Buddhist Audio Books

Published on Sangharakshita.org

The following twelve pieces by Urgyen Sangharakshita were written between August 2015 and March 2016. They begin with a letter to Sangharakshita's friend and companion, Paramartha, who had been suddenly called away to the other side of the world, and continue over the following weeks and months, taking the forms of reveries and reminiscences, rather like those which are collected together in a Moseley Miscellany (some of which can also be found on the above website). The subjects to which he turns his mind include his parents, the sūtras, the supernormal, beauty and many others.

Contents:

1. A Reverie-cum-Reminiscence in the form of a Letter to Paramartha

2. Old Mr Boutell

3. The Young Philip Lingwood

4. Some Bombay Friends

5. Encounters on the Underground

6. Colin Wilson Revisited

7. Remembering Alaya

8. What Might Have Been

9. The Young Man in the Hut

10. Alternative Lives

11. On the Edge of the Etheric

12. The Young Florence Ketskemety

These book reviews made their appearance in the quarterly FWBO (now Triratna) Newsletter between the years 1974 and 1980.

Here are 71 editorials written by Sangharakshita for the Maha Bodhi, the Maha Bodhi Society’s monthly journal, during the years 1954 – 64. Sangharakshita lived in India at that time, and he returned to England in 1964. He founded the FWBO, now renamed Triratna, a few years later in London. The editorials bespeak an intensity of vision, a devotion to the Buddha and His Teaching, and a deep-felt concern about people, animals, organisations and nations that together inhabit this planet. During this 10 year period, Buddhism in India made a quantum leap with the mass conversions to Buddhism carried out in 1956 at Nagpur.There is an extensive Introduction in four parts by Kalyanaprabha, giving valuable background.

How can we be happy and at the same time responsive to the suffering of others? It can be done: this is the message of the Bodhisattva ideal. The image of the Bodhisattva, one who wishes to gain Enlightenment for the sake of all beings, lies at the heart of much of Indian, Tibetan and Chinese Buddhism. For one wishing to follow this path, the development of inner calm and positivity that leads to true wisdom is balanced by a genuine and active concern for others which flowers into great compassion. Sustained by a deep understanding gained through meditation and reflection, the Bodhisattva is able to work tirelessly for the benefit of all. Sangharakshita places the ideal of the Bodhisattva within the context of the entire Buddhist tradition. Unfolding this vision of our potential, he demonstrates how we ourselves can move towards this ideal.

We are what we think. Happiness and suffering arise from the way our mind interprets what we see, hear, touch or imagine. Realizing this, we can develop increasing clarity and creativity – qualities perfected in the mind of the Buddha. Sangharakshita challenges us to look at what holds us back from being truly alive to the present moment and offers practical guidance on how to overcome the barriers of habit with energy and awareness.

Universal in its message, deep in its teaching, refined simplicity of language.

‘Experiences are preceded by mind, led by mind, and produced by mind. If one speaks or acts with a pure mind, happiness follows like a shadow that never departs.’

This is Sangharakshita's translation of The Dhammapada, which is one of the most popular and influential of Buddhist scriptures. Contained within its short verses are the essential teachings of the Buddha, words to be savoured, reflected upon and revisited.

Compiled by Vadanya

The text of this Course is available at https://thebuddhistcentre.com/mitra/ and in book form from http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/thebuddhistcentre

What is a Mitra?

The Sanskrit word ‘Mitra’ simply means ‘friend’. Becoming a Mitra is a deepening of your friendship with the Triratna Buddhist Order, which can occur when your commitment to its ideals, values and practices has reached a certain level. Mitras are people who have made what we call a ‘provisional’ commitment to practising the Dharma within our spiritual community. This involves a commitment to Buddhism, to practising the Buddhist path as taught within our tradition, and to the Triratna Buddhist Community as the main context for your practice. We call this level of commitment ‘provisional’ because it is ‘for the foreseeable future’, rather than the more once-and-for-all dedication of an Order Member. You are ready to become a Mitra when you decide that, as far as you can see at the moment, you want to practise this path, with this spiritual community. You are saying that from where you are now this looks like the path for you, and you are willing to give it a good wholehearted trial. Becoming a Mitra is a significant event in our spiritual lives, so it is marked by a significant public ceremony, which is a special event at the Buddhist centre, and to which many people invite their friends and family.

The text of this Course is available at https://thebuddhistcentre.com/mitra/ and in book form from http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/thebuddhistcentre

What is a Mitra?

