In todayand#8217;s FBA Dharmabyte, we preview our next podcast, and#8220;The Buddhaand#8217;s Personalityand#8221; by Vishvapani with the segment: and#8220;and#8216;Knowingand#8217; the Buddhaand#8221;. This is from the third talk in the Vishvapaniand#8217;s new series launching the book and#8220;Gautama Buddha: The Life and Teachings of the Awakened Oneand#8221;. (Quercus, 2011)
and#8220;The suttas give us a vividly real Buddha who walks the roads, inhabits the cities and the plains, an untamed free spirit, a powerful presence who we can know but we cannot necessarily comprehend.and#8221;
Vishvapani is a well known figure in the Triratna Buddhist Community and is a regular contributor on the BBCand#8217;s and#8216;Thought for the Dayand#8217;.
Talk given at the London Buddhist Centre, February 2011.
[music] Dharma Bites is brought to you by Free Buddhist Audio, the Dharma for real life. Our work is funded entirely by donations from our generous listeners. If you would like to help us keep this free, come and join us at freebuddhistaudio.com/community. Thank you, and happy listening. [music] Now, having spent several years reflecting on the Buddha, reading these stories about him, reading these dusty tones, these texts, and looking for the personality of the Buddha, looking for the Buddha as an individual being, I find I have an illusion that I know him. When I think about the Buddha now, I think about the Buddha as a very familiar and close friend. I'm not saying that I know the Buddha. Of course, he died two and a half thousand years ago. But I've come to enjoy his company. I've come to feel a certain quality which I associate with his presence. And I hope, coming back to the book launch aspect of this, that my book will convey some of that to you. That doesn't mean I think that I understand the Buddha. It doesn't mean I think I've encompassed him, because I don't know that I understand even the friends of mine who I actually know. And I'm well aware that any images of my own, of the Buddha's personality, or what it was like to be around him, what it was like to be with him, may well be my fantasies and my projections. And yet, that is what I have come to believe. And I also believe that the Buddha was most himself in certain moments of inspired utterance. When he spoke seemingly from a far region, which he could describe only through negation, where water, earth, fire and wind have no footing. There, the stars do not shine. The sun sheds no light. The moon does not appear, and darkness is not found. And when a sage, a Brahmin, through wisdom, has known this for himself, then he is freed from form and the formless, from bliss and from pain. This is the Buddha of negation, and yet, the sitters also give us a vividly real Buddha who walks the roads, inhabits the sitters and the planes, an untamed free spirit, a powerful presence, who we can know, but we cannot necessarily comprehend. Thank you. (Applause) We hope you enjoyed the talk. Please come and help us keep this free at freebuddhistaudio.com/community. And thank you. (Music) (Applause)
