Shows
The Buddhist CentreA Luminous Emptiness - Meditating and Loving in Reality with TejanandaIn this latest episode of the Buddhist Centre podcast, we are delighted to welcome back Tejananda, one of the most experienced meditation teachers within the Triratna Buddhist Community. Tejananda will be bringing insights from decades of practice to his upcoming Home Retreat on The Buddhist Centre Live, ‘Emptiness and Compassion: The Divine Abodes’, starting March 29th.
The retreat is part of a trilogy (so far!) exploring the Buddhist concept and experience of ‘emptiness’ (shunyata - pointing to the lack of an “objectively” fixed essence or selfhood in anything). This time around we are approaching the great field of contemplation...
2024-02-1742 min
Dharmabytes from free buddhist audioTwo Wings of the Bird Ratnavandana continues her exploration of the Brahma Viharas, describing how they work together as a mandala, as well as giving many useful and inspiring practice tips. Excerpted from the talk The Brahma Viharas: Approaches to Practice, the second talk in the series Living in the Mandala, given on a retreat held at Taraloka Retreat Centre, 2019. *** Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: On Apple Podcasts | On Spotify | On Google Podcasts Bite-sized inspiration three times every week. Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast: On Apple Podcasts | On Spotify | On Google Podcas...
2023-07-1303 minDharmabytes from Free Buddhist AudioTwo Wings of the Bird Ratnavandana continues her exploration of the Brahma Viharas, describing how they work together as a mandala, as well as giving many useful and inspiring practice tips. Excerpted from the talk The Brahma Viharas: Approaches to Practice, the second talk in the series Living in the Mandala, given on a retreat held at Taraloka Retreat Centre, 2019. *** Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: On Apple Podcasts | On Spotify | On Google Podcasts Bite-sized inspiration three times every week. Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast: On Apple Podcasts | On Spotify | On Google Podcas...
2023-07-1303 min
Dharmabytes from free buddhist audioRooted in Metta Ratnavandana beautifully introduces the Brahma Viharas as an integrated set of practices flowing from metta - loving kindness. Her central image is that of a tree, deep rooted and spreading its canopy wide as she evokes a profound, personal connection to the cultivation of the sublime abodes - loving kindness, compassion, joy with others, and equanimity. Excerpted from the talk Introduction to the Brahma Viharas (With Guided Meditation) given as part of the Rainy Season Retreat at Bristol Buddhist Centre, 2015. *** Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: On Apple Podcasts | On Spotify | On Google Podcasts...
2023-03-0907 minDharmabytes from Free Buddhist AudioRooted in Metta Ratnavandana beautifully introduces the Brahma Viharas as an integrated set of practices flowing from metta - loving kindness. Her central image is that of a tree, deep rooted and spreading its canopy wide as she evokes a profound, personal connection to the cultivation of the sublime abodes - loving kindness, compassion, joy with others, and equanimity. Excerpted from the talk Introduction to the Brahma Viharas (With Guided Meditation) given as part of the Rainy Season Retreat at Bristol Buddhist Centre, 2015. *** Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: On Apple Podcasts | On Spotify | On Google Podcasts...
2023-03-0907 min
Dharmabytes from Free Buddhist AudioThe Expansive Nature of JoyWhen metta meets the good fortune of others, mudita arises, joy in others. Mudita is an antidote to depression, to boredom, and it really connects you to yourself, to others, to the world around you. A beautiful introduction by Ratnavandana to the Brahma Viharas as an integrated set of practices flowing from metta - loving kindness. From the talk Introduction to the Brahma Viharas (With Guided Meditation) given as part of the Brahma Viharas - Bristol Retreat 2015. *** Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: On Apple Podcasts | On Spotify | On Google Podcasts Bite-sized in...