The Sanskrit word ‘Mitra’ simply means ‘friend’. Becoming a Mitra is a deepening of your friendship with the Triratna Buddhist Order, which can occur when your commitment to its ideals, values and practices has reached a certain level. Mitras are people who have made what we call a ‘provisional’ commitment to practising the Dharma within our spiritual community. This involves a commitment to Buddhism, to practising the Buddhist path as taught within our tradition, and to the Triratna Buddhist Community as the main context for your practice. We call this level of commitment ‘provisional’ because it is ‘for the foreseeable future’, rather than the more once-and-for-all dedication of an Order Member. You are ready to become a Mitra when you decide that, as far as you can see at the moment, you want to practise this path, with this spiritual community. You are saying that from where you are now this looks like the path for you, and you are willing to give it a good wholehearted trial.

Becoming a Mitra is a significant event in our spiritual lives, so it is marked by a significant public ceremony, which is a special event at the Buddhist centre, and to which many people invite their friends and family.

Please note, this Course contains extracts from 2 books, both published by Windhorse Publications. They are Maitrayabandhu: ‘The Journey and the Guide’, and ‘What is the Sangha’, by Sangharakshita. These books are copywrite.

Year Three includes:

Selected Suttas from the Pali Canon

Letters of Gold, Letters of Fire: Living with the Dhammapada

Towards Insight, Reflection and Meditation

In Search of the Middle Way: Mahayana Perspectives

The Bodhisattva Ideal

The Drama of Cosmic Enlightenment: The White Lotus Sutra

Faith, Symbols and the Imagination

Foreword to the first edition of the Dharma Training Course for Mitras

Since the earliest days of the FWBO (now the Triratna Buddhist Community) I have been concerned that men and women who attend our centres should be able to gain a proper understanding of the Dharma. I am therefore delighted that the new Dharma Training Course for Mitras is now available.

The aim of the Course is to provide Mitras – those wishing to practise the Dharma within the context of the Triratna Buddhist Community – with what amounts to a basic education in Buddhism. The four-year course (the first year of which is a foundation year) includes modules on the principle Buddhist teachings, both practical and theoretical, as well as on some of the more important scriptures and philosophical schools. There are modules on the Bodhisattva Ideal; on the nature of the Sangha or spiritual community; on faith, symbols, and the imagination; on ethics and the environment; on Buddhist psychology; and on the history of the Triratna Buddhist Community. Though the new Dharma Training Course draws on the old Mitra Study Course, there is also much that is new, some of it specially written for the course. Moreover, there is a greater emphasis on the importance of putting what one learns into practice.

"A great deal of thought has gone into the preparation of the new Dharma Training Course, and a great deal of work, and I congratulate all those who were involved in its production. The course should be available at every Triratna centre, and I hope that all Mitras who wish to extend and deepen their knowledge of the Dharma will take full advantage of it." - Sangharakshita

An image or story can mysteriously convey a sense of truth that the most convincing intellectual argument cannot. In the White Lotus Sutra, bursting with symbols, imagery and myths, we meet the Buddha as a story-teller. Indeed, this sutra tells the greatest of all stories, that of human life and human potential. This great story takes the cosmos as its stage and all sentient beings as its players, yet within it lie many tales that address aspects of our lives or personalities. This delightfully illustrated commentary on one of the most influential, revered and well-loved Buddhist scriptures brings these stories vividly to life and shows how they relate to our own spiritual quest.

The articles in this book were first published in a number of different journals. The articles were written over a period of some ten years in the 1940s and 1950s. The exact dates of composition are impossible to determine, but Sangharakshita has been able to recall where he wrote most of them, which allows for an approximate dating. The articles have been arranged in what we hope is the order of writing – based in some cases on intelligent guesswork. And a pattern does seem to emerge. The articles divide into some five periods characterised by place of composition and by authorial name – for in the course of these ten years the author was writing from a number of different countries and publishing under various names and titles. Dennis Lingwood, who, as Sangharakshita, would become renowned, along with others, for bringing Buddhism to the West, and for playing a crucial role in the re-emergence of Buddhism in India, was eighteen years old when he first made his entrance onto the public stage of life. His entry can hardly be called dramatic. He published an article in what for most of his contemporaries was an obscure journal with a small circulation: the Buddhist Society’s bi-monthly The Middle Way. Obscure though it may have been, turning to the May–June 1944 issue we find in ‘The Unity of Buddhism’ an astonishing piece of writing – astonishing not only because of the author’s youth, but because this was someone who had come across the Buddhist teachings for the first time less than two years previously. And yet the author writes with striking confidence and authority. His piece takes in the whole Buddhist tradition, with reference not just to the then more widely-known Pali canon but to the Sanskrit, Nepalese, Chinese and Tibetan canons, to Nagarjuna, Asanga and Vasubandhu. In fact, in this initial article we find Dennis Lingwood giving expression to thoughts and ideas that would become distinctive aspects of the Dharma teaching of Sangharakshita: the fundamental unity of all Buddhist schools, the inspiring ideal of the Bodhisattva, the understanding that Buddhist ethics are founded upon Buddhist metaphysics, and the deeply felt sense that the Dharma taught by the Buddha is for the happiness and benefit of all kinds and conditions of men and women and urgently needed in the modern world.

