POSTS:
Book launches for Winton Higgins’s new book on secular Buddhism
Beginning 19 May 2021, four book launches were held to introduce Winton Higgins's new book, Revamp: writings on secular Buddhism. The book is published by Tuwhiri and consists of a collection of essays on various topics related to secular Buddhism.
SBN’s online discussion group
The Secular Buddhist Network is sponsoring an online group which meets the third Thursday of each month on Zoom. It's a great opportunity for secular Buddhists and those who are interested in learning more about a secular approach to the dharma to connect with each other and to discuss key issues.
A review of Winton Higgins’s ‘Revamp: writings on secular Buddhism’
Winton Higgins’s latest book, Revamp: writings on secular Buddhism, provides the best account of the history of secular Buddhism available today and identifies the core characteristics of this relatively new trend within Buddhism. While reflecting on its key perspectives and practices, Higgins also identifies the key challenges facing secular Buddhists.
Avoiding the conceit of superiority: a cautionary note for secular Buddhists
To avoid the superiority conceit pervasive in debates within Buddhism, secular Buddhists need to recognize two key points: 1) our approach to the Buddha's teachings is only one of many legitimate approaches and 2) Buddhism, whether, in a secular or traditional form, does not provide us with all the answers to the key challenges that we face today.
‘Don’t Expect a Standing Ovation’: Richard Winter’s new book on 59 ‘Mind-Training’ slogans
Richard Winter presents the 59 slogans of the Tibetan teachings on 'Mind-Training' in a style that is familiar and accessible not just for ‘Buddhists’ but for any of us who, irrespective of systems of belief or cultural allegiances, are open to the appeal of Buddhist-inspired meditation practice, as a resource for trying to flourish in a difficult world.
Reimagining Community newsletter #20 May 2021
Welcome to our May 2021 newsletter. This month we highlight new articles by Stefano Bettera and Bernat Font, book launches for Winton Higgins's new book on secular Buddhism, and a review of Lenore Lambert's The Buddha for Modern Minds by Winton. We also ask our readers to help support the SBN website and this newsletter.
A review of Lenorë Lambert’s The Buddha for modern minds: a non-religious guide to the Buddha and his teachings
Winton Higgins reviews Lenorë Lambert's new book, The Buddha for modern minds: a non-religious guide to the Buddha and his teachings. According to Winton, the book admirably achieves its purpose of preparing the newcomer for a promising ‘first date’ with the dharma and its practice. It does so in impeccably secular terms that are securely based in the early teachings.
Stephen Batchelor and Ruth Ozeki on Buddhism and Creativity
As part of the 30th anniversary celebration of Tricycle magazine, Stephen Batchelor and Ruth Ozeki discussed the role of creativity in their work and in the dharma. They both emphasized that creativity depends on cultivating a sense of inner openness and relaxation, a loosening of attachment to a fixed notion of the self.
Dharma EconomiX
Stefano Bettera offers a spiritual perspective on social reconstruction - Dharma EconomiX - that goes beyond the anthropocentric model and focuses, instead, on practices, languages and imagery capable of healing the social and ecological wounds that we face today. Such a perspective provides us with an opportunity for a revalorisation of the individual and of the community.
A queer critique of Buddhist renunciation
Bernat Font argues that the renunciant attitude underlying the noble truths and some meditation practices has to be examined with care and fully acknowledged; we may need to look beyond the early texts into how later Buddhisms addressed desire and embodiment, or into more contemporary perspectives. The richness of these teachings is vast: there are many ways to sit and celebrate.
Reimagining Community newsletter #19 April 2021
Welcome to our April 2021 newsletter. This month we highlight new articles by Dan Nixon and Mike Slott, the latest issue of the Creative Dharma newsletter, and the print publication of Lenorë Lambert's new book on secular Buddhism.
Three simple words with which to meet our ‘digital’ lives
While digital technologies are, in themselves, neither the problem nor the solution, they contribute to making us increasingly divided and distrusting of one another. Dan Nixon argues that we can begin to create something better by cultivating an ongoing, open-ended spirit of questioning towards all we encounter in our digitally-