How the Mind Works - Sleep Paralysis

The subject of Sleep Paralysis came up at our Sangha meeting on Tuesday and coincidentally it was also the main subject in the first program of the new series of Radio 4's All In The Mind which was broadcast the same night!

As Buddhists it's always interesting to know more of how the mind works..............

Claudia Hammond talks to Professor Christopher French from Goldsmiths, University of London about the strange phenomenon of sleep paralysis. As many as 1 in 20 people will experience vivid hallucinations while falling asleep or waking up while also completely unable to move. People also describe a very powerful sense of fear and the feeling of being crushed or that an intruder or something supernatural is there with them. Despite being relatively common, this sleep anomaly is little understood. Even less well known or understood is the frightening experience of 'Exploding Head Syndrome' where someone perceives abrupt and very loud noises when going to sleep or waking up.



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A Buddhist Father Christmas

The Listening Project is a BBC Radio 4 initiative that offers a snapshot of contemporary Britain in which people across the UK volunteer to have a conversation with someone close to them about a subject they've never discussed intimately before.

Just before Christmas Fi Glover introduced a conversation between a Buddhist Father Christmas and a Baptist chaplain about how they spend Christmas morning in the hospice. Another in the series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen.

 

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Not so Holy in Thailand - Maybe It'll be Down to the Girls

An unholy spat is stirring the Sangha, Thailand's top Buddhist authority - who will become the next Supreme Patriarch, Thailand's most senior monk? Meanwhile, allegations of 'cheque-book Buddhism', cronyism and corruption abound - including allegations about tax-evasion on an imported vintage Mercedes car. In Thailand, where the majority of the population profess Buddhism, seeking ordination isn't unusual. But salacious stories about monks who commit serious crimes - everything from sex offences to wildlife trafficking - continue to shock.

Watching quietly from the side-lines is the Venerable Dhammananda - female, and a Buddhist monk since 2003. Although the Sangha bars women from ordination, there are now around 100 bhikkhunis, as female monastics are known, in Thailand. And their growing acceptance by some Buddhist believers might partly be explained by a widespread disillusionment with the behaviour of some male monks. For Crossing Continents, Linda Pressly explores the rifts and sexual politics challenging Thai Buddhism and its devotees.



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Afghanistan: Rescued Treasures of Buddhism

An exhibition called Afghanistan: Rescued Treasures of Buddhism organized by the Czech National Museum in Prague aims to present the war-torn country in a different light, to draw attention to its rich cultural history and point out the many influences that left their mark on Afghan culture and traditions. The exhibition focuses on the country’s pre-Islamic Buddhist period. Its chief organizer Lubomír Novák showed Daniela Lazarová from Radio Prague around and began by explaining what makes the exhibition so special.



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You may also like to see our post "Afghanistan Opens Exhibition of Country's Rich Buddhist Past".

Ashoka; Power and Persuasion

This is another episode taken from the new Radio 4 series, Incarnations: Portraits of India, the story of India in 50 lives. Professor Sunil Khilnani looks at the history and culture of India through a personal selection of the lives of 50 of its most significant and influential figures.

This time he looks at the life and legacy of the Buddhist emperor Ashoka, who ruled over a large part of the Indian sub-continent.



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The Buddha; Waking India Up

This is taken from the new Radio 4 series, Incarnations: Portraits of India.

The story of India in 50 lives. Sunil Khilnani looks at the history and culture of India through a personal
selection of the lives of 50 of its most significant and influential figures.

In this episode Professor Sunil Khilnani looks at the life of the Buddha and at how he has become an inspiration to modern Indians fighting against the caste system.



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Ashoka the Great - Buddhist Emperor of India

This is taken from the BBC radio 4 program "In Our Time" with Melvyn Bragg.

Melvyn and his guests discuss the Indian Emperor Ashoka. Active in the 3rd century BC, Ashoka conquered almost all of the landmass covered by modern-day India, creating the largest empire South Asia had ever known. After his campaign of conquest he converted to Buddhism, and spread the religion throughout his domain. His edicts were inscribed on the sides of an extraordinary collection of stone pillars spread far and wide across his empire, many of which survive today. Our knowledge of ancient India and its chronology, and how this aligns with the history of Europe, is largely dependent on this important set of inscriptions, which were deciphered only in the nineteenth century.

With:
Jessica Frazier Lecturer in Religious Studies at the University of Kent and a Research Fellow at the

Oxford
Centre for Hindu Studies.

Naomi Appleton Chancellor's Fellow in Religious Studies at the University of Edinburgh.









and
Richard Gombrich Founder and Academic Director of the Oxford
Centre for Buddhist Studies and Emeritus Professor of Sanskrit at the University of Oxford.





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IOT Ch'an & Zen

This is the program featured in the post Zen "In Our Time".

"Some of you may have heard Melvyn Bragg's Radio 4 program, "In Our Time" this morning in which the subject discussed was Zen Buddhism. If you did you will have learnt precious little about Zen or indeed Buddhism!"



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The Role Of Devotion

Following on from our visit to Cittaviveka, the Thereavada Buddhist Monastery at Chithurst on Sunday, this talk is particularly pertinent. While we were at the monastry we attended a lay forum on the subject of devotion.

When I ran my podcast download software today there was this talk, "The Role Of Devotion" by Ajahn Brahmali of the Bodhinyana monastery in Perth, Western Australia....... yes, that monastery!