This is the second set of memoirs by Sangharakshita.

In 1950 Kalimpong was a lively trading town in the intrigue-ridden corner of India that borders Nepal, Bhutan, Sikkim and Tibet. Finding a welcome in this town, nestled high in the mountains, were a bewildering array of guests and settlers: ex-colonial military men, missionaries, incarnate Tibetan lamas, exiled royalty and Sangharakshita, a young English monk attempting to establish a Buddhist movement for local youngsters.

In this delightful volume of memoirs, Sangharakshita shares the incidents and insights of his early years in Kalimpong. These include brushes with the Buddhist ‘establishment’, a meeting with the ‘Untouchables’ saviour Dr B.R. Ambedkar and his friendship with Lama Anagarika Govinda. Behind these events we witness the development of this remarkable young man into an increasingly effective interpreter of Buddhism for a new age.

‘I wanted to share my experience, and my reflections on my experience, with those Western Buddhists who, like me, grew up within a Christian culture’.

With considerations of the Bible, Christian mythology and ethics (including its view on sexuality), saints and mystics as well as stories like Barlaam and Josaphat, this book reflects Sangharakshita's breadth of thought and contemplation. Realizing that he was a Buddhist at age 16, Sangharakshita eventually spent 20 years in India. Returning to England, he established Friends of the Western Buddhist Order (1967); Western Buddhist Order (1968). Author of nearly 50 books.

Step into the magical, paradoxical world of a Mahayana Buddhist scripture. Mahayana Buddhism, to which the Zen and Tibetan traditions are related, emphasizes the ideal of the Bodhisattva, one who seeks to become Enlightened out of a compassionate desire to help all living beings. In the Vimalakirti-Nirdesa we meet the Bodhisattva Vimalakirti, a worker of wonders, a formidable debater and skillful teacher. Sangharakshita’s commentary illuminates this original text, its myths and symbols, and explores the powerful figure of Vimalakirti and the significance of his teachings. By journeying into this scripture we can find the wisdom and compassion that lie at the heart of the Bodhisattva path and discover, communicate and put into action Vimalakirti’s message

What does it actually feel like to move towards Enlightenment? This is the question that Maitreyabandhu asks in his new book, The Journey and the Guide: A Practical Course in Enlightenment.

How can you make the most of your life? Maitreyabandhu, a prize-winning poet who has been sharing his experience of practising Buddhism for over 20 years, sets out to answer this most basic question. With humour and profundity, mixing Buddhist teachings, poetry and myth with down-to-earth instruction, he describes what it means to set out on the Buddha's journey and how you can follow it day by day and week by week. 'The natural mode of consciousness is to expand. In every moment we can either allow consciousness to unfold or we can make it me and mine and feel it shrink back to the level of egocentricity. It's as if we've identified with a tiny ripple on the surface of the ocean. Once we let go of that identification there's the whole ocean: centre-less, edgeless, completely free.'

Offering a description of the nature of mind and how it functions, this introduction to traditional Buddhist psychology guides readers through the Abhidharma classification of positive and negative mental states. The author was born in England, travelled to India as a young man, was ordained as a Buddhist monk, and has been writing about and teaching Buddhism for more than four decades. In this book he explores the part individuals play in creating their own suffering and happiness, describes the relationship of the mind to karma and rebirth, and stresses the ethical, 'other-regarding' nature of Buddhist psychology.

