Dharmabytes from Free Buddhist Audio
Dharmabytes features bite-sized dharma, three times a week, from the Free Buddhist Audio archives. Themed in conjunction with our weekly full length talk podcast, these are inspiring short extracts from over 5,000 talks on Buddhism, meditation and mindfulness! Tune in, be inspired!
Episodes
Prasadavati invites us to explore how meditation can serve our lives on and off the cushion, and especially during challenging times. Excerpted from the talk entitled Befriend Your Mind given at Buddhistisches Tor Berlin, 2025.
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Equanimity is the deepest level of metta: metta imbued with seeing reality. Maitrisiddhi brings in Kisa Gotami, Hiroshima and her own mother's death. Can we hold the paradox of loving, yet letting go? Can we drop the drama, and see the mettaful action that we could actually take? Excerpted from the talk entitled Equanimity: This Is The Way Things Are as part of the series Brahma Viharas: Living in the Mandala, Taraloka Retreat Cen...
Image of the sea and the raft: we hold onto our raft, but this brings suffering - can we let go, enter the sea and become spiritually reborn? This is the question Arthabandhu asks us.
Spiritual death does not only mean esoteric meditation practices; it means confronting the vagaries and difficulties of life with honesty and courage and seeing what we can learn from them. By opening up to new experien...
Orientation towards Enlightenment is a keynote talk by Kusaladevi marking both the Buddha's enlightenment over 2,500 years ago and the 30th anniversary of the Nottingham Buddhist Centre. Exploring themes of lineage, connection, and the symbolism of the Vajrasana as a point of orientation in a suffering world. Kusaladevi reflects on how Dharma practice and the life of a Buddhist Centre offer a bridge from disorientation towards the ...
Vaddhaka delves into the Buddha's unanswered questions; questions that Vacchagotta, Malunkyaputta and others asked him. Among them: 'What happens to a Buddha after death?' And what happens at our own death; what did the Buddha really say; and why did the renowned Buddhist scholar Paul Williams convert from Buddhism to Roman Catholicism? Excerpted from the talk entitled Death and the Self, and the Buddha's Unanswered Questions given...
Maitreyabandhu draws out the deeper meaning and finer detail of five different poems, each around the theme of death with the final poem focusing on spiritual rebirth. By discussing the background of the poems and poets, the intricacies of their structure, and bringing in a Buddhist interpretation of the themes raised in the poems, Maitreyabandhu shows us the importance and profundity of poetry and how it can help us to explore Dha...
In this talk Alokadhara explores these beautiful verses which evoke the Buddha, his qualities and the profundity of his teaching. Excerpted from the talk entitled Celebrating the Buddha Pingiya's Praises to the Way to the Beyond given at Padmaloka Retreat Centre, 2014.
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Dhivan relates tales of some of the colourful characters who visit the Buddha to receive teachings.Here, we here about a killer-bandit named Angulimala. Excerpted from the talk A Courtesan, a Killer and a King given at Bristol Buddhist Centre, 2016.
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What was the Buddha really like? Jayabodhi explores this important question with particular emphasis on how this is related to our own lives and how we may follow in the footsteps of the Buddha ourselves. Excerpted from the talk entitled What the Buddha Was Really Like given at Birmingham Buddhist Centre, 2017.
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Sangharakshita outlines his view of the historical background to current world problems (essentially, problems within and between groups), which can only be solved by people either withdrawing support from groups or influencing them positively through an experience of Spiritual Communities.
Excerpted from the talk entitled Evolution or Extinction: Current World Problems given as part of the series Where do...
Partisan politics, hurricanes and earthquakes, mass shootings, nuclear threats … our world at times feels like a living nightmare. Sunada reflects: How do we as Buddhists respond, individually and as a sangha? And how do we keep our sanity? Excerpted from the talk entitled Practice During Times of Chaos and Uncertainty given on a Sangha Day celebration at Aryaloka Buddhist Center, 2017.
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Here, Prajnamati describes how a range of dharma practices can be seen as a finding of the point of freedom where a more creative option becomes apparent as an alternative to the more familiar reactive choices. In ethical practice this is developing a sensitivity to the wholesome quality of skilful intentions, in meditation finding a way of relaxing in to the practice and in sangha engaging in a free association of individuals, as ...
The Bodhisattva called 'Never Direct' saw the Buddha in everyone, yet his practice of bowing received a mixed response. Drawing on themes from the White Lotus Sutra, Aryadasa delves into how different framings of the spiritual life can profoundly change our understanding of Buddhism and its practice. Excerpted from the talk entitled A Bodhisattva On His Knees given at Sheffield Buddhist Centre, 2025.
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Khemasuri introduces the Bodhisattva Ideal, central to Mahayana Buddhism, by describing the training of the novice Bodhisattva and the arising of the will to Enlightenment. Excerpted from the talk entitled Becoming a Bodhisattva given at Sheffield Buddhist Centre, 2012.
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Vijayasri explores confession's illuminating and transformational properties through the Mahayana sutra, The Sutra of Golden Light. Excerpted from the talk entitled the Sutra of Golden Light: What Is the Role of Confession In Buddhism? Given at Birmingham Buddhist Centre, 2023.
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Nagavajri gracefully introduces some points one may find helpful before studying any Mahayana sutra, giving some context to this rich vein of the Dharma. Excerpted from the talk What Do I Need to Know Before Reading a Mahayana Sutra? Given as an introduction to the Vimalakīrti Nirdeśa (The Inconceivable Emancipation) at a sub30 Adhisthana retreat, 2025.
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Akasaraja explores the nature of presence and absence in encounters between people and concludes that we can only be truly present when we are "absent", i.e. when we get out of the way. And the Buddha embodies this "presence" through "absence" in a way we cannot truly comprehend. By being "absent", he is completely and utterly present. The Buddha is the embodiment of reality itself and, as such, is always present. Excerpted from th...
The full moon in May is celebrated as the anniversary of the Buddha's Enlightenment and his victory over the demon Mara. Sangharakshita explains what Mara represents and how he can be overcome. As well as containing much that will fascinate experienced Buddhists, this is also an excellent introductory lecture. Excerpted from the talk entitled The Buddha's Victory given in 1987.
Nagasiddhi invites us to experience the dharma imaginatively: through art and heart. He outlines the turning points or 'rites of passage' in the Buddha's mythic life story as he introduces the In the Footsteps of the Buddha home retreat offered by the Triratna Buddhist Community. In this excerpt from the talk entitled Rites of Passage, he speaks about the numerous perspectives the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas take. Visit 'In the Foots...
In this moving talk based on Sangharakshita's 1969 talk 'Breaking through to Buddhahood', Suddhaka shares some of his experience as an Order Member to illustrate how we might move beyond our unhelpful psychological conditioning. Excerpted from the talk Breaking Through Psychological Conditioning talk given at Brixton Buddhist Centre, 2017.
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