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The Buddha; from In Our Time with Melvyn Brag

The life of Siddhartha Gautama and the legacy of his teachings. With Peter Harvey, Kate Crosby
and Mahinda Deegalle.





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Guided Heart Forgiveness And Compassion meditation by Tara Brach

This guided meditation by Tara Brach was used at our Autumn meditation retreat.



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Your Best Brain by Rick Hanson

Rick Hanson is a neuropsychologist and has written and taught about the essential inner skills of personal well-being, psychological growth, and contemplative practice – as well as about relationships, family life, and raising children.

An authority on self-directed neuroplasticity, Dr. Hanson’s work has been featured on the BBC, NPR, CBC, FoxBusiness, Consumer Reports Health, U.S. News and World Report, and O Magazine, and his articles have appeared in Tricycle Magazine, Insight Journal, and Inquiring Mind. He has several audio programs with Sounds True, he edits the Wise Brain Bulletin, and his weekly e-newsletter – Just One Thing – has over 75,000 subscribers, and also appears on Huffington Post, Psychology Today, and other major websites.




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Daoism

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Daoism. An ancient Chinese tradition of philosophy and religious belief,
Daoism first appeared more than two thousand years ago. For centuries it was the most popular religion in China; in the West its religious aspects are not as well known as its practices, which include meditation and Feng Shui, and for its most celebrated text, the Daodejing.

The central aim in Daoism is to follow the 'Dao', a word which roughly translates as 'The Way'. Daoists believe in following life in its natural flow, what they refer to as an 'effortless action'. This transcendence can be linked to Buddhism, the Indian religion that came to China in the 2nd century BC and influenced Daoism - an exchange which went both ways. Daoism is closely related to, but has also at times conflicted with, the religion of the Chinese Imperial court, Confucianism.

The spirit world is of great significance in Daoism, and its hierarchy and power often take precedence over events and people in real life. But how did this ancient and complex religion come to be so influential?



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The Nuns of Drapchi Prison

This item was originally posted on Monday, 24 March 2008. I have recently been able to add an embedded audio player and so am repeating the post here.


While I was driving back from Newport the other day, Saturday, I turned on the car radio and found myself in the middle of the Women's Hour weekend omnibus edition, not something I normally listen to. Before I could change channels or switch off, the program started its next item "Tibetan Unrest and the Drapchi Nuns"....... the story of how, in 1993, a group of Tibetan nuns, in the notorious Drapchi prison in Lhasa, secretly recorded songs of freedom. Against all odds, the recordings were smuggled out of prison and the songs were heard by the outside world. The Drapchi 14, as they became known, were beaten for their actions and their sentences extended - by between five and nine years each.

This program is not easy listening but I urge you to hear it out, it is saddening but also hugely inspiring..........



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Oh, by the way, the petition now stands at 1,690,484 signatures.

The Relationship Between Religion and Depression

The BBC Radio 4 program, Beyond Belief debates exploring the place of religion and faith in today's complex world.

In this episode Ernie Rea explores the relationship between religion and depression with expert guests: Sabnum Dharamsi, a Muslim; Dr John Swinton, a Christian; and Ed Halliwell, a Buddhist who is a writer and mindfulness teacher, based in Sussex. He is co-author of the Mindful Manifesto.



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Buddha should be in the boardroom

Clare Melford, CEO, International Business Leaders Forum, argues that Buddha should be in

the boardroom. She explains what CEOs need to learn about the tenets of Buddhism to make their businesses thrive while being sustainable.



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Shintoism and Buddhism

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Japanese belief system Shinto.

A religion without gods, scriptures or a founder, Shinto is perhaps better described as a system of belief. Central to it is the idea of kami, spirits or deities associated with places, people and things. Shinto shrines are some of the most prominent features of the landscape in Japan, where over 100 million people - most of the population - count themselves as adherents.

Since its emergence as a distinct religion many centuries ago, Shinto has happily coexisted with Buddhism; in fact, adherents often practise both simultaneously. Although it has changed considerably in the face of political upheaval and international conflict, it remains one of the most significant influences on Japanese culture.



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Aung San Suu Kyi's Reith Lectures

Aung San Suu Kyi's Second Reith Lecture

Burmese President elect, Aung San Suu Kyi, examines what drives people to dissent in the second of the 2011 Reith Lecture series. 'Securing Freedom'.

Reflecting on the history of her own party, the National League for Democracy, Aung San Suu Kyi, examines the meaning of opposition and dissident. She also explains her reasons for following the path of non-violence.




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Aung San Suu Kyi Delivers Reith Lecture

Examining the themes of dissent and freedom, Suu Kyi will share the five-lecture series with former MI5 director general Eliza Manningham-Buller, whose talks will mark the 10th anniversary of the 11 September 2001 attacks on America.



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Evil and the Self

Andrew Marr explores how far empathy, or the lack of it, can explain cruelty. Simon Baron-Cohen proposes turning the focus away from evil or specific personality disorders, and to understand human behaviour by studying the 'empathy circuit' in the brain. Gwen Adshead, a forensic psychotherapist at Broadmoor Hospital and the crime writer Val McDermid question whether this would help in their line of work, and the philosopher Julian Baggini tries to pin down what we mean when we talk about the self.



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We're All in this Together?

Keeping it topical, here's a talk on Buddhist economics by Kavyasiddhi.

"All in this together - is it time for a Buddhist economics?"



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