Just as a mother would protect her only child at the risk of her own life … let thoughts of boundless love pervade the whole world. from the Karaniya Metta Sutta

Kindness is one of the most basic qualities we can possess, and one of the most powerful. In Buddhism it is called metta – an opening of the heart to all that we meet. Any friendly feeling contains the kernel of metta. It is a seed that is waiting to be developed, right here amidst the conditions of our daily life.

Living with Kindness is a pithy commentary on the Buddha's teaching of metta in the Karaniya metta sutta. In it, Sangharakshita, a teacher of Buddhism for over fifty years, shows us how to cultivate many of the facets of kindness in ordinary, everyday life. Outlining the nurturing conditions the seed of kindness needs to grow, he encourages us to follow the path that leads to a warm and expansive heart — and beyond. And with that heart, we can be happier and more fulfilled in ourselves and empathise with the joys and sufferings of all living beings.

Mindfulness is the means by which our consciousness is transformed, transcended, Enlightened.

The Satipatthana Sutta is one of the Buddha’s foremost discourses on mindfulness. In Living with Awareness, a commentary on this sutta, Sangharakshita counsels against an over-narrow interpretation of mindfulness as being simply about developing a focused attention on the present moment. To be fully mindful, one needs to look further than the end of one’s nose, and integrate even the most rarefied practice into the context of a fully lived human life.

The guiding principle of Buddhism is that things change - we change - and that we have the capacity to direct that change towards spiritual growth and development. In being mindful, therefore, we recollect not only the breadth of our current experience, but also our purpose in attending to it. Living with Awareness explores this principle progressively through the filter of the sutta.

In a world of increasingly confused ethics, Living Ethically looks back over the centuries for guidance from Nagarjuna, one of the greatest teachers of the Mahayana tradition.

Drawing on the themes of Nargarjuna’s famous scripture, Precious Garland of Advice for a King, this book explores the relationship between an ethical lifestyle and the development of wisdom. Covering both personal and collective ethics, Sangharakshita considers such enduring themes as pride, power and business, as well as friendship, love and generosity.

Living Wisely: Further Advice from Nagarjuna’s Precious Garland By Sangharakshita Windhorse Publications Read by Danaraja How do we live wisely? This is the burning question that Sangharakshita seeks to answer in this companion volume of commentary on a famous text, Precious Garland of Advice for a King, the advice being that ofthe great Indian Buddhist teacher Nagarjuna. In the first volume, Living Ethically, Sangharakshita showed us that to live a Buddhist life we need to develop an ethical foundation, living in a way that is motivated increasingly by love, contentment and awareness. However, from a Buddhist viewpoint, ‘being good’ is not good enough. We need to use our positive ethical position, our momentum in goodness, to develop wisdom, a deep understanding of the true nature of existence. We become good in order to learn to be wise. This book teaches us that the development of wisdom is not an easy task. The truth of things is elusive, subtle and can even be frightening, and to approach it we need to develop a less literal and more reflective intelligence, as well as greater maturity and courage. But despite the challenges, learning to live wisely is ultimately the most satisfying of all human endeavours.

This is a series of sketches detailing incidents from Sangharakshita's childhood that he has not written of elsewhere.

The text of A Mosaic of Memories is available at www.sangharakshita.com/recent writings

In 1964 Sangharakshita, the seniormost Buddhist monk of British birth, left India for a visit to the UK. After twenty years in the subcontinent - travelling and lecturing, writing, working among the most deprived, and extending and deepening his knowledge of the Dharma - he had been invited by leading British Buddhists to help resolve tensions in the British Buddhist scene. While he was trying to ease conflicts and create harmony, an unexpected turn of events brought Sangharakshita to a crucial decision.

This fourth volume of memoirs, covering the years 1964 to 1967, deals with Sangharakshita's return to Britain and describes the difficulties he encountered in his attempts to unite English Buddhists. We witness the turning point at which he decided to dedicate his life to working 'for the good of Buddhism' in his native land. This culminated in the birth (in a shop basement in central London) of a new Buddhist movement. Thirty-six years later the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order is spreading the Buddha's message in more than twenty-six countries around the globe.

New Writings is published at www.Sangharakshita.org/writings.html

1. A Complex Personality – A Note - Among the many thoughts condensed into Sangharakshita's 'Personal Statement' of 30 December 2016 was the reflection that 'Triratna sometimes bears the mark not of the Dharma but of my own particular personality. That personality is a complex one'. What Sangharakshita meant by that has been a topic of some discussion and some six months later he added this Note elucidating his meaning.

