The Buddhist Centre

• 456: Portraits of Samadhi

  Samādhi is the Sanskrit word for a state of peaceful, integrated absorption the mind can reach through meditation. And people’s faces in meditation have been a source of fascination (and distraction) for documentary filmmaker Hartley Woolf since he began his own Buddhist practice. “I can’t help but enjoy taking in all the different expressions around me in the shrine room,” he says, “and wondering what’s going on inside the mind behind.” Join us for a delightful conversation between an artist and some of his subjects (Bhadra, Eugene Furniss and Maitrijyoti) as we explore the beautiful intimacy of this unique art project. In the most mindful way, Hartley sets out to capture something of the mystery of meditation, expressed in the faces of a diverse set of humans trying to be present with their experience. The result is an extraordinary book of portrait photography and we are privileged to hear reflections after the fact from some of those sitting and from the artist himself. Self-consciousness and self-perception, what we look for in people’s faces and expressions, the vulnerability of meditating with others and of being witnessed – this conversation flows, you might say, like the breath, opening into a space of genuine shared gratitude for a memorable shared experience of sitting in stillness, and being in relationship. Produced and presented by Candradasa, edited by Zac Pomphrey and Candradasa *** "When I began this project, it was simply about capturing the subtlety of human facial expression. It quickly became about much more than that, however: my emotional connection to the sitter in that moment; the impact the lights, camera and my presence had on their meditation; the very act of watching for those subtle changes and deciding when to press the shutter. All these things became just as interesting—if not more so. I saw all kinds of emotions play out on my sitters’ faces. They may not have all reached such advanced states as samādhi, but I did see a lot of vulnerability, pleasure, discomfort, and courage. I’m very grateful to them all for allowing me (and you) into their intimate worlds of practice for a brief moment." Hartley Woolf Show Notes Order ‘Portraits of Samadhi’ by Hartley Woolf (Hardback) Revisting the Romantics by Vishvapani (free with sign-up) Alfoxton Park Retreat Centre A Renovating Virtue: Hartley’s film about the Alfoxton project Listen to The Intimacy of Art and the Dharma on painting as practice Eisenstein on co-creating films as art  |  A Dialectic Approach to Film Form by Sergei Eisenstein  Hartley Woolf’s website  |  Follow Hartley on Instagram *** Visit The Buddhist Centre Live (events year-round on Buddhism, mindfulness, meditation, and culture) Come meditate with us online six days a week! Theme music by Ackport! Used with kind permission.

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• 455: The Intimacy of Art and the Dharma

  Today we meet three Buddhists with a full time professional painting practice, exhibiting at The Art Pavilion in Mile End Eco Park. And we’re treated to a generous and intimate conversation about the tensions and creative dynamics between an explicitly artistic life and an implicitly spiritual, even religious one. All in context of shared joy at exhibiting openly as Buddhists in a beautiful space surrounded by and inflected with nature.  We explore the relationship between the values of Buddhism and the values of contemporary art – and between what we call ‘mindfulness’ and the actual work of painting, making marks, building things that somehow capture a spirit or an attitude to life. Intuitive, sometimes faltering discovery is part of it; so is awareness of impermanence, grief and death; so is something in its own way ‘multi-dimensional’. We tap into the “more than human” that again takes us back towards multiplicity in nature rather than away from it. Heck, we even work in A.I. (of course we do!). This is all reflected and refracted through discussions around perspective, scale, layering, abstraction, breadth and depth, mixing, the materials painting is born from—linen, canvas, oil paint—and the mysterious resonance found at the softening, porous, reflective boundary between colour and form.  It’s clear our three friends live out a practice where beauty and letting go is an adequate, even sometimes freeing response to suffering, at least some of the time. And there are the aches of aging and the accepting of limitations even as a sense of vital discovery and unfolding is still so strong. What comes through is how much their intention matters – to pay attention to, tune into, reality itself. Talking about painting may not be as much fun or as strong as standing in front of work and trying to see it, but it is possibly better than viewing reproductions!  It was a privilege to be in this conversation with three deeply committed beings, artists and Dharma practitioners. And the world is that little bit brighter and more realised through their work. Produced and presented by Candradasa, edited by Zac Pomphrey and Candradasa Show Notes 'Painting Now' - a group show featuring Clare Barton-Harvey (Amitajyoti), Abhayavajra and Hugh Mendes (Paramabodhi) held in London 2-12th October at the Art Pavilion, Clinton Road, London, E3 4QY. Join us for the opening night 6-9pm 2nd October. The gallery will be open from 11-6pm daily from 3-12th October. More information about ‘Painting Now’ 🎨 The Art Pavilion in Mile End Eco Park 🖥️ Artists interview: Clare Barton-Harvey (Amitajyoti) in conversation with Bob Matthews 🖥️ Explore the work of Paramabodhi (Hugh Mendes) and watch the accompanying film about the Buddhist aspects of his work   🖥️ Clare Barton-Harvey (Amitajyoti) online 🖥️ Abhayavajra online 🎧 The Heart of Imagination in Buddhism (with Amitajyoti and Vishvapani) 🎧 The Impermanence of Everyone: The Art of Hugh Mendes (Paramabodhi) 🎧 Painting Into Reality (with Abhayavajra) ⚜️ The Alchemical Heart (Home Retreat & series of talks by Paramananda) 🧘 Alfoxton Park Retreat Centre (Buddhism + Arts) 📷 The work of Francesca Woodman  🪴 Derek Jarman's garden at Dungeness  🏛️ The Met Museum Archives, New York *** Visit The Buddhist Centre Live (events year-round on Buddhism, mindfulness, meditation, and culture) Come meditate with us online six days a week! Theme music by Ackport! Used with kind permission.

