Public talk

The Way of Trust (mp3, approx 90 minutes)

This is a talk given at Padmaloka Retreat Centre in February 2008 to an audience of FWBO Buddhists (all members of the Western Buddhist Order, now Triratna Order). It includes an exposition of the Middle Way in relation to trust, and distinguishes trust from faith.  I am referred to as 'Upeksacitta' (the same person as Robert M. Ellis). There are references to 'Bhante' in the talk, which means Sangharakshita, the founder of the FWBO/Triratna Buddhist Community. This talk was my swan-song in the Western Buddhist Order and I resigned shortly afterwards. The response to my criticisms of Sangharakshita and traditional Buddhism in it made me realise how much of a gulf of views lay between me and many other order members.

The recording is unedited, and begins with silence, followed by a lot of introductory material, some of which is specific to the original context. You are advised to move forward to about a quarter of the way through where the actual talk begins.

I am grateful to Freebuddhistaudio for providing me with this recording, which they kept but did not put up on their website: presumably because I resigned from the Order and they only offer talks by Order members (an example of some of the issues with the boundaries of orders I raise in The Trouble with Buddhism Chapter 9).

Podcasts recorded specifically for this website:

An Introduction to the Middle Way (wma, 20 minutes)

Beyond relativism (wma, 22 minutes)