Buddhist Voices

In the latest episode of the Buddhist Voices podcast, we are privileged to hear from Dharmachari Manidhamma. It was during a big procession celebrating Buddha Jayanti (the Buddha's 'Awakening' or 'Enlightenment'), where a life-sized bronze statue of Dr Ambedkar was installed, and slogans of 'Jai Bhim' and 'Victory to the Great Buddha' could be heard. As a young boy, Manidhamma fondly remembers making friends and playing while also going to the Buddhist temple and taking part in Pali chanting. However, he was born into a family of bonded labourers in a society rife with caste-based discrimination and exclusion. Growing up, he was not even allowed to walk on the main streets of his village. It was his father who, inspired by Dr B. R. Ambedkar's speech at Pulgaon, decided to move their family to a small town called 'Aarni,' where life was expected to improve. Manidhamma went on to learn about Buddhism and meditation while studying to become a pilot. However, the impact of Bhante Sangharakshita's visit was so great that he gave up his pilot's career and took a year-long training course to become an Order member in Pune. He also joined a residential community and began working in team-based 'Right Livelihood' social projects run by the Bahujan Hitay trust. Manidhamma's enthusiasm and intensity for the Dharma during those early days is contagious. Later, he was ordained with three Americans, one Australian, and eleven Indian brothers at Saddhamma Pradeep Bhaja retreat centre as part of the first International Ordinations in India in November 1994. This event highlights just how international the Order and movement are. After his ordination, he spent the next five years spreading the Dhamma and running a home for destitute children in Andhra Pradesh. He also founded The Jambudvipa Trust in Pune and worked for the sangha during challenging times. Manidhamma doesn’t shy away from showing his vulnerability when remembering times post-ordination that was not so easy, working with his temper, internal pressures and conflicts. This episode is a testament to the transformative power of the Dharma and the resilience of the human spirit. Extracts from this interview were used for the Fifty Years, Fifty Voices project: Visit the Fifty Years, Fifty Voices on The Buddhist Centre Online

In this latest episode of the Buddhist Voices podcast, Parami and Sraddhavajri engage in a conversation for the Fifty Years, Fifty Voices project. They share their early encounters with the Dharma and its transformative impact on their lives. In particular, Sraddhavajri reminisces about her childhood in Modinagar, India, where her parents were involved with Buddhism and the teachings of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar's. She fondly remembers Dharmachari Amoghabhadra, who taught her Karate as a young girl, and how the kindness and friendship of the Sangha were instrumental in keeping her committed to her practice through good and hard times, a theme that frequently emerges in the conversations for the fifty voices project. An interesting topic that the pair discuss is their experience as women. Parami recalls her initial visit to the Centre in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1977, where the majority of participants were men, with very few women involved at that time. Despite this, she was deeply impressed by the teachings of Sangharakshita and soon moved to London to join a women's community, and in 1980 she was ordained. Extracts from this talk were used for the Fifty Years, Fifty Voices project: Visit the Fifty Years, Fifty Voices on The Buddhist Centre Online

Growing up in Chorley, Lancashire, in the northwest of England, Abhaya (1936-2022) recalls his early life as the youngest of four siblings, raised by parents who were run off their feet. With Dad away at the war, mum managed a small chip shop in which he and his brothers used to help out. Following in the footsteps of his older brother Jack, Abhaya would later spend several years at a Catholic Seminary, a period he jokingly characterizes as being like 12 years imprisonment. Christianity plays a strong conditioning factor in the early part of Abhaya’s life, the northwest being “rife with Catholicism” and his older brother going on to become a priest. Yet Abhaya’s path would stray off that given course, and in the 1960s he travelled to Thailand where his life would well and truly change, meeting his future wife and encountering the counter-culture of the ’60s and ’70s. Returning to England he would then come into contact with Urgyen Sangharakshita and the very beginnings of the Western Buddhist Movement. Satyalila had the pleasure of interviewing Abhaya back in 2018 and this conversation is the sequel to another Buddhist Voices podcast episode, Abhaya On Beauty and The Imagination as Ways to Liberation, which came out shortly after that meeting. Satyalila enjoyed their conversation so much that she felt it warranted another! This previously unreleased recording takes us through Abhaya’s life in chronological order and in more detail, covering ground not touched on before. As someone who was there from the very early days of the Triratna Buddhist Order and community, Abhaya’s depth of experience and wisdom shines through, often in the most unassuming manner. This is a poignant and honest account of what happens when working out the needs of our spiritual life involves a sense of conflict, and requires some deeper resolution. Listen now, and enjoy two friends talking through a life lived with meaning and purpose. Extracts from this talk were used for the Fifty Years, Fifty Voices project: Visit the Fifty Years, Fifty Voices on The Buddhist Centre Online Recorded in Bristol, 2018.