2022-01-1305 minDharmabytes from free buddhist audioThe Expansive Nature of JoyWhen metta meets the good fortune of others, mudita arises, joy in others. Mudita is an antidote to depression, to boredom, and it really connects you to yourself, to others, to the world around you. A beautiful introduction by Ratnavandana to the Brahma Viharas as an integrated set of practices flowing from metta - loving kindness. From the talk Introduction to the Brahma Viharas (With Guided Meditation) given as part of the Brahma Viharas - Bristol Retreat 2015. *** Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: On Apple Podcasts | On Spotify | On Google Podcasts Bite-sized in...
2022-01-1305 min
The Buddhist CentreReflections On Love (The Dharma Toolkit Daily, Episode 23)As we come towards the end of our Being Divine Online Home Retreat it is our great pleasure today to share with you some beautiful closing reflections from Ratnavandana on the theme of the retreat: love itself.
https://thebuddhistcentre.com/love
She beautifully evokes where and how she is currently spending this time of lockdown in rural Wales, UK, and shares how the Brahma Vihara meditations on love have been helping her at this strange and difficult time. What she gives us is her deep confidence in these practices and a rich tapestry of images rooted in the poetry of...
2020-05-0126 min
The Buddhist CentreReflections on Love (The Dharma Toolkit Daily, Episode 23)As we come towards the end of our Being Divine Online Home Retreat it is our great pleasure today to share with you some beautiful closing reflections from Ratnavandana on the theme of the retreat: love itself.
She beautifully evokes where and how she is currently spending this time of lockdown in rural Wales, UK, and shares how the Brahma Vihara meditations on love have been helping her at this strange and difficult time. What she gives us is her deep confidence in these practices and a rich tapestry of images rooted in the poetry of the natural...
2020-05-0126 min
The Buddhist CentreReflections from Ratnavandana - Being Divine Online Home Retreat: Day 7On Day 7 of the Being Divine home retreat Ratnavandana shares her reflections on taking part in the home retreat and beautifully evokes where she is at the moment, her relationship with the Brahmaviharas and how she has been practising the Dharma at this strange and difficult time.
For all the retreat resources: thebuddhistcentre.com/love
2020-04-3022 min
The Buddhist CentreBeing Divine Online: Q & A with Ratnavandana (The Dharma Toolkit Daily, Episode 20)Loving Kindness (Metta)
Compassion (Karuna)
Joyful Resonance (Mudita)
Equanimity (Upekkha)
This week on the podcast we're in full-on love mode with our Home Retreat: Being Divine Online.
Our guide to the series of meditations in focus - the Brahma Viharas - is Ratnavandana, and in this special episode recorded live online she's in discussion about a practice that has been one of the touchstones of her life.
The sense of someone choosing to dwell inside a mythic vision of kindness - and the perspective it affords - is strong. From her down-to-earth advice about how to make these meditations a...
2020-04-2843 min
The Buddhist CentreBeing Divine Online: Q & A with Ratnavandana on the Brahma Viharas (The Dharma Toolkit Daily, Episode 20)
Loving Kindness (Metta)
Compassion (Karuna)
Joyful Resonance (Mudita)
Equanimity (Upekkha)
This week on the podcast we're in full-on love mode with our Home Retreat: Being Divine Online.
Our guide to the series of meditations in focus - the Brahma Viharas - is Ratnavandana, and in this special episode recorded live online she's in discussion about a practice that has been one of the touchstones of her life.
The sense of someone choosing to dwell inside a mythic vision of kindness - and the perspective it affords - is strong. From her...
2020-04-2843 minDharmabytes from Free Buddhist AudioLive Like a River FlowsRatnavandana offers a personal sharing of her reflections on a six month solitary retreat where she was focussing on the Heart Sutra. With Avalokitesvara as her guide, she was hoping to deepen her understanding of the emptiness of the five skandhas as well as exploring how to bring all the ordinary everyday activities of life into the realm of the sacred. This excerpt includes a reading evocation on the Five Buddha Mandala. From the talk Glimpses of Emptiness given on a retreat for mitras held at Taraloka: The Heart Sutra - Thunderclaps of R...