2. A Passage to America – In this piece, written in March 2018, Sangharakshita recalls his first flight to America nearly fifty years ago, on his way to teach a term at Berkeley, with reflections set off by viewing the flight information screen above his window seat.

3. A Word on the Mantrayana - Writing in October 2018, Sangharakshita considers the significance of the Mantrayana, also known as the Vajrayana - through the practice of which it is said that with the help of mantras one may be able to achieve Supreme Perfect Enlightenment within a single human lifetime.

4. Blake and the Gates of Paradise - Completed in October 2017, in this piece, taking William Blake for inspiration, Sangharakshita explores how mutual forgiveness would bring us nearer to the realisation of Blake's Jerusalem or, in Buddhist terms, to the creation of a Pure Land on earth.

5. Buddhism and Islam - Starting in his teenage years by reading three translations of the Koran, Sangharakshita has long taken an interest in the cultural, philosophical and mystical sides of Islam, and in 1982 he led a seminar on Al-Ghazali's The Duties of Brotherhood in Islam. In this article, written in July 2018, he reflects on this earlier interest, with further thoughts about contact today between Buddhists and Muslims, post '9/11'.

6. Disparities - Writing in April 2018, Sangharakshita reflects here on disparities of power in various different relationships - and on how one can use whatever power one possesses either negatively or unskilfully, on the one hand, or positively and skilfully on the other.

7. Dreams Old and New 1 and 2 - In these two pieces, written April-May 2018, Sangharakshita recalls some of the dream worlds he has inhabited. They include ashrams, churches, woodlands, and outer space. Sometimes the scene seems contemporary; sometimes from Ages of the past.

8. Evil in Myth and in Human Experience - Completed in September 2017, in this piece Sangharakshita considers the origins of evil, both natural and moral, the value of confession, (as well as rejoicing in merits), and looks in turn at each of the four Māras of Buddhist tradition.

9. Evil Revisited – and Good - In this piece Sangharakshita returns to the subject of evil which he had addressed in September, this time including references to Blake, Nietzsche and Avalokitesvara / Kuan Yin.

10. Four Visits - Written in June 2017, 'Four Visits' is a kind of story; a work of the Imagination, the mode of communication here is symbol, image, and archetype.

11. Green Tara and the Fourth Laksana - Composed during the latter part of December and completed on New Year’s Day 2018, the starting point here is the four sadhanas received from Jamyang Khyentse Rimpoche: Manjughoṣa, Avalokitesvara, Vajrapani , and Green Tara, and their 'correspondence' (in the hermetic sense) with the laksanas, the samadhis, and the vimoksas leading to a series of reflections on the Path of Beauty in western spiritual tradition and its relevance for Buddhists of today.

12. Hints to a Hypothetical Artist - Completed on 12th August 2017, in this essay Sangharakshita writes about two of his literary heroes who, unusually, were not only great poets but also great artists. At the end of the piece he invites a 'Hypothetical Artist' to illustrate one of his own recent pieces of writing.

13. Islam and the Buddha - Following on from his previous piece, Buddhism and Islam, Sangharakshita discusses Shah-Kazemi's Common Ground Between Islam and Buddhism, with special reference to an article of his own published sixty or more years ago, Religion as Revelation and Discovery.

14. Living With Carter – Completed in April 2017. In this piece Sangharakshita tells how he met Carter, a young American hippy, and recalls their life together at the end of the 1960's.

15. My Muslim Friend - Here Sangharakshita writes for the first time about his friendship with Ramzan Ali whom he came to know towards the end of his years living in India. Both Ramzan’s mother and his 'guru' also feature in the story.

16. 'My Uncle Leonard' and 'A Brace of Uncles' - Written over a couple of evenings in November 2017, here Sangharakshita remembers some of his uncles.

17. 'News from Nowhere' - and from India - In 'News from Nowhere', William Morris, one of the great Victorians, compares the England of his day with the socialist England of the future, when privilege and inequality would be swept away in the fires of revolution. Taking this as his starting point, Sangharakshita contrasts Morris's conception of revolution with the Dhamma revolution started in India by Dr. B.R. Ambedkar.

18. Rainbows in the Sky – In this piece, completed on 22 January 2018, Sangharakshita recalls rainbows from his childhood days, through to his Going Forth in 1947, and most recently as appeared over Adhisthana on his ninetieth birthday. And he affirms the place of Padmasambhava – the Rainbow-bodied one – in the life of the Order from the very beginning, and explains that a remark he made in 2009 about a re-founding of the Order 'can only be in the sense of making the original foundation stronger'.

