener of young Buddhist activities in Triratna for Europe, shares what he thinks worked for him as a young person in Oxford investigating the Dharma life and wanting to take initiative as part of his practice. What follows is a great, urgent conversation about the ways in which young people can be encouraged, given space and allowed to find their voice.  Recorded at the Triratna International Council in England, September 2019. For more great D

Here's a short conversation with Akuppa (Newcastle, UK), Parina (Amsterdam, The Netherlands) and Dhammapitika (Metta Vihara Retreat Centre, The Netherlands) on the morning of the last full day at the Winter ECA - European Chairs assembly meeting, talking through the some of the new priorities that have been agreed on. We also hear about the fledgling plans underway to bring these to life in the coming months.  They also share some of their highlights from this particular meeting - demonstrating a surprising level of coincidence of wills!

Our second episode of our 'audio magazine' includes some of the highlights from the past six months: we hear about a land project in Hawaii, the revival of the Urgyen tulip, what's going on 'Down Under', what it's like working on an online Buddhist team and much more besides!

This podcast features the Dharmachakra team - who bring you The Buddhist Centre Online website and platform, Free Buddhist Audio, podcasts like this one, event coverage, technical support and more besides! As part of an online practice week in August some of this team gathered to talk about the Dharma and how they practice it in the context of their lives - in particular, in a busy, online 'team-based right livelihood', working with other Buddhists, bringing in ethics, meditation and (hopefully!) wisdom. Here we have four members of that team: Candradasa based in Portsmouth, New Hampshire in the U.S., Sadayasihi in Dublin, Ireland, and Kamalavajra (then Will) and Jay both based in Bristol, UK, talking about how that practice week went, why they've chosen to work as part of a Buddhist team, exploring the virtual nature of their team and their wish-list for what could be next! From the importance of having a sense of the mythic while engaged in work, to the joy of getting glimpses into others' lives, to the

Ya transcurrieron un par de días desde que inició la Convención Panamericana. En el comedor se pueden oír conversaciones en inglés y en español, incluso hay quien sirve de traductor para aquel que lo necesita. En este espacio, donde flores y el canto de los pájaros enmarcan las actividades de la convención, tuvieron la oportunidad de reunirse una vez mas. Hace poco mas de dos años tomaba lugar su retiro de ordenación en este mismo sitio; alguien tuvo la ocurrencia de llamarles las “siete magnificas” y por primera vez una ordenación pública se transmitía en streaming de Mexico. Gente en diferentes lugares del mundo la siguió y pudo conocer sus nombres al momento en que se anunciaban. Hoy se reunieron  a conversar, reflexionando sobre lo que ha sucedido en los meses posteriores a aquel día y la hermandad que les une desde entonces. Aquí, donde todo empezó... Grabado en el Centro de Retiros Chintamani, octubre de 2019 durante la Convención Panamericana de 2019. Para más: www.thebuddhistcentre.com/features

"When I went on those first Young Buddhist retreats I saw a future for Buddhism in my life.." "I don't think I've ever put my phone away for an entire weekend since I was about fifteen so coming away and doing that was incredible - I didn't realise the effect it'd had until I left..." Suzie from Manchester and Dharmasara from Berlin talk about their involvement in the Young Buddhist project. From gaining more confidence as a result of taking responsibility in their local sanghas to sharing what it's like being on retreat - and what advice they might give to others - we get a sense of how their engagement has enriched their experience of spiritual community. Recorded at the 2019 Big One at Adhisthana. +Follow thebuddhistcentre.com/youngbuddhists 

The 6th Triratna International Council is in full swing in England this week. Folk from around the world converging on beautiful rural Herefordshire to explore the work of making sure our community is united and available to all in the years ahead. We're joined by our friends from New Zealand and Australia for a check-in around their take on the week and the relevance of international perspectives to their own communities and their experience of the Dharma life back home. Inspiring to hear connections being made that can cross oceans and great distances, carrying a sense of harmony that will resonate wherever you are. For more: https://thebuddhistcentre.com/internationalcouncil

"...[the International Gathering is] quite intentionally like a mix of a retreat and a festival...but it's a whole retreat and a whole festival happening at the same time!" On the final full day of the 2019 Triratna International Gathering we tune in with Sanghamani, who gave one of the keynote talks, Sanjay from London and David, who is on the current men's Dharma Life course at Adhisthana, about how they've been finding the gathering. Sharing their favourite moments - of conversations, the stories of transformation, puja and pancakes and more - we hear about how this event has been: like creating a heaven on earth and a chance to celebrate the good things that are happening in Triratna. Recorded at Adhisthana, 25th August 2019.