Poetry and the Arts
In the past Sangharakshita was accused of "wasting time writing poems" when he could be writing about Buddhism. Fortunately for us he has continued to do so. He has always encouraged the appreciation of the arts as part of one's spiritual life. The poems he reads, and his poems explored by Padmavajra below, display a keen sensibility and imagination, and constitute an important way of understanding him.
Jewels from the Three Worlds
This talk was given at the Aryaloka Retreat Centre (New Hampshire, USA) in May 1993. The poems here, some written in his early days in India and others more recently, are arranged under the headings of the Sangha, the Dharma and the Buddha, and each grouping is further set into a particular geographical context.
Poems featured in this video:
Village India, The Bodhisattva's Reply, Messengers from Tibet, Meditation, The Unseen Flower, Before an Image of the Buddha, The Conquest of Mara, To the Recumbant Buddha, The Wheel of the Dharma, The White Calf, Tuscany 1983, Padmaloka, "In the Woods are many more", The Quest, The Buddha, The Birthplace of Compassion, Lines to Jayapushpa on her return to Malaysia.
Secret Wings
In this poetry reading at the Vajrapani Institute in California he treated the Bay Area FWBO sangha to a selection of his poems written almost 50 years ago.
Grouped chronologically, the poems were written during three periods - his wandering days in India, his fourteen years in Kalimpong and his time in the West. Moving, amusing, satirical - these poems and Sangharakshita's linking commentary are an opportunity to enjoy his clarity and compassion in an accessible manner complimentary to his more directly "Buddhist" work.
Poems featured in this video:
Meditation, Advent, Secret Wings, The Lotus of Compassion, Messengers of Tibet, Sonnet(Reading some books...), Life is King, The Ballad of Journeyman Death, The Stricken Giant, St. Francis and the Birds, The Conquest of Mara, Buffuloes being Driven to Market, Greenstone, The Realms of existence as depicted in the Tibetan Wheel of Life, Tibetan Refugee, Haiku. (58 mins)
Who is the Buddha?
At the London Buddhist Arts Centre Sangharakshita vividly evokes the life of the Buddha through his own poetry and beautifully read extracts from Sir Edwin Arnold's 'The Light of Asia'. He also recounts Arnold's life and importance to Buddhism in the West.
Poems featured in this video:
Light of Asia(extracts), Before an image of the Buddha, The Quest, The Pioneer, The Conquest of Mara, The Tree of Wisdom, The Birthplace of Compassion, The Parable of the Plough, To the Recumbant Buddha, The Buddha. (100 mins)
The Triumph of Life - a Buddhist opera
In February 2002 a new Buddhist opera was performed in London’s East End - 'The Triumph of Life - Last Days of the Buddha'. This DVD set contains a record of the final performance as well as a documentary on the making of the opera, two FWBO Newsreel stories about it and interview selections with the main participants in its creation. (178 mins) (2 DVDs)
The Message of the Bowl
This talk was the highlight of the 1991 Western Buddhist Order Convention. Padmavajra explores Sangharakshita's poems that deal with the theme of Going Forth and so presents a valuable insight into his Going Forth and a moving introduction to this vital Buddhist principle. (60 mins)
Entering the Greater Mandala
This varied selection reveals further facets of sangharakshita's personality -
poems observing the beauty of the world, poems of insight, poems of sympathy,
poems which describe an active, heroic, defiant engagement with the world
and a deepening exploration of the greater mandala. (77 mins)
Four Gifts
Four Gifts - Transformation in the Poetry of Sangharakshita.
Padmavajra points to and explores the themes of the short
poem 'Four Gifts'. Throughout Sangharakshita's poetry, life
and work, he shows the many different senses in which the
theme of transformation occurs in his poetry. (107 mins)