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• 454: A Mythic Retreat Centre for Ireland: Shubha Vihara, The Place of Beauty

  In Triratna, learning to understand what is truly beautiful is seen as a path to Enlightenment itself. In this episode we find ourselves exploring this in an unexpected and extraordinary way at the seat of all Buddhist paths and myths, Bodh Gaya in India. Not far from the bodhi tree, where the Buddha’s great achievement is said to have taken place, you’ll find us deep in conversation with visitiing leaders from the Dublin Buddhist Centre about their vision of building a Buddhist retreat centre in Eire: a realm of beauty and a fitting home for distinctively Irish Dharma practice in the heart of County Clare. We hear about the retreat centre’s name Shubha Vihara—The Place of Beauty—and how it sits alongside the legendary mythic names, spaces and stories of Ireland, before and after St. Patrick. We meet Brigid, Cuchulain (Setanta), and Fionn mac Cumhail as he catches the Salmon of Knowledge; and visit in our imagination Lough Derg, the ancient passage tomb of Newgrange, and the Hill of Tara—crowning place for the High Kings of Ireland. All while exploring aspects of Christianity’s impact on the country’s pagan spiritual history, and the role of positive warrior culture as it manifests and is transformed in both Buddhist and Irish contexts.  It’s hard work building magic spaces and the team give us a glimpse into what’s involved on the ground trying to transmute spreadsheets and fundraising calls into the magic of genuine community, alive with deep possibilities, where practice is—somehow—palpably rooted in the native earth and energies of a specific land and a society ready for change. Join us for an inspiring episode for the ages about a distinctively Buddhist contirbution to Irish culture.  As a bonus, we close this conversation with a recitation of the traditional Buddhist ethical precepts rendered into Gaelic. Beautiful indeed! Show Notes Support the creation of Shubha Vihara, the Irish Triratna Retreat Centre Explore key stories from Irish mythology Dublin Buddhist Centre The Windhorse Trust FutureDharma Fund *** Visit The Buddhist Centre Live (events year-round on Buddhism, mindfulness, meditation, and culture) Come meditate with us online six days a week! Theme music by Ackport! Used with kind permission.

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• 453: Hinterland Sober Bar - Brewing a New Society in 2025

