A Buddhist Podcast

Welcome to another episode of A Buddhist Podcast! Tonight we have a lecture from Jason based on a letter written by Nichiren Daishonin, called Letter to Jakunichi-Bo. Subjects include: What does it mean to practice Buddhism correctly? One to one support The power of appreciation What is the purpose of life? Practice for oneself and others Nam-myoho-renge-kyo embodies the four paramitas What is fundamental darkness? Illuminating the darkness of bullying Nichiren, Sun Lotus Leave nothing on the pitch Being known as a votary of the Lotus Sutra Noble envoys of Nichiren Daishonin Tonight we play three tracks! Thanks to PW Fenton, we have Lea Gilmore singing Ride My Blues Away. From the Podsafe Music Network we have the Lovespirals singing This Truth and Great Big Sea singing Beat the Drum. We have a correction we make and a reading of the wonderful poem by Christian Larson called The Optimists Creed. We have so many shoutouts tonight from Amsterdam to Singapore, from London to New York and from Mexico to New Delhi

Hello Everyone! Tonight we are very glad to bring you William Woollard reading Chapter 7 from his book, The Reluctant Buddhist. The chapter is all about Karma, and its a very interesting listen. As usual we have global shout outs as well as a beautiful poem from Kim Seagrave in Australia. We play "Love is not Wasted" from the imminent Howard Jones album, Ordinary Heroes which debuts on November 3rd this year. We also play one of our favourite bands, they are Cat Malojian from Northern Ireland, a truly great band. They sing Pettigoe! If you have wondering about our tshirts, you can get them now at http://www.pressoffers.co.uk/abuddhistpodcast2 our thanks to Polly and Helen of Pressoffers for their help with this. We hope very soon to add some new photos to the shop and the new blue colour! Thank you so much for your support and encouragement. Wherever you are have a wonderful week!

Welcome to another episode of A Buddhist Podcast! On tonights show we have a lecture on the letter that Nichiren Daishonin wrote to Soya Kyoshin, its called The Essentials for Attaining Buddhahood. Subjects include: Who was Soya Kyoshin? Essentials are not Optional Bodhisattva Superior Practices and the Latter day of the Law Reality and wisdom Don't bend the teachings to suit your karma Misguided priests versus correct teacher Challenging wrong doing Standing firm with a teenage daughter Bridging the gap between people and Buddhism My mentor And of course we have the shoutouts and also . . . we also have three brand new songs. I think, we may be the first podcast to debut two new tracks by Howard Jones. "Soon you'll go" and "Love never wasted" are from Howard's new album, Ordinary Heroes, which is being released on November 3rd. For more information take a look at his website here. Thank you Howard for letting us play these tracks We also debut a wonderful new song from Vittoria Conn, it's called "Where wo

For those of you who are familiar with William Woollards excellent book, The Reluctant Buddhist, and have been listening along on the podcast, you will have noticed something. The experiences from Chapters 5 and 6 were missing. This is because William really wanted to have someone else read them, and that someone tonight is the wonderfully warm and loving person that is his wife, Sarah. So reading The Story of Joanna from Chapter 6 and The Story of Sally from Chapter 5 of The Reluctant Buddhist is Sarah Woollard. Then we have music from Heather Sullivan. She sings Stronger from the Podsafe Music Network. We find out what happened to Jason this month, we have shout outs and we read a letter from an SGI member, Frank Amatefe in Ghana, Africa. We finish with another track from the Podsafe Music Network by Angelique Kidjo called Gimme Shelter featuring Joss Stone. We have some great shows lined up for you and are so excited about all the different developments that are happening. Look at for a new look to th

We have been working on tonights show for a long time. SGI-UK asked us to help them put a show together about their view of the spirit of study within SGI-UK. Subjects include: A brief explanation about Nichiren Daishonin's BuddhismAn explanation about SGI-UK's Study programA dialogue on going through the study programExperiences from new members and old about taking the study exam. Finally we have some shoutouts and some great music from the one and only Cat Malojian. On tonights show we play Made in America from Cat Malojians new album, The Dawn Chorus. Thank you to everyone who made tonights show possible including everyone who chanted for Jason to get well enough to leave hospital. Both Karen and I are sincerely grateful! Have a truly fantastic week!