2020-04-0211 minDharmabytes from free buddhist audioLive Like a River FlowsRatnavandana offers a personal sharing of her reflections on a six month solitary retreat where she was focussing on the Heart Sutra. With Avalokitesvara as her guide, she was hoping to deepen her understanding of the emptiness of the five skandhas as well as exploring how to bring all the ordinary everyday activities of life into the realm of the sacred. This excerpt includes a reading evocation on the Five Buddha Mandala. From the talk Glimpses of Emptiness given on a retreat for mitras held at Taraloka: The Heart Sutra - Thunderclaps of R...
2020-04-0211 minDharmabytes from Free Buddhist AudioLiving Like a RiverRatnavandana shares an intensely honest, psychologically intimate, beautifully forensic history of her personal relationship to the practice of upekkha (equanimity) throughout her spiritual life. We hear about ways to assess what is going on in the subtler realms of our experience - and how to look to move beyond them so we too can live like a river... Excerpted from the talk A Personal Take On Upekkha given as part of the series Brahma Viharas - Bristol Rainy Season Retreat 2015. *** Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast - a full Dharma tal...
2019-11-2506 minDharmabytes from free buddhist audioLiving Like a RiverRatnavandana shares an intensely honest, psychologically intimate, beautifully forensic history of her personal relationship to the practice of upekkha (equanimity) throughout her spiritual life. We hear about ways to assess what is going on in the subtler realms of our experience - and how to look to move beyond them so we too can live like a river... Excerpted from the talk A Personal Take On Upekkha given as part of the series Brahma Viharas - Bristol Rainy Season Retreat 2015. *** Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast - a full Dharma tal...
2019-11-2506 minDharmabytes from free buddhist audioCreating New PathwaysWhat needs to be seen and known in our experience of suffering in order for it to lead to freedom and compassion? Todayand#8217;s FBA Dharmabyte is called Creating New Pathways from the talk Living In the Mandala Ratnavandana. This is her second talk of the 2015 Rainy Season Retreat in Bristol, UK. Here Ratnavandana embarks on a personal sharing of how her life has been transformed by deciding to go and live in the mandala of the Brahma Viharas and the Jinas themselves. Her deep love of the practices represents both an inspired and eminently practical vision...
2019-01-1008 minDharmabytes from Free Buddhist AudioCreating New PathwaysWhat needs to be seen and known in our experience of suffering in order for it to lead to freedom and compassion? Todayand#8217;s FBA Dharmabyte is called Creating New Pathways from the talk Living In the Mandala Ratnavandana. This is her second talk of the 2015 Rainy Season Retreat in Bristol, UK. Here Ratnavandana embarks on a personal sharing of how her life has been transformed by deciding to go and live in the mandala of the Brahma Viharas and the Jinas themselves. Her deep love of the practices represents both an inspired and eminently practical vision...
2019-01-1008 min
Free Buddhist AudioA Personal Take On UpekkhaContinuing around the mandala, we enter the realm of Ratnasambhava, the golden Buddha of the South. In "A Personal Take On Upekkha, this weeks FBA Podcastby Ratnavandana. Continuing the series of personal talks on each of the Brahma Viharas from the 2015 Rainy Season Retreat, Ratnavandana shares an intensely honest, psychologically intimate, beautifully forensic history of her personal relationship to the practice of upekkha (equanimity) throughout her spiritual life. We hear about ways to assess what is going on in the subtler realms of our experience – and how to look to move beyond them so we too can liv...
2016-01-1620 minDharmabytes from free buddhist audioOpening to the MandalaOur theme on mandalas continues as we hear from Ratnavandana who has been teaching on the Brahma Viharas for decades using the Five Buddha Mandala as a basis for their exploration. The FBA Dharmabyte we choose is entitled Opening to the Mandala, an excerpt from the talk Living In the Mandala. This is the second talk of the 2015 Rainy Season Retreat in Bristol, UK, 2015, led by Ratnavandana who embarks on a personal sharing of how her life has been transformed by deciding to go and live in the mandala of the Brahma Viharas and the Jinas themselves...
