Temple-rooted Dharma, practical and exacting.
International Buddhist Society offers recorded Dharma talks, Q&A sessions, and lectures rooted in Buddhist temple life. Its episodes move between meditation practice, karmic causality, consciousness, etiquette, compassion, and the long work of shaping the mind.
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International Buddhist Society is a large archive of Dharma talks, Q&A sessions, and Buddhist lectures from a temple community in Richmond, BC. The show has the texture of a classroom, a meditation hall, and a monastery dining room all at once. It is formal in subject matter, but often conversational in delivery. A question about happiness can turn into a careful distinction between personal satisfaction and true happiness. A question about career training can become a reminder that some life decisions belong with social workers, employment officers, or immigration counselors rather than a monk. That practicality matters. The teaching does not float above daily life; it keeps returning to conduct, attention, discipline, and intention. Venerable Guan Cheng is heard moving from temple etiquette to chanting traditions, from breath meditation to rapture of joy, from work habits to the Noble Eightfold Path. The Eight Consciousnesses lectures are more demanding, with Buddhist psychology, cosmology, causality, conditioned dharmas, mental functions, and the structure of mind given sustained attention. These episodes assume patience. They also reward it. The explanations often begin with ordinary examples: a student who skips lectures, a worker who gives shallow attention, a meditator whose mind wanders, a child waiting for Chinese New Year. From there, the teaching widens into karma, right view, wholesome desire, and the search for enlightenment. Temple life is present throughout, including ordination, tonsuring, chanting, walking meditation, visits, kitchen practice, and service events for seniors. The show is at its best when it shows Buddhism as lived discipline rather than inspirational language. Compassion is something rendered. Meditation is something practiced. Wisdom is built through repeated correction, study, and attention. For listeners who want quiet encouragement, the tone may feel stern at times. For listeners who want detailed Dharma instruction with real temple context, the archive offers unusual depth.
Made for: Listeners interested in Buddhist Dharma talks, meditation practice, Buddhist psychology, and temple-centered teaching. It especially suits those comfortable with long-form instruction and traditional terminology.
What sets it apart: The show blends practical Q&A with advanced lectures on consciousness, causality, and Buddhist cosmology. Its temple setting gives the teaching a lived, disciplinary feel that separates it from general mindfulness programming.
Dharma talks and lectures on introduction to Buddhism, approaches to meditation, Buddhist values and more, presented by the International Buddhist Society from Richmond, BC, Canada. For more resources, visit our website at www.buddhisttemple.ca
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Venerable Guan Cheng turns Buddhist psychology and audience questions into practical instruction on meditation, conduct and the workings of the mind.
International Buddhist Society brings Venerable Guan Cheng's teaching into two complementary settings: sustained lectures on Buddhist psychology and open Dharma Q&A.
A $12-an-hour job becomes your pop quiz on attention.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A Dharma Q&A covers temple table manners, a work decision and care for seniors.
A Dharma Q&A begins with table manners at the temple. The monk asks diners to sit still and use both hands while eating. The point is practical: a meal gives them a chance to practice discipline.
A Buddhist teaching on desire, right view, and the work of changing one's thinking.
The speaker begins with Buddhist cosmology, placing human beings among the six paths of reincarnation, then asks a question with an everyday reach: what do people want, and where might that desire take them? He considers why someone comes to a meditation hall or lecture.
A discussion of true happiness turns to breath meditation and what can be learned by watching someone practice.
The speaker opens by asking his audience what true happiness means in a world where people suffer. He considers whether a positive point of view can offer an answer that applies to everyone, then brings illness and poverty into the discussion.
A lesson in Buddhist psychology brings attention down to everyday practice.
The speaker starts with the eight consciousnesses, then turns to five functions of the mind: attention, contact, sensation, perception and volition. Attention takes up most of the lesson.
A Buddhist Q&A covers novice ordination and cosmology before returning to the image of spring.
Venerable Guan Cheng begins with the seven-day training for novice monks and nuns: meditation, prostration, chanting and lectures. The Q&A then turns to levels of existence in Buddhist cosmology and the part desire and attachment play in them.
A Buddhist philosophy lecture on causality, with a classroom example and an account of Bao Ji appearing in two places at once.
The teacher begins with Xuan Zhang's journey to India and his translation of Buddhist texts into Chinese, then turns to the terms behind the eight consciousnesses. Conditioned and unconditioned dharmas come first.
Generous Buddhist conversations without the rush.
Venerable Guan Cheng says temple eating is “disciplinary” because “there’s no vinaya, there’s no precepts” without it.
Venerable Guan Cheng of the International Buddhist Society continues a lecture series on the eight consciousnesses, focusing on the 51 concomitant mental functions that Buddhist psychology says accompany every thought.
In this Dharma Q&A session, Venerable Guan Cheng of the International Buddhist Society fields audience questions on happiness, anger, and meditation.
Ven.
International Buddhist Society Episode 164 features Venerable Guan Cheng answering questions about a Hong Kong retreat, Buddhist relics, reincarnation, vegetarian rules, and meditation practice.
Xuan Zhang traveled from China to India for 3 years, then studied in India for 17 years.
A Buddhist monk reflects on aging and the history of building the temple, introducing a Dharma talk.
A Buddhist monk discusses the nature of happiness and its relation to attachment, using personal childhood memories to illustrate how happiness changes over time.
A Buddhist teacher answers questions about Siddhartha Gautama and the nature of suffering.
A Buddhist teacher answers questions about accessing missed lectures and discusses the pros and cons of mass communication for spiritual learning.