Welcome to another show, tonights show is a lecture on the writing of Nichiren Daishonin called On Repaying Debts of Gratitude. Some of the points include: What is debt of gratitude anyway?28th April 1253, remember that speech?A lifetime of struggleSsshhh! the Three Great Secret LawsWithout sparing our voiceDepth of teaching and depth of struggleDrove this teaching to hell and backHow China get called China?Putting people firstThree VirtuesUse each struggle as a means to become happier Songs for this show come from Musicalley.com, part of Mevio the new name for Podshow! We play Rocket to the Moon by Jimmy Golding and Mine Again by Black Lab. Thank you so much from the bottom of our hearts for listening, for encouraging and for supporting us in this adventure. Have a wonderful week.

Well tonight we have truly great explanation of the Buddhist concept known as the Ten Worlds as William Woollard reads Chapter 6 from The Reluctant Buddhist! We have music from the Podsafe Music Network tonight with Lee Coulter playing Booty Voodoo and Rocky Votolato with White Daisy Passing. More shoutouts from across the globe and chipper conversation from Jason and Karen who, at home in England are enjoying the wonderful summer! Thank you for listening and thank you so much for your encouragement. Have a fantastic week!

We can hardly believe that it is almost exactly half way through 2009! Wow! Tonight we bring you a lecture on the letter written by Nichiren Daishonin called, Hell is the Land of Tranquil Light. Some of the subject teasers for tonight include: We need to reveal Buddhahood to overcome our karma Lets try and remember the names of our mothers The icy wind of thoughtless encouragement The ten worlds exist in life and death Giving 150% . . .in small bursts Are you in a prison of someone elses making? Changing circumstances won't change karma Attaining Buddhahood just as you are It is human to feel grief when someone dies Gohonzon is the baseline of Buddhahood Chant first, shout later. We have music for you from the Podsafe Music Network. First up is Carbon Leaf with A Life Less Ordinary. We close the show with Shines Right Through Me by the amazing Great Big Sea! The links we have for the tracks will take you through to where you can buy them on iTunes and the links for the names will take you through to their ow

We are back on schedule tonight with the wonderful William Woollard reading Chapter 5, "What do we mean by happiness?", from his book The Reluctant Buddhist which is now being reprinted and translated into more languages! We have shoutouts and some great music. Tonight we play Rocket to the Moon by the wonderful Jimmy Golding and Day by Now is Now. Both artists are on the Podsafe Music Network. We have some great new material to bring to you and we welcome your feedback, reviews, experiences and contributions. For those people who have been asking about a tshirt, you can get them now at http://www.pressoffers.co.uk/abuddhistpodcast2 our thanks to Polly and Helen of Pressoffers for their help with this. Thank you for your support and encouragement, we do appreciate it so much. Have a fantastic week!

Tonight we have a lecture on "Letter to Misawa". This lectures is about many things, but one thing is for sure it does address the three obstacles and four devils. Perhaps because it does so it might explain why it has taken 5 months to write 3 times, why cables went missing right before we started the show and a myriad of others obstacles emerged! Some of tonights themes include: Practicing correctly involves transforming the negativity in the world around you Three obstacles and four devils What is the devil king of the 6th heaven anyway? Nikko takes it to the man Self reliant faith The Gohonzon certifies that Buddhahood exists Some experience of overcoming obstacles What do you want to break through? Why is the Soka Gakkai different? Its a full show and along with the shout outs we play three tracks tonight from the Podsafe Music Network (http://www.mevio.com) We play Code Monkey by Jonathan Coulton (http://music.podshow.com/music/listeners/artistdetails.php?BandHash=97007092b961d7e9a7d77c2614ee0086) wh