19. Rebirth Revisited - Sparked off by reading Bhikkhu Analayo's recent publication, Rebirth in Early Buddhism and Current Research (Wisdom Publications 2018), Sangharakshita reflects on the place of rebirth in both the sravakayana and the bodhisattvayaana, these two main forms of Buddhism being based respectively on the ideal of the Arhant and the ideal of Supreme Perfect Buddhahood.

20. Science and Poetry – A Note - After reading Stephen Hawking's 'A Brief History of Time' and Carlo Rovelli's 'Reality Is Not What It Seems', in this piece written over three nights towards the end of June 2018, Sangharakshita reflects on the connection between science and poetry, and their common language of insight, intuition, inspiration and imagination.

21. Some Reflections on the Garava Sutta - In the Garava Sutta the Buddha declares that it is painful to live without honouring and respecting anyone. In this important article Sangharakshita explores the implications for contemporary Buddhists.

22. The Bodhisattvas are also necessary - written in early 2018, in this piece Sangharakshita commences with a story told to him by one of his teachers, and from there he goes on to reflect on the significance of Bodhisattvas in his life and that of all Buddhists.

23. The Good Friend, the False Friend, and the Spiritual Friend - In this piece, written in May 2017, Sangharakshita's starting point is the Upaḍḍha Sutta of the Saṃyutta Nikaya and the Buddhaas oft-quoted words to Ananda about the place of kalyana mittata (Skt: kalyana mitrata or spiritual friendship) in the spiritual life. From there he goes on to explore the nature of friendship from a whole number of different points of view.

Compiled by Ananda

Introduction by Ananda

Published by Windhorse Publications,1995

A collection of aphorisms, teachings and poems intended as inspiration for those who are ready to have their views challenged and their minds expanded. The topics range from art and literature, through sex and relationships, to philosophy and religion.

In this latest addition to his memoirs, Dennis Lingwood, better known as Urgyen Sangharakshita, shares his recollections of the diverse men and women who lived in and passed through Kalimpong, a hill station at the foot of the Himalayas, just as Tibetan Buddhism began its exodus into India; Tibetan gurus, peasant farmers, tradesmen and travelling academics. A colourful, thoughtful and entertaining panorama of humanity unfolds in this unique collection of reminiscences.

The 13 essays in this volume address topics including: world peace and nuclear war; the issue of blasphemy; the possibilities for dialogue between Buddhism and Christianity; and a painting by El Greco.

The text of The Priceless Jewel is available at Sangharakshita.org in 'Ebooks'. This book is out of print, but the contents are printed in various volumes of Sangharakshita's Complete Works, available from Windhorse Publications

Contents

Preface

The Priceless Jewel

Aspects of Buddhist Morality

Dialogue Between Buddhism and Christianity

The Journey to Il Convento

Saint Jerome Revisited

Buddhism and Blasphemy

Buddhism, World Peace, and Nuclear War (Not recorded - see below)

The Bodhisattva Principle (Not recorded - see below)

The Glory of the Literary World (Not recorded - see below)

A Note on ‘The Burial of Count Orgaz’

Criticism East and West

Dharmapala: The Spiritual Dimension

With Allen Ginsberg in Kalimpong (1962)

Please note that Buddhism, World Peace, and Nuclear War; The Bodhisattva Principle; and The Glory of the Literary World were originally lectures. I have not recorded them, because they are available at freebuddhistaudio.com:

This is the first set of memoirs by Sangharakshita. Set out on the Rainbow Road and take an extraordinary journey from wartime London to the dusty villages, ashrams and mountain caves of India. Long before thousands of Westerners flocked to Asia in search of themselves, Dennis Lingwood set out to search for the Buddha's teaching in the land that gave birth to Buddhism. Accompanying him in his quest, we can follow his life as a homeless wanderer and witness his ordination as the Buddhist monk Sangharakshita. Although full of fascinating characters and keen insights, The Rainbow Road is not just an entertaining travel book - it is a remarkable record of a journey of spiritual exploration.

'Non-fiction it may be, but he makes his points with all the finesse and resonance of a novelist.... His deft prose should invite comparison with E.M. Forster' Times Literary Supplement

The Rainbow Road was originally published in two parts: Learning to Walk and The Thousand-Petalled Lotus.