When Aryadhi encountered meditation for the first time, she wholly embraced it amid the very positive atmosphere of the London Buddhist Centre. She recalls the memory of waking up on her first retreat after a powerful new year’s eve puja just knowing that she was a Buddhist, and that her life would never be the same again. A series of important self discoveries would begin to unfold during her ordination training. And in September 2013 she was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, a neurological condition on the autistic spectrum. Aryadhi describes this discovery as being like finding ‘the missing piece of the puzzle’, and her moving account is a testament to the importance of receiving the help she needed on her journey. Listen to a deeply inspiring story of self-aware Buddhist practice, and of coming into your own as a human being with vital gifts to share... Extracts from this talk were used for the Fifty Years, Fifty Voices project: Visit the Fifty Years, Fifty Voices on The Buddhist Centre Online

Sucimani interviews Vijaya and for the Fifty Years, Fifty Voices Project. Vijaya shares movingly about the suffering she faced growing up in a slum near Nagpur railway station, losing her younger brother and father in quick succession and, subsequently, having to fight periods of depression. Later in life a visiting Dharmachari would come and teach her meditation and in her own words she recalls ‘this is where life is’. So deeply grateful and inspired by this encounter, both herself and her older brother would go on to ask for ordination and become members of the Triratna Buddhist Order. Other topics of discussion include a vivid encounter with Green Tara and what it’s like to be part of a lineage of discipleship that goes right back to the Buddha: that flow initiated by Urgyen Sangharakshita when he ordained Srimala, Srimala in turn ordaining Vijaya… Now, a Private Preceptor herself, Vijaya recalls the period of growth she experienced during the first ordinations, and what it’s like to pass on that thread through ordaining other women. This conversation was originally recorded at the Triratna Buddhist Order's International Order Convention in Bodhgaya, India in 2018. Extracts from this talk were used for the 50 Years, 50 Voices project - visit the dedicated space on The Buddhist Centre Online for more.

“Padmapani is my Yidam, two-armed Avalokitesvara… I came from a Pureland Mahayana tradition so I wanted all of the Buddhas and bodhisattvas to be part of my practice, but I gradually narrowed down… Avalokitesvara gave the Heart Sutra and bit by bit it became clear that, ‘Well, it’s just a question of how many arms!” When Prasadacarin’s school teacher organized a class visit to a Mahayana Buddhist temple in Stockholm, Sweden, he did not imagine his encounter with the Dharma that day would spark off his own spiritual quest, and lead eventually to becoming Chair of Triratna's Stockholm Buddhist Centre in his early 20s! Listen to this moving account of a spiritual life that started at a very early age, passing through the twists and turns of growing up and the complications of coming out as a gay man in a context that wasn’t supportive. Prasadacarin speaks openly and from the heart in this latest Fifty Years, Fifty Voices episode. Extracts from this talk were used for the 50 Years, 50 Voices project - visit the dedicated space on The Buddhist Centre Online for more.

“I asked him, if I would go there, will I get food? And he said “Yes, obviously there will be a feast and you can have enough to eat.’ And I thought then, ’I’ll go.’” In 1998 when Ratnakumar was 13 years old, one of his cousins asked him if he’d like to go to a public meeting. That meeting just so happened to be an anniversary celebration for the birthday of Dr. Bimrao Ambedkar, the great leader of India’s Dalit community and architect of the Indian Constitution. Growing up amidst caste discrimination, finding Dr Ambedkar’s teaching and the movement he had started changed Ratnakumar’s life forever. When he subsequently embarked on formal Buddhist training in 2005, Ratnakumar became determined that he should lead a meaningful life as a follower of Dr. Ambedkar, leaving behind the drinking and fighting of his youth. Now, as a member of the Triratna Buddhist Order, he helps others to change their lives in order to contribute to the transformation of society at large. Read more about Dr. Ambedkar’s transformative work in India Listen to ‘Annihilation of Caste’ by Dr. Ambedkar Extracts from this talk were used for the 50 Years, 50 Voices project - visit the dedicated space on The Buddhist Centre Online for more.

A great conversation with the quietly brilliant Abhayadana about her Buddhist work and practice in India. Her name means 'Giver of Fearlessness' - and this is something she has dedicated her life to, helping support and free women in her community from the stigma of social caste and the violence that often goes with it. We hear about her personal approach via meditation and reflection on the Buddhist figure of Kshitigarbha (Jizo) who descends into hell realms to liberate suffering beings. And her experience of visiting Adhisthana, former home of her teacher Urgyen Sangharakshita, and the gratitude she has to his work and to the Dharma itself for what she describes as the chance to live as a human being. Recorded at the Triratna International Council, September 2019. For more: https://thebuddhistcentre.com/internationalcouncil