What Occupies Us?

A Spiritual Community consists of Individuals; a group does not consist of Individuals. What is individuality? How can an ordinary group support our efforts to transcend the group? Excerpted from the talk The Individual, the Group, and the Community by Sangharakshita given in 1971. *** 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  

Adityadasa delves into the Parable of the Jewel in the Robe from the White Lotus Sutra. He evokes the timeless wisdom of this story, highlighting its profound relevance to our modern conditions and culture. Through his exploration, Ādityadāsa reveals how we can shift from a mindset of scarcity to one of abundance, both within ourselves and in the world around us. Excerpted from the talk Living From Enough given at Worcester 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  

Parami explores themes of friendship through poems by Robert Burns and quotes from Sangharakshita and from the Pali Canon. Excerpted from the talk Burns, Bhante and the Buddha: Themes of Friendship and Solidarity given at Glasgow Buddhist Centre as part of the series Burns, Bhante and the Buddha, 2024. *** 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  

Colour has an important place in Buddhism, for example as a way to express different aspects of the Enlightened mind in the Five Jinas. This symbolism can open the imagination to new depths of understanding. As an artist and former art teacher, Ahimsaka has studied colour extensively and helps us explore the deeper significance of colour in Buddhist practice. Excerpt from the talk entitled Tantric Path - The Symbolism of Colour given at Cambridge Buddhist Centre, 2017. *** 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  

Ksantikara gives a Sangha night talk exploring what constitutes Perfect Livelihood. What are the conditions that most encourage our Buddhist practice to come alive when it comes to the work we undertake? Excerpted from the talk Buddhism and the 9-5 given at Birmingham Buddhist Centre, 2021. *** 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  

Pasannamati gives a Sangha night talk exploring Perfect Livelihood. How can our livelihood and our networks be a doorway to leading our lives in a way in which our eyes can be wide open rather than our eyes being wide shut? Excerpted from the talk Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy…reflections of Livelihood and the Networks That Sustain Us given at Birmingham Buddhist Centre, 2021. *** 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  

Vishvapani's usual good-natured and reflective approach is just the thing to start us off as he looks at how Sangharakshita's initiative in founding the FWBO might be viewed in terms of the unity of Buddhism. Excerpted from the talk Three Jewels Buddhism - Finding the Heart of the Dharma Traditions given at the Triratna Buddhist Order Weekend, Wymondham College, March 2008. *** 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  

Vajradevi leads a beautiful sevenfold puja compiled by Maitrisiddhi from the Pali Canon. Here, we participate in verses expressing our Going for Refuge through verse and the chanting of the Refuges and Precepts. Excerpted from Puja to the Buddha drawn from the Pali Canon, part of the series Pathways to the Beautiful Mind: Bristol Rains Retreat given at Bristol Buddhist Centre, 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  

Padmasagara explores the awe-inspiring vision behind the image of the Refuge Tree, connecting it to Sangharakshita's great insight into the centrality of Going for Refuge. Excerpted from the talk The Refuge Tree As a Vision of Existence given at Padmaloka Retreat Centre as part of the series The Cosmic Refuge Tree, 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  

In his first public appearance since his eyesight began to deteriorate, Sangharakshita begins this new talk with reflections on his blindness, displaying remarkable equanimity and humour in the process. His main subjects, however, are six particular aspects of Buddhist life and practice which are given distinctive emphasis in the spiritual movement he has founded. Here, he defines the ecumenical approach to Buddhism that our practicing spiritual community takes. Excerpted from the talk The Six Distinctive Emphases of the FWBO [Triratna], previously released under the title, 'An Informal Talk at Padmaloka', given in 2002. *** 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