2016-01-1103 minDharmabytes from Free Buddhist AudioOpening to the MandalaOur theme on mandalas continues as we hear from Ratnavandana who has been teaching on the Brahma Viharas for decades using the Five Buddha Mandala as a basis for their exploration. The FBA Dharmabyte we choose is entitled Opening to the Mandala, an excerpt from the talk Living In the Mandala. This is the second talk of the 2015 Rainy Season Retreat in Bristol, UK, 2015, led by Ratnavandana who embarks on a personal sharing of how her life has been transformed by deciding to go and live in the mandala of the Brahma Viharas and the Jinas themselves...
2016-01-1103 minDharmabytes from free buddhist audioBringing Together Head and HeartOur FBA Dharmabyte today is called Bringing Together Head and Heart by Ratnavandana. Continuing the series of personal talks on each of the Brahma Viharas from the 2015 Rainy Season Retreat, Ratnavandana shares an intensely honest, psychologically intimate, beautifully forensic history of her personal relationship to the practice of upekkha (equanimity) throughout her spiritual life. We hear about ways to assess what is going on in the subtler realms of our experience and#8211; and how to look to move beyond them so we too can live like a riverand#8230; From the talk, A Personal Take On...
2015-06-0804 minDharmabytes from Free Buddhist AudioBringing Together Head and HeartOur FBA Dharmabyte today is called Bringing Together Head and Heart by Ratnavandana. Continuing the series of personal talks on each of the Brahma Viharas from the 2015 Rainy Season Retreat, Ratnavandana shares an intensely honest, psychologically intimate, beautifully forensic history of her personal relationship to the practice of upekkha (equanimity) throughout her spiritual life. We hear about ways to assess what is going on in the subtler realms of our experience and#8211; and how to look to move beyond them so we too can live like a riverand#8230; From the talk, A Personal Take On...
2015-06-0804 minDharmabytes from free buddhist audioSetting Intention for EquanimityIn todayand#8217;s FBA Dharmabyte, Setting Intention for Equanimity, Ratnavandana shares an intensely honest, psychologically intimate, beautifully forensic history of her personal relationship to the practice of upekkha (equanimity) throughout her spiritual life. We hear about ways to assess what is going on in the subtler realms of our experience and#8211; and how to look to move beyond them so we too can live like a riverand#8230; From the talk, and#8220;A Personal Take On Upekkhaand#8221; given as part of the 2015 Rainy Season Retreat at Bristol Buddhist Centre. The full archive of this retreat is available on...
2015-04-1604 minDharmabytes from Free Buddhist AudioSetting Intention for EquanimityIn todayand#8217;s FBA Dharmabyte, Setting Intention for Equanimity, Ratnavandana shares an intensely honest, psychologically intimate, beautifully forensic history of her personal relationship to the practice of upekkha (equanimity) throughout her spiritual life. We hear about ways to assess what is going on in the subtler realms of our experience and#8211; and how to look to move beyond them so we too can live like a riverand#8230; From the talk, and#8220;A Personal Take On Upekkhaand#8221; given as part of the 2015 Rainy Season Retreat at Bristol Buddhist Centre. The full archive of this retreat is available on...
2015-04-1604 min
Free Buddhist AudioIntroduction to the Brahma ViharasWe are delighted to share this week's FBA Podcast entitled, "Introduction to the Brahma Viharas." Here, Ratnavandana beautifully introduces the Brahma Viharas as an integrated set of practices flowing from metta – loving kindness. Her central image is that of a tree, deep rooted and spreading its canopy wide as she evokes a profound, personal connection to the cultivation of the sublime abodes – loving kindness, compassion, joy with others, and equanimity. Ratnavandana also leads a guided meditation on cultivating a connection to the Brahma Viharas. This talk was given as part of the 2015 Rainy Season Retreat at Br...
2015-04-1155 min