POSTS:
Mindfulness Based Ethical Living (MBEL): an update
Since November 2022, eighteen people from twelve countries have been developing a new online course, Mindfulness Based Ethical Living (MBEL). The course will offer an ethical and philosophical framework for a flourishing life, based on a secular interpretation of the Buddhist foundation of mindfulness.
In memory of Tom Bulley
In memory of his good friend Tom Bulley, a secular dharma practitioner who recently passed away, Keith Jackson offers a sample of Tom's witty and imaginative mind.
Bringing the secular dharma to my community
Colette Descent describes a course she teaches at a community center for older adults which incorporates key secular dharma concepts without the use of Buddhist terminology.
A new secular Buddhist sangha in Canada
Trina-Rae Cuff has founded a new secular Buddhist sangha in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The sangha meets the first Friday of each month in person.
Rethinking the Dharma / Reimagining Community #45 June 2023
Welcome to our June 2023 newsletter. This month we highlight new articles by Pedro Bellora, Katya de Kadt, Colette Descent, and Caspar Harris, as well as a practitioner's account of his journey to secular Buddhism.
The dharmic tasks of an improvising musician
When he played a wrong note during an improvisational jazz concert, Pedro Bellora used his secular dharma practice to move from a moment of contracted reactivity to a place of joyful non-reactivity.
An exciting new global movement – the Global Compassion Coalition
Colette Descent discusses the Global Compassion Project, a new organization initiated by Rick Hanson and others, to inspire individuals, organizations, and governments to address the causes of suffering and to build communities of care and belonging.
A secular Dharma discussion group – perspectives from South Wales
The South Wales (Cymru) Secular Dharma discussion group was started in January 2022 and has been meeting once a fortnight online since then. The participants have found the group to be a supportive environment for developing their secular dharma practice.
A practitioner’s journey to secular Buddhism: Tom
Tom Cummings initially practiced Vipassana meditation, but he has found that secular Buddhism's emphasis on our present human life as the one and only existence we have aligns well with the agnostic humanist perspective he has embraced for many years.
The value of meditational awareness and Buddhist ethics for progressive groups
Katya de Kadt explains how meditational awareness and an ethics based in the values and wisdom of Buddhism can help activists avoid burnout and play a productive role in the struggle for social change.
Rethinking the Dharma / Reimagining Community #44 May 2023
Welcome to our May 2023 newsletter. This month we highlight new articles by Kirk Mason and Mike Slott, a practitioner's account of his journey to secular Buddhism, and a workshop by Dave Smith on mindfulness and the Four Noble Truths.
Mindfulness and the Four Noble Truths
At an online program sponsored by New York Insight Meditation Center, Dave Smith presented the Four Noble Truths as four tasks for engaging in an ethical, flourishing life.
The 12 steps and the 12 traditions of secular Buddhism
Kirk Mason argues that secular Buddhism allows us to integrate the principles of mindfulness and compassion in a more flexible way, and has been essential in his own recovery program.
Rethinking not-self: a critical review of Jay Garfield’s ‘Losing Ourselves’
As part of a critical review of Jay Garfield's 2022 book, Losing Ourselves, Mike Slott offers a different perspective on not-self, one that shifts the discussion from an epistemological and ontological analysis to an ethically-informed exploration of the existential, psychological, and social causes of various forms of ‘selfing’.
A practitioner’s journey to secular Buddhism: Jim
Jim Bronson connected with the Theravāda tradition and Insight meditation over 20 years ago, after the death of his first wife. As a scientist, he was attracted to the secular aspects of Theravāda and began to learn more about secular Buddhism. He finds inspiration in Stephen Batchelor's view that ‘a secular Buddhist is one who is committed to the practice of the dharma for the sake of this world alone.’
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