The Preciousness of Human Birth

The scholarly monk Analayo says it is important for us, as Buddhists, to take care of nature as we take care of our own body. We have a responsibility, he says, to cause no harm and to respond to the climate crisis with mindfulness, ethics and compassion. Saddhavasini introduces a guided Karuna Bhavana for the natural world designed to bring you close to the suffering of our natural world and to cultivate the metta and compassion needed to meet and address that suffering with skillful action. Excerpted from the talk Karuna Bhanva For the Natural World, as part of the on-line Touching the Earth retreat, Aryaloka Buddhist Center, 2020. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dharmabytes-from-free-buddhist-audio/id416832097 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UHPDj01UH6ptj8FObwBfB YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FreeBuddhistAudio1967

How might we respond, as Buddhists, to the emerging environmental crises facing the planet? Gunopeta explores the implications of what happens when we open our hearts to our deep emotional response to these crises. With the aid of guided meditation, poetry, ritual, and our felt connection to nature and the holiness of place, we can learn to "touch the Earth with love." Excerpted from the talk Touching the Earth with Love given at Aryaloka Buddhist Center 2020. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dharmabytes-from-free-buddhist-audio/id416832097 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UHPDj01UH6ptj8FObwBfB YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FreeBuddhistAudio1967  

One of the contradictions of modern environmentalism is that a concern for ‘nature’ embodies a separation between humans and the living world. Ketumati develops a profound critique of our usual assumptions and a revised version of holistic thinking. Excerpted from the talk From the 'Nature' Delusion to the Wisdom of the Earth given at Adhisthana as part of the series Wisdom of the Earth: Philosophy and the Climate Crisis, 2023. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dharmabytes-from-free-buddhist-audio/id416832097 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UHPDj01UH6ptj8FObwBfB YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FreeBuddhistAudio1967  

Shraddhavani invites us to engage with the facts about our contributions to climate change through basic activities such as eating, living in our homes and travel. She then asks us to get in touch with those seemingly simple, everyday feelings that tend to govern our choices in these areas –– the feelings of wanting, resistance and not knowing, which we as Buddhists can relate to the poisons of greed, hatred and delusion. Excerpted from the talk Transforming Our Poisons - Liberating Our Choices, which was followed by a led meditation. Part of Touching Earth: Buddhist Approaches to Care of Nature retreat at Aryaloka Buddhist Center, 2020. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dharmabytes-from-free-buddhist-audio/id416832097 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UHPDj01UH6ptj8FObwBfB YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FreeBuddhistAudio1967  

How can Buddhists respond to the climate emergency? Vishvapani uses the Parable of the Burning House from the Lotus Sutra to suggest our responsibilities' and finds the values we need to guide us in the Five Precepts. Excerpted from the talk Climate Precepts In The Burning House given in Cardiff, 2019. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dharmabytes-from-free-buddhist-audio/id416832097 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UHPDj01UH6ptj8FObwBfB YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FreeBuddhistAudio1967  

Dayajoti offers a short talk on climate change, relating it to basic buddhist teachings, followed by a guided 'climate' meditation. From the talk entitled Consensus Trance - Climate given at Bristol Buddhist Centre, 2015. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dharmabytes-from-free-buddhist-audio/id416832097 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UHPDj01UH6ptj8FObwBfB YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FreeBuddhistAudio1967  

Lokabandhu introduces the American Buddhist activist Joanna Macy and her teaching of the 'Work That Reconnects', part of the Southampton Buddhist Centre's series on 21st Century Bodhisattvas. Excerpted from the talk Introduction to Joanna Macy and the Work That Reconnects given in Southampton, 2018. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dharmabytes-from-free-buddhist-audio/id416832097 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UHPDj01UH6ptj8FObwBfB YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FreeBuddhistAudio1967  

Vaddhaka introduces David Loy and his thoughts about how to bring our Buddhist practice out into the streets and engage with the world. In the full talk he also introduces Bhikkhu Bodhi, a prolific translator of the Pali Canon and respected teacher in the East, deeply rooted in the Buddha's teachings, who returned to the USA and re-engaged with his activist roots challenging a self-oriented and withdrawn mode of Buddhist practice. From the talk entitled David Loy and Bhikkhu Bodhi, given on the World on Fire retreat at Adhisthana, 2015. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dharmabytes-from-free-buddhist-audio/id416832097 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UHPDj01UH6ptj8FObwBfB YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FreeBuddhistAudio1967  

How ethically sensitive are we? Could we rejoice in our ethical behaviour? Ratnaghosha gives a short talk reflecting on the practices described in the Dasadhamma Sutta: Discourse on the Ten Dhammas. Excerpted from the talk Going Forth, Going Beyond: Short Talks that was given at the Triratna Buddhist Order convention on the theme Going Forth, Going Beyond, 2022. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dharmabytes-from-free-buddhist-audio/id416832097 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UHPDj01UH6ptj8FObwBfB YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FreeBuddhistAudio1967  

How can we, in our busy, everyday lives, transform our awareness and turn our minds towards awakening? Paranita talks about the practice of the 'Four Mind Turning Reflections', the four reminders that work on our minds to turn them towards liberation. We will hear about how to reflect on the preciousness of our human life, the inevitability of death, the truth of karma and the dangers of samsara, to bring about a radical shift in awareness. Excerpted from the talk Ready Or Not, One Day We Shall Die given at Sheffield Buddhist Centre, 2025. *** Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone! Donate now: https://freebuddhistaudio.com/donate Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: Bite-sized clips - Buddhist inspiration three times a week. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dharmabytes-from-free-buddhist-audio/id416832097 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4UHPDj01UH6ptj8FObwBfB YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FreeBuddhistAudio1967