  Enter Hinterland sober bar, “the realm beyond what’s known”… And meet founders Sanghadhara and Stephen Jeffreys in their cosy, cool, poetic, liminal space for a cocktail and meaningful conversation about how Buddhism and the Dharma can inform modern culture—and people’s social lives—in new ways.  Hinterland has been a passion project from the start. And on this busy Friday evening on one of the busiest nights of the year in one of the hippest areas of Manchester, UK, we hear that passion come pouring through as we discuss ethical work in 2025; and how anyone can impact society by building an entrepreneurial business that is also a commercially counter-cultural social enterprise.  For any building makeover heads out there, we hear how transformative interior and graphic design can express some of our deepest values. And, of course in a sober bar, how the look and feel of a social space can also support recovery through helping us shift how we perceive and experience the world—with no alcohol required. It’s clear talking with Stephen and Sanghadhara that working together can both challenge and enhance a personal friendship, taking it to the next level. And in terms of specifically Buddhist practice, what an amazing testing ground Hinterland has been for the work of attending to their mental states and trying to serve the happiness of others with their energies and their work. Join us over sophisticated hemp and root spirits and delicious vegan food to explore how a bar that attempts to blend an industrial aesthetic with animist sensibilities (through the lens of Japanese minimalism) can be a ground for depth of connection, art and Dharma. And how a drink with friends or strangers can open up a way into new possibilities in our lives when we have that sense of wanting to change… This celebratory tale of inspired Buddhist practice is the perfect podcast to help you rekindle your own new year’s resolutions. Cheers! 🍸🍹 Show Notes Hinterland Bar (Instagram) Wholesome Junkies (Instagram) The Pathfinder (Non-Alcoholic Spirit) The Tale of Tipus’ Tiger (podcast episode) Dark Mountain Manifesto: “The end of the world as we know it is not the end of the world full stop. Together, we will find the hope beyond hope, the paths which lead to the unknown world ahead of us.” Eight Step Recovery: Using the Buddha’s Teachings to Overcome Addiction Santa’s Slaay Cocktail 50ml Pathfinder Hemp and Root Non-Alcoholic Distilled Spirit  20ml Santa Syrup (apple and cinnamon syrup, make your own if you like!) 10ml Lemon juice  Top (75-100ml) with ginger beer Optional splash of sparkling water Fill a hurricane glass with ice Add Pathfinder, Santa syrup, ginger beer and then sparkling water. Garnish with mini candy cane…  See the Santa’s Slaay cocktail for presentation ideas… ✨ *** Visit The Buddhist Centre Live (events year-round on Buddhism, mindfulness, meditation, and culture) Come meditate with us online six days a week! Theme music by Ackport! Used with kind permission.

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• 452: The Three Body Solution - Healing and Belonging In Community

  Home Retreats help us inject some of the powerful teachings of the Buddha directly into our everyday lives. This week we’re joined by Balajit, Singhashri and Viveka to talk about what lies behind their latest week-long collaborative venture with The Buddhist Centre [Live] - the enigmatically titled ‘The Three Bodies of Belonging’.  In this episode we dive into the the traditional Buddhist teaching / images / metaphors / experiences of the three kayas (‘bodies’): Dharmakaya, Samboghakaya and Nirmanakaya. These are correlated respectively, via Urygyen Sangharakshita’s reading of the Tibetan yogi and mystic Milarepa, with human mind, speech and physical body. The discussion that arises out of this takes in not just what it means to belong - but also questions of longing: what the heart yearns for, how we conceive of liberation itself via an embodied and relational approach to Awakening. We explore what individuality and collectivity look and feel like in the light of the trikaya - how the whole of the teaching is pointing to human potential where we have the same faculties, senses, heart, body and mind as the Buddha and everyone else who has ever trodden this path. In that sense, like Buddhism at its best, it’s a profoundly hopeful, healing conversation requiring honesty, vulnerability and a new perspective on ‘self’, ‘other’ and our relationships in the face of the universe. How do we change our stories to allow for genuine and profoundly transformative connection in a suffering world? How might we resource ourselves to blow open wide our own “window of tolerance” for whatever arises in life and become beings with a boundless heart? Join us on the Home Retreat - live or after the fact - to discover with other seekers the luminous and boundless possibilities beyond trauma, fear, anxiety, heartbreak and all that holds us back from a true sense of belonging. N.B. The audio quality in some parts of this recording were affected by a poor connection at times. Show Notes 🧘 Join us live for ‘The Three Bodies of Belonging’ Home Retreat (October 25-31 2024) 👥 Staci Haines - Exploring Trauma and Resilience in the Body 👥 Prentis Hemphill - Embodiment and Community 📖 ‘Mending Wall’ by Robert Frost (‘Good fences make good neighbors.’) 🎧 ‘The Inconceivable Emancipation - Themes from the Vimalakirti Nirdesha’ (lecture series by Sangharakshita) 🎧 The Sangha or Buddhist Community by Sangharakshita 🧘 Forces for Good: Challenging Emotions as Portals to Liberation (Home Retreat to do anytime!) 🧘 Explore the archive of Home Retreat on The Buddhist Centre Online  *** Visit The Buddhist Centre Live (events year-round on Buddhism, mindfulness, meditation, and culture) Come meditate with us online six days a week! Theme music by Ackport! Used with kind permission.

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