On tonights show, William Woollard reads Chapter 4 from his wonderful book, The Reluctant Buddhist. The chapter is called A Question of Faith and its a great listen. Also on tonight we have an experience from Estelle Jackson, a member of the Students Division in SGI-UK. As usual we have shoutouts that criss cross the world and music from the Podsafe Music Network. We play Vittoria Conn's track called Mirror and a podcasting anthem, Not On The Radio by Geoff Smith. The show tonight is absolutely packed! We know we have been sometime in getting you a show and so tonights episode lasts for 78 minutes or so, so it will fit on a CD if you want to burn it for a friend! We have some more shows ready for you and are looking forward to putting them out in the next few weeks! Thank you for your support and encouragement, we do appreciate it so much. Have a wonderful week!

Welcome to another episode of A Buddhist Podcast. Tonight we continue with our new series of lectures on the Jigage portion of Gongyo by looking at the meaning of the words, Nyorai Juryo hon dai juroku! Haven't you ever wondered what it means? This poem of life is so amazing. Some of the headings include: What does gongyo mean? Lotus Sutra for the Latter Day of the Law Wisdom illuminates ignorance Nichiren Daishonin, the true Buddha Causing the sun of hope to dawn Shelley on Dante A practice to perpetuate Every character is a shining buddha Living the poem of life You can't use force to create change Our victories are your victories Walt Whitman, Song of Myself Seek out your true self! Live like the waterfall Once again the music for tonights show is a blatant expression of how much we love the music of Cat Malojian! We play Pettigoe and Life Rolls On, which you can find on iTunes! Thank you for all the comments, emails and messages of support, we truly appreciate every single last one of them. One last point

Finally, we are back! We are so pleased to do this show tonight, so pleased to be able to share this with you! After 3 years we have decided to finish our lecture series on Gongyo! Tonights lecture is an introduction to the Juryo Chapter, the 16th Chapter of the Lotus Sutra, known as the Lifespan Chapter! Some of the headings include: Traveller Where do we come from and where are we going? How can life be eternal if we all die? Overview of the Lotus Sutra Eternity is an aspect of life Do you ride the shopping trolley of life? Mentor and Disciple Nichiren the human being White knuckle daimoku Our lives are one with the universe We are the Bodhisattvas of the Earth Striving for self worth Unprecedented Challenge Music for tonights show comes from the great talent of Cat Malojian! These two lads from Northern Ireland make great music, and we love it. Tonight they play Who Knows? and Goodnight. If you like their music, pop over to ITunes and buy some! Thank you for all your messages of support and encouragement,

Another full show! Tonights lecture is on Nichiren Daishonin's teaching called, On The Buddha's Prophecy. The lecture is about the purpose of Buddhist practice. Some of the headings include: A Leap Month! Life at Ichinosawa Bodhisattva Medicine King Former, Middle and Latter Day of the Law Doing time in the "When I" Prison The teaching, the teacher and the mission What did the priests do for 700 years? The Soka Gakkai fullfills the Buddha's Prophecy Its time to create happiness We have President Ikeda's New Year's message for 2009, read by Ken George. There are shoutouts and music from Ioda Promonet including "Balance" by Sara Tavares which you can buy here at iTunes Music Store The second track we play tonight is by Cohen which is also availabe here!Gold Is Where You Find It (mp3) We are proud members of the Ioda Alliance! Thankyou for all your support and encouragement! Have a fantastic week.

Tonights show is so full! Tonights lectures is based on guidance that President Ikeda gave earlier this year about the four points for victory. The four points are Prayer, Action, Unity and the Oneness of Mentor and Disciple. This lecture is about the second theme, Action! The main points of the lecture include: Developing our own individual attitude to faith Taking responsibility for the happiness of where we live The roar of the tiger of death Take the initiative and make new friends We reveal buddhahood in our behaviour The old man in the park What is the Buddha's great teaching? Living with my mentor Three powerful enemies If not you then who? We have a poem from Rabindranath Tagore called The Stream of Life. The music to accompany this poem is the Indian National Anthem, the words of which were also written by Rabindranath Tagore. We have a question, and a lot of shoutouts from around the world. We have music, courtesy of Promonet tonight! We have Be the Change from the album Elephant Power by MC Yogi.

