With the coming of autumn in the northern hemisphere, we thought we’d explore the theme of fear, and fearlessness as we begin the month of October. Subscribe to both our free podcasts! Every Saturday we release a full length talk in our FBA Podcast and then twice weekly we offer a little nugget of Dharma in our Dharmabytes. Our team loves putting these podcasts together for our community - info [at] freebuddhistaudio [dot] com (subject: FBA%20Podcasts%20%26%20Dharmabytes) (let us know) if you enjoy them or if you have any suggestions for talks to include.
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In our first FBA Dharmabyte we started the month with a short talk by Lokeshvara given during the Buddhafield East Green Man of Buddhism Retreat titled “Gesture of Fearlessness” where he shows that benefiting others overcomes fear.Then, on October 5th, we launched our first FBA Podcast for the month: “Fighting the Fivefold Fear.” In this talk Vadanya explores how we can turn the tables on pointless anxiety and limiting fears, and use these as fuel for our practice. Talk given on Men’s Event at Padmaloka, June 2013.When Reality knocks at the door we sometimes need to own painful experience and surrender. In our October 7th Dharmabyte we brought you an excerpt from a talk by Jinapriya titled “When Reality Knocks…,” from the talk “What is Enlightenment?” His main theme within the frame of such a big question – ‘What is Enlightenment?’ – is the struggle to live our lives in the present moment, especially in the face of pain.
Later that week, we bring in an excerpt from Vidyamala’s poingant talk, “Dying to Live.” In the FBA Dharmabyte, “Why Are We So Afraid?,” she talks about being present with fear in the face of impermanence. In the full talk, Vidyamala gives a strong account of working with suffering and sorrow in life, and of transforming experience into one characterized by contentment and a sense of meaning.
In our October 12th FBA Podcast, “Dealing with Change”, Saddharaja starts off with another story from his childhood in the 1960s about a forest fire and the effects of this upon his father, who was a forester. An example of sudden, dramatic change at work. He moves on to talk about smaller less dramatic changes in the work place which can create anxiety for Right Livelihood workers. This talk was given at Windhorse Evolution.
And then bringing us up to the present date, we highlighted an FBA Dharmabyte from the talk “Touching the Void” by Jnanavaca. In this excerpt titled “Cutting the Rope” he talks about the analogy of ‘cutting the rope’ and taking responsibility. In the full talk Jnanavaca relates events in Joe Simpson’s popular mountaineering book ‘Touching the Void’ to aspects of Buddhist practice. Look out for some wonderful quotes – from T.E. Lawrence to Einstein. Inspiring stuff all round… Talk given at Padmaloka Retreat Centre, 2004
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