Audios and Videos

WeeklyPodcast

The following, from the Buddhasasana Podcast, are Dhamma talks, audio courses, and readings by Bhikkhu Cintita, available also in iTunes, Spotify and other platforms.

Buddhism as Self-Help

Buddhism as self-help: introduction. Has Buddhism become “the hegemonic ideology of global capitalism”? (Self-Help 1, 9/23/2022)

Buddhist terminology

Locating “mindfulness” in the early Buddhist Texts. I argue that modern “mindfulness” corresponds pretty closely to ‘samādhi’ in the early Buddhist texts. (9/16/2022)

The history of “mindfulness.” How did the meaning of sati evolve from early Buddhist times to give us our modern understanding of “mindfulness”? (9/9/2022)

Sati is not “mindfulness.” ‘Mindfulness’ misses the mark as a translation of Pali sati. Preferable is ‘recollection.’ (9/2/2022)

Buddhist terminology, part two. More tips for the student confused by Buddhist technical terms. (Buddhist Terminology, talk 2, 8/26/2022)

Buddhist terminology, part one. Tips for the student confused by Buddhist technical terms. (Buddhist Terminology, talk 1, 8/19/2022)

Rethinking the Satipaṭṭhāna

Twenty-two episodes, please click on image.

A Culture of Awakening

Fourteen episodes, please click on image.

The Buddha’s Method

The Buddha’s Method: insubstantial and conditional. (Second of two talks) The Buddha’s methodology furthermore involves regarding the world as both insubstantial and conditional. (7/30/2021)

The Buddha’s Method: practical and subjective. (First of two talks) The Buddha clarifies an explicit methodology which is nonetheless often overlooked by students of the Dharma. Much of this has to do with the practical and experiential orientation of the Dharma. (7/23/2021)

A history of emptiness

The teaching of emptiness is often considered to be an innvation of Nagarjuna or of the Prajnaparamita Sutras. However this important teaching had been expounded by the Buddha many centuries before, but has become obscured. But how? (7/16/2021)

Talks on Dependent Co-Arising

Twenty-five talks, click on the image.

Talks on the Buddhist Life

Twelve talks, click on the image.

Samadhi talks

Four talks, click on the image.

Was the Buddha a biologist?

“If consciousness were not to descend into the mother’s womb, would name-and-form take shape in the womb?” “No.” The most common traditional interpretation of this famous passage (from DN 15) is that consciousnessis travels into the womb to unify with the fetus of name-and-form at conception. I argue that this interpretation is untenable.

Empathy talks

Three talks, click on image.

Mindfulness, where Dharma meets Practice

How I became a Buddhist

Smart but not wise, I took up Buddhism as a rather step-by-step process of rational exploration. That is, until it swept me up to reveal things rather unanticipated.

What did the Buddha think of women

Two talks, please click on the image.

Understanding the aggregates

The aggregates are a foundational teaching of the Buddha, but they are rarely properly understood. This talk shows how to identify all the aggregates in your own experience and explains their role in contemplative practice.

What is the Buddha-Sasana?

The Buddha-Sasana is Buddhism as a living tradition, something that evolves, spreads to new lands, dies out in old lands, rather than Buddhism as the Dharma, which is much more static. A key question for the Buddha seems to be is how well the Buddha-Sasana would retain the authenticity of the Buddha-Dharma.

The story of my ordination

A narrative account of BC’s 2009 bhikkhu ordination in Burma. This story appears in his 2012 book, Through the Looking Glass, which can be found under “books” on this site.

The beauty queen

This talk examines three simles for mindfulness, two of the Buddha’s and one of my own, and discusses how our meditation needs to venture beyond the breath.

The seven factors of awakening

An oft neglected causal chain of factors described by the Buddha that arise one by one in meditation practice and link mindfulness and concentration.

Buddha-Sāsana