Have you ever wanted an explanation of where this Buddhism came from to give to your friends or family to help explain your practice? Well that is what the substance of tonights show is! William Woollard reads Chapter 3 from his extraordinary book, The Reluctant Buddhist! We have shoutouts and the music tonight comes from Beth Thornley. Its not like us to only play one artist, but we liked both of the tracks! So from Beth Thornley we play Mr Lovely and Birmingham. As usual we are very grateful to the Podsafe Music Network for providing us with the ability to play this music on our show. We are working on two new shows which will be appearing in the next few weeks! Thank you so much for listening to the show and for all your wonderful feedback. Have a great week and take care of yourselves and the people around you.

Tonight's show is a bit of an experiment! For some time now we have had a lot of requests from listeners to provide support for the level 2 study courses that are taking place in Europe at the moment. This study will culminate in an exam in mid November for those who want to take it. William Woollard has also had many requests for support in this activity, so we have got together to produce a special edition show! The exam consists of 5 sections, A, B, C, D and E. Each section has a number of questions. In the exam you will be asked one question from each section. On this podcast, William has prepared an answer for every question. It is NOT a model answer but the kind of answer that William would make based upon the study material provided. Remember the questions require you to use the study material rather than your existing knowledge. If you are not a member of SGI in Europe at the moment but you would like to follow along, you can hop over to this site and download the study material we are looking at! R

Well we have a bit of an extravaganza for you this week! Kicking of the show is William Woollard who completes the second half of Chapter 1 from The Reluctant Buddhist. Karen reads a truly inspiring contribution from Cindy Woodland from Canada! We have more shoutouts that cross the globe and we attempt to answer a question about how we as parents interest our children in Buddhist Practice. Tonight we play three tracks from the Podsafe Music Network, Anduze with Just Feel Good, Lee Coulter with I Would Love and Black Lab with Broken Heart!. Keep a look out for a special show coming out next week. William Woollard has put together some great study material surrounding the Level 2 Study Exam that is taking place in Europe in November. Thank you so much for taking the time to listen to the show, for writing to let us know how you feel about about it, for your encouragement on Facebook and for the great comments on the website. From the bottom of our hearts, Thank you! Have a wonderful week.

Thanks to Jessica Miller who not only did the wonderful artwork for tonights show but also came up with the idea of asking Kevin Robinson to give tonights lecture. Kevin originally gave this lecture at the North London Area Course at Trets in September this year (2008). I travelled up to London and we recorded this lecture at Kevin's wonderful home. Its about Prayer and we hope you enjoy listening to it as much as we enjoyed recording and putting it together! Great shoutouts from the wonderful Karen and some wonderful music from Mark Erelli singing The Only Way and Bob Gentry singing Goldie Hawn! Both tracks are available from the Podsafe Music Network. Again we had planned to play the second half of William Woollards Chapter 1 tonight. However, we wanted to include an interview that we are working on but we did not manage to get it done in time! Bear with us and we hope the next show will include the second half! Thank you so much for listening and for your encouraging comments and emails. Enjoy the show

Tonights show is a lecture on Nichiren Daishonin's letter called 'Reply to Sairen-bo'.The theme is once more on the mentor disciple relationship . Themes include: Trapped for 3 score years and 10 The disciple chooses the mentor What is Buddhahood? Devil kings and demons I don't want to spend my life in the toilet of mankind What qualifies the mentor? Creating a whirlpool of joy. In honour of 25 years playing music, we play, from the Podsafe Music Network, Howard Jones and his song Building our own Future. We are also lucky enough to have a great track from Peter Robinson called Roar of the Wind for the men of the South of England. Originally we had planned to play the second half of William Woollards Chapter 1 tonight. However, we wanted to include an interview that we are working on but we did not manage to get it done in time! So the next show will include the second half! Thank you for listening and for your encouragement comments and kind emails. Your support is really welcomed, have a great week.