Buddhist Voices Dharmachakra

On a cold winter's evening towards the end of 1969, at number 14 Monmouth Street, a small shop named Sakura, accessed via a side entrance through an alleyway, then down a narrow set of stairs into a basement, a meditation class was being held. Seated at the back of the room was Sangharakshita, dressed in robes, with a western pullover underneath, wearing an abundance of rings and long hair. Buddhadasa recalls this first encounter with a clarity as if it had happened only last year. “May I join you?” He asks. As it turns out, for him, these were prophetic words.

It often seems hard to believe that the Triratna Buddhist Community we encounter today had such humble origins. It wasn’t long after this potent encounter that Buddhadasa decided to dedicate all his time to supporting Sangharakshita’s efforts to establish a new Buddhist movement, leaving behind a career in architecture and becoming the Chair/Secretary/Treasurer of the then Friends of The Western Buddhist Order, all at same time. Over 50 Years later, Buddhadasa has done just that–dedicating his whole life to the development and spread of the Dharma.

In this full interview recorded for the Fifty Years Fifty Voices project, we hear reflections on his 50+ years of involvement with the Triratna Buddhist Order: from the very earliest days in London to further adventures helping establish the Dharma in New Zealand and Australia.

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. 

Many people in the Triratna Buddhist Community know Amoghasiddhi for his kind and welcoming smile, as well as his tireless Dharma work for our sangha in Nagpur, India. Now part of the ordination team in India, as well as a member of Indian Public Preceptors Kula, Amoghasiddhi has been ordained for over 30 years. 

In this moving interview with Candradasa, originally recorded back in 2018 for the Fifty Years, Fifty Voices Project, the pair cover a lot of ground, including Amoghasiddhi's love of poetry and a visit Bhante Urgyen Sangharakshita made to Nagpur in 1992. Amoghasiddhi describes the sight of 70,000 people attending the speech Sangharakshita gave at the same place where, in 1956, he had addressed a grief stricken crowd of over 250,000 followers of Dr Ambedkar, after the latter's unexpected death.

When Sangharakshita gave that speech in 1992, there were just four Order members in Nagpur. As Amoghasiddhi happily recalls:  "Bhante said, 'Nagpur needs 100 Order members…' Well we are very glad to tell you there are now over a 100 Order Members, and four main [Triratna Buddhist] Centres..."

A lovely conversation, with a lovely, inspiring man.

Extracts from this talk were used for the Fifty Years, Fifty Voices project:
Visit the Fifty Years, Fifty Voices on The Buddhist Centre Online

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

“This conversation I'm having with you right now is an expression of Bhante's vision of the Dharma.”

In this latest full interview for the Fifty Years, Fifty Voices Project, we hear from Dharmashalin. Now the Mitra convenor for the Birmingham Buddhist Centre, Dharmashalin made his first proper contact with Buddhism at 19 years old after a period of drug-based experimentation and existential angst. As is often the way with drugs, what was once a source of inspiration became something much darker and, at best, just another form of escapism.

It was at Christmas ‘98 that a friend lent him a copy of Sogyal Rimpoche’s ‘Tibetan Book of Living and Dying’, which left a strong impression. Specifically, the section on karma and rebirth set forth the realization that our actions have consequences, even beyond our present life. Dharmashalin speaks from the heart in this deep and far reaching interview, with his usual characteristic openness and sincerity.

Extracts from this talk were used for the 50 Years, 50 Voices project - visit the dedicated space on The Buddhist Centre Online for more.

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.