The Buddhist Centre

This week on The Buddhist Centre Online and the Dharma Toolkit we are marking Earth Day - all week long! Watch out for our specially commissioned mini-series of podcasts released through the week: "Hair On Fire: Using the Threefold Way of Ethics, Meditation, and Wisdom to Turn Toward Climate Change". We'll be book-ending these special episodes with some lively, thoughtful conversations around the whole area of Buddhist responses - human responses - to climate change, especially when in the midst of the current coronavirus crisis. Today then, join our guests Sara Khorasani and Akuppa on a mythic and personally practical journey, against a backdrop of glacial time that challenges all our notions of 'activism'. We are both ghosts and voyagers in the underworld of our own life as our guests explore what it might be like for a largely urban community to make awareness of nature and the land part of how we communicate the Dharma. And what sort of ancestors we may yet prove to be. We also hear Sarah's reading fro

Two great friends from Australia and New Zealand evoke a mythic vision of beautiful community, founded on, knit together by stories. Stories from school, from war, from the Shambhala Buddhist tradition, from long, steady personal and communal Dharma practice. We look at how technology can make people - kids! - more courageous. And the everyday challenges when trying to develop kindness in the face of fear. A re-definition of the heroic in the light of empathy, connection and the possibility of hopeful exemplification when imagining the future of our species. *** 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 #crisis #pandemic #Buddhism #Buddhist #Buddha #Dharma #Triratna #community #sangha #Shambhala #heroic #hero #heroism #empathy

We're several weeks into lockdown and, as we continue to explore the experience of global intentional community, today's star is the Internet itself. Our guests discuss the new online contexts for Buddhist practice, evoking the uses of imagination within transitional, liminal spaces. We riff on new emergent forms of practice and modes of engagement that are bringing our community to life in unexpected ways. We also look at how surprisingly well the early promise of the Internet seems to have held up – and the potential consequences for how we conceive of and organise communities, especially when also dealing with the grief and the losses involved when the world is re-made through crisis. Join us for some wonderful sharing around what community means – at least for today! *** 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. #coron

This week we are celebrating the anniversary of the birth of Doctor B. R. Ambedkar, one of the great Buddhist leaders of modern times and the radical father of the Indian Constitution. Today's episode of the Toolkit Daily focusses on what it means to be a global community and explores Dr. Ambedkar's vision of common humanity based around the evolution of just societies. Our guests, Arun Bodh and Dayamudra, are from Jai Bhim International and Lokuttara Leadership Academy, two charities based between Kerala, India and San Francisco, USA. Their wonderful collaboration brings Dr. Ambedkar's vision to bear on educating girls and boys in English, and in Buddhist principles that serve social justice. Their students from the Dalit community (still regarded as "Untouchable" by the caste system in India) are enabled to become leaders in their own communities, breaking the cycle of institutional prejudice in their own lives and in those of many others. A moving testament to how, even in the midst of crisis, worlds ca

Abhayavajra loves painting. He loves paint itself. And sees himself more like an archaeologist, revealing something urgent and crucial about the human condition by adding rather than scraping away layers. A totally delightful conversation about the quest to integrate and unite Dharma practice with the steady, disciplined practice of an art form. We discuss how appreciating beauty  is like a healing force at times of stress; and how art itself can be a properly adequate response to suffering in the kind of reality we are all taking part in. Encompassing the plasticity of paint itself; the inter-relationship between colour and form; and the presence of blossom and bare branches in a sense of beauty felt all year round. This is a magic window into how we can meet the challenges of our time by holding to our deepest sources of inspiration. Visit Monet's water lilies (Les Nymphéas) online Watch the last interview with Dennis Potter *** Check out our Dharma Toolkit space for details of all we have on offer t

Communities of all kinds all over the world have been facing up to the huge economic impact of Covid-19 and the ongoing lockdown. In the Triratna Buddhist Community this has meant financial stress at Buddhist Centres and an urgent need for help navigating the next few months, which will be crucial to the survival of many Centres, large and small. Enter our two guests! Amalavajra and Danayutta are two former investment bankers, now working hard with FutureDharma Fund to support Buddhist communities in their hour of need. While offering immediate support to folk looking to weather the storm, their message to everyone is about moving towards a bold sense of responsibility when it comes to fundraising - one that is confident and clear about giving people the opportunity to help out and protect valued services. Both in a time of crisis, and in the years ahead. Visit the the new Centre Fundraising Support space Check out our Dharma Toolkit space for details of all we have on offer to help you make it through t

A mythic sense of things is never far away in today's conversation about radical imagination: at the most intimate levels of close, personal friendship; and also culturally, historically, politically, and spiritually as we try to meet the moment of crisis to which we are all witnesses. With Viveka and Upayadhi we discuss taking cues from anticipatory communities who deal with systemic suffering every day, and who have stored up effective responses to some of the issues we are all now facing. The questions that arise are themselves hopeful: How do we love each other back into life when we stand in a place that feels almost impossible? How do we make actual the vision of a just, loving world? And how can we imagine that as the simplest thing rather than as the most difficult? A great, encouraging conversation from New York City and San Francisco, where the words of Grace Lee Boggs, activist and American revolutionary, ring out: "A revolution that is based on the people exercising their creativity in the mi

As part of our week-long Home Retreat on 'Sailing the Worldly Winds - A Buddhist Way Through the Ups and Downs of Life', we are delighted to host here for a live online Q & A, Vajragupta the author and Dharma teacher behind the retreat itself. A great, wide-ranging and practical discussion about what this classic Buddhist teaching has to say to us about caring for ourselves and each other during the current coronavirus / Covid-19 pandemic. And what communities can do to try and make sure the world does not simply forget all that's being learned when the crisis is finally over. Topics discussed are: Naming the worldly winds in your own way Gain and loss at the heart of change Where does fear come in? What can you do when the winds are blowing strongly? Spaciousness and reflection Considering pleasure and pain as the basis of all the winds; each of the pairs as possible root factors; fame and celebrity Poem - 'This is the time to be slow' by John O'Donohue The place of beauty in our response The intimacy

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