Urgyen Sangharakshita has 5 audiobooks on Listento.it, narrated by 4 narrators, with an average listener rating of 4.8★ across 10 ratings. The most-rated is Ambedkar and Buddhism, Annihilation of Caste.
Ambedkar and Buddhism, Annihilation of Caste
Summary
Dr Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar was one of the most remarkable figures in the 20th century. Born an Untouchable - the lowest element of Indian society deemed to be outside the caste system, and literally 'untouchable' - he rose from abject village poverty to become the architect of the new Constitution of India following its independence from Britain in 1947. A combination of exceptional talent, hard work and determination, vision and luck took him to Harvard and the LSE, and then back to his home country. Always, his progress was impelled by the concern for his 'Untouchable' community and it was this that underpinned work in law, politics and economics as he rapidly became a national figure who could not be ignored. He opposed Gandhi's patronising attitude towards the Untouchable community, and the violent crimes and prejudice inflicted upon it by the caste Hindu society. In the 1930s, Ambedkar proclaimed that though he was born a Hindu, he would not die a Hindu; and on 14th October 1956, with 400,000 followers, he converted to Buddhism in a mass meeting in Nagpur. This biography is by the British-born Buddhist monk Urgyen Sangharakshita who knew Ambedkar and spent decades working with the Dalit community as the Untouchables became known. It is a clear but affectionate look at a singular life which changed one of the largest nations on earth, and charts Ambedkar's gradual move towards Buddhism which he saw as the best path for his people. Bonus material: in addition to the biography is Annihilation of Caste, Ambedkar's key speech - never delivered but published in 1936 - in which he set out the reality of 'Untouchable' life and the need for change, but it is at the same time an international clarion call for human rights. It is all the more poignant as, while Untouchability is outlawed in India now thanks to Dr Ambedkar's legislation, there are 200 million Dalits in India, and violence and prejudice is still commonplace.
©1986 Sangharakshita (P)2016 Ukemi Productions Ltd
The Rainbow Road
Summary
Having realized, as a 16 year old in pre-WWII London, that he was a Buddhist, the early life of Dennis Lingwood and his path to becoming a bhikkhu named Sangharakshita is a most extraordinary personal story. He was serving as a signals officer in India when, at the conclusion of the war, he threw away his official identity cards, took off his uniform, donned yellow robes and set off, barefooted, along the dusty paths of India as a spiritual seeker, begging for his food, as the Buddha did 2,500 years ago. The determination and vision behind those early steps, combined with single-mindedness and intellectual rigour, transformed the path of Western Buddhism, for after 20 years in India Sangharakshita returned to England to found a Western Buddhist movement, now called the Triratna Buddhist Order. The Rainbow Road tells of that early time in India, meeting spiritual teachers from Hindu and other religious traditions, encountering the disturbing caste system and overcoming obstacles, disappointments and numerous challenges. A totally absorbing autobiography.
©1997 Sangharakshita (P)2016 Ukemi Productions Ltd
The Noble Eightfold Path of the Buddha
Summary
The Noble Eightfold Path is one of the most important teachings in Buddhism. In this series of eight lectures, given originally in 1965, Urgyen Sangharakshita introduces each stage, from right understanding to right meditation, explaining the deeper implications involved. Sangharakshita, the London-born Buddhist teacher, is one of the most influential figures in the development of Buddhism in the West. The founder of the Triratna Buddhist Order(originally called the Western Buddhist Order), he sought to draw on all the Buddhist traditions and produce a new synthesis with particular relevance to modern Western society - a view that underpins his teaching of the Dharma. This groundbreaking series of lectures was given in London in 1965 and is presented here in a newly mastered recording which has dealt with many - though not all - the extraneous noises. It remains one of the clearest and most direct accounts of the Buddha’s Noble Eightfold Path.
©1965 Sangharakshita (P)2015 Ukemi Productions Ltd
What is the Dharma?
Summary
What is the Dharma? To walk in the footsteps of the Buddha, we need a clear and thorough guide to the essential principles of Buddhism. Whether we have just begun our journey or are a practitioner with more experience, What is the Dharma? is an indispensable exploration of the Buddha's teachings as found in the main Buddhist traditions. Constantly returning to the question "how can this help me?", Sangharakshita examines a variety of fundamental principles, including karma and rebirth, nirvana and shunyata, conditioned coproduction, impermanence, unsatisfactoriness, insubstantiality, ethics, meditation and wisdom. The result is an informative, refreshing and inspiring book that lays before us the essential Dharma, timeless and universal, in a clear and practical manner. Urgyen Sangharakshita, the English-born Buddhist teacher, is one of the most influential and respected figures in Western Buddhism. Ordained initially into the Theravadin tradition, he broadened his scope to involve all the Buddhist traditions. After 20 years in India, he returned to the West and founded the Western Buddhist Order, later renamed the Triratna Buddhist Order. With centres all over the world, it has played a major role in adapting the Buddhist traditions to the contemporary world, making Dharma practice its central pillar.
©1998 Sangharakshita (P)2015 Ukemi Productions Ltd
Aspects of the Bodhisattva Ideal
Summary
The Bodhisattva - one who is becoming awake or enlightened - is one of the great inspiring figures in Buddhism. The title can refer to a mythical being with qualities to which we aspire, such as Avalokitesvara, the Bodhisattva of compassion; or an ordinary person on the quest for enlightenment for the benefit of all living beings. It is a profound ideal for life. In this important lecture series, Urgyen Sangharakshita, one of the most important leading Western Buddhist teachers, sets out the path of the aspiring Bodhisattva living in the 21st century. How should we act? What principles should we follow? How can we balance the urge to benefit others yet follow a true spiritual path ourselves? This clear, challenging and stimulating series of eight talks is one of the many groundbreaking lectures given in the 1960s, when Sangharakshita, having returned to the UK after 25 years in India, was setting up a new Western Buddhist movement, now called the Triratna Buddhist Community. Aspects of the Bodhisattva ideal contain such specific talks as the Bodhisattva vow, altruism and individualism in spiritual life and masculinity and femininity in spiritual life. These talks have been remastered.
©1969 Sangharakshita (P)2016 Ukemi Productions Ltd