In this collection of four essays, Sangharakshita—a Buddhist teacher and poet— discusses how art, like religion, can challenge our perceptions, awareness and experience of truth.

Recounting his own experiences as a young monk and poet, he urges the reader to apply a similar kind of awareness in looking at art to that developed in meditation. In so doing he shows how both have the power to transform the way we see ourselves and the world.

This new edition has been entirely reset and features a timeless new cover and introduction by Dhivan.

Published on Sangharakshita's website - www.sangharakshita.org

Reveries and Reminiscences is a set of eight sketches in which Sangharakshita combines the describing of various recollections he has not elsewhere set to paper, with associative musings on various themes related to these recollections.

The miracle of the talking calf, rumours of black magic and lamas with ‘supernormal’ powers: Sangharakshita’s third volume of memories is full of curious episodes that could only happen in India.

In the Sign of the Golden Wheel recounts the unique experiences of an English Buddhist monk working in the mid-1950s to revive Buddhism in the land of its birth. From his hermitage in the foothills of the Himalayas, Sangharakshita travels across India to the movie world of Bombay and on to a moving and dramatic climax - addressing hundreds of thousands of ex-Untouchables in thirty mass meetings in just four days, to console and encourage them following the sudden death of their hero, the remarkable Dr Ambedkar, only weeks after their mass conversion to Buddhism. Brimming with life and colour, this book is a notable addition to the world of travel literature as we follow the spiritual adventures of an unorthodox and extraordinary Englishman.

Compiled by Abhaya

Introduction by Abhaya

Published by Windhorse Publications,1998

A Stream of Stars is a collection of aphorisms, poems and writings by the eminent Western Buddhist teacher Sangharakshita. Encompassing culture and society, relationships and the human condition, these incisive teachings illuminate many aspects of the spiritual life. With clarity, insight and flashes of humour, Sangharakshita provokes us to thought, and then to aspiration: an aspiration to true happiness and freedom.

Contents:

Introduction

Buddhism in Miniature

A Long Way to Go

The Courage of One's Positive Emotions

The Heat of the Furnace

The Real Revolutionary

No Last-Minute Methods

Friendship and Communication

The Circle of Eternity

Please note, Chapter 4, 'The Bodhisattva Ideal' is not included in this audiobook.We hope to record it in the future.

A Survey of Buddhism continues to provide an indispensable study of the entire field of Buddhist thought and practice, placing its development in a historical context.

‘I recommend Sangharakshita’s book as the best survey of Buddhism’ Dr Edward Conze, author of Buddhism: Its Essence and Development and translator of Buddhist Wisdom Books and The Perfection of Wisdom in 8,000 Lines

‘...simply the most complete single volume survey of all the major doctrines and traditions in the development of Buddhism.’

Buddhist Peace Fellowship

A Zen monk strides empty handed into a tiger's cage. An Indian master spontaneously empties a bag of gold dust into the air. A young woman lays down the burden of her dead child and asks the Buddha to accept her as his disciple.

Here is another book by the popular author, Vessantara, who takes incidents from the lives of the Buddha, Tibetan mystics and Zen masters and uses them to show how we too can live a more fulfilled life. Full of colourful tales, Vessantara's vivid, imaginative style makes these ancient, well-loved stories inspiring tools for self-development.

The Refuge Tree is a symbol of the highest ideals of Buddhism, a traditional image in the Tibetan tradition that takes different forms in different schools. On the refuge tree are formal teaches and sages from Buddhism's history. Modern Buddhists might be regarded as heirs to the whole of the Buddhist tradition and the Refuge Tree of the Western Buddhist Order founded by Sangharakshita includes figures from India, Tibet, China and Japan as well as archetypal Buddhas and Bodhisattvas and the teachers whose guidance helped to shape Sangharakshita's understanding of Buddhism. Here a leading member of the Triratna Order introduces each figure on this form of the Refuge Tree and explores their significance for Buddhists in the modern world.

Three precious jewels lie at the heart of Buddhism, radiating the light of awakening into the world, the Buddha Jewel: as symbol of Enlightment (the figure of the Buddha), the Dharma jewel: the path to Enlightenment taught by the Buddha, the Sangha jewel, the Enlightened followers of the Buddha down the ages who have truly devoted their lives to his teachings. This book illuminates these precious gems in a clear and radiating light

Throughout his extraordinary life, Sangharakshita has touched the lives of many thousands of people, wandering barefoot across India in search of spiritual teachings, befriending hermits and lamas, working among the socially deprived, and later founding a worldwide community of Buddhist practitioners, the Triratna Buddhist Community, (formally the FWBO). In these letters Sangharakshita shares, often in intimate detail, what it is like to be Sangharakshita. He reflects deeply on his experience and reveals what is in his mind as he goes about his life in London, Italy, New Zealand, Wales, the USA, Germany and Spain. Sangharakshita places an exceptionally high value on friendship, not merely as an ideal, but as a lived reality. In offering these letters he is trying to give the reader the chance to partake of his friendship and to become a companion not only in his travels, but also of his heart and mind.

"In his previous collection of travel letters, as in his volumes of memoirs, Sangharakshita has revealed himself as one of the great travel writers of our time. This standard is maintained in the present volume ... deserves to be regarded as a modern classic."-Philip Hobsbaum, Emeritus Professor of English Literature at Glasgow University

Throughout his extraordinary life, Sangharakshita has touched the lives of many thousands of people, wandering barefoot across India in search of spiritual teachings, befriending hermits and lamas, working among the socially deprived, and later founding a worldwide community of Buddhist practitioners, the FWBO, now called the Triratna Buddhist Community. In Travel Letters he documents his travels in the UK, India, Malasia and Australasia, between 1979 and 1983.

To walk in the footsteps of the Buddha we need a clear and thorough guide to the essential principles of Buddhism. Whether we have just begun our journey or are a practitioner with more experience, What is the Dharma? is an indispensable exploration of the Buddha’s teachings as found in the main Buddhist traditions.

Constantly returning to the question ‘How can this help me?’ Sangharakshita examines a variety of fundamental principles, including: karma and re-birth, nirvana and shunyata, conditioned co-production, impermanence, unsatisfactoriness and insubstantiality, ethics, meditation and wisdom. The result is a refreshing, unsettling, and inspiring book that lays before us the essential Dharma, timeless and universal.

The Sangha, the spiritual community, is traditionally one of the three highest ideals of Buddhism, alongside the Buddha and the Dharma. But why? Many western Buddhists would question whether it has a role at all. Some feel that Dharma practice is about personal commitment, not about joining a group, while others identify the term "sangha" solely with the monastic community. In this volume Sangharakshita presents the ideal Sangha as a free association between developing individuals. An exploration of the nature of spiritual community is balanced by reflections in individuality, on what it is to be truly human. As Sanga is all about friendships, the final part of the book considers the individual's relationship with others - friends, family, fellow workers and spiritual leaders - and the connections of the Buddhist community to the world as a whole. Throughout the book the author demonstrates his passionate commitment to the ideal of Sangha, in principle and in practice.

The image of the Buddha, cross-legged and meditating, appears increasingly in magazines and on television in the West. But who was the Buddha?

Here we see the Buddha as a historical figure, a warrior prince searching for the truth; in the context of the evolution of the human race, as the pinnacle of human perfection, and as an archetype, in the context of both time and eternity.

Dangerously disorientating to the unwary student, the Prajnaparamita or Perfection of Wisdom teachings can offer a fast route to some well-trodden blind alleys - or to the very heart of Reality. Sangharakshita’s clarity, scholarship and insight are revealed in this commentary on the Diamond Sutra, the Heart Sutra and the Ratnagunasamcayagatha - core teachings of Mahayana Buddhism. Using this book as a guide we can begin our own investigation of these sublime teachings - and also perhaps be rewarded with a world-shattering glimpse of the Buddhist vision of ultimate Reality.

'A learned but practically oriented commentary - with a down-to-earth ring - which makes the often lofty ideals of the Mahayana path manageable.' Traditional Yoga Studies Interactive

Experience the magical world of Milarepa. Milarepa was a much-loved Tibetan yogi, poet, and teacher. His ‘hundred thousand songs’ have inspired and guided Buddhist practitioners for centuries, yet examinations of them are few. The Yogi’s Joy explores some of these songs to help show how their lessons are relevant to us today.

Here, three stories — The Tale of Red Rock Jewel Valley, Song of a Yogi’s Joy and The Meeting at Silver Spring — are considered. In them, we find such themes as fear, honesty, self-respect, practising with others, the student-teacher relationship, and how we can make teachings our own. Sangharakshita, Buddhist teacher and writer, draws out these elements, bringing alive the delight, joy – and challenges – of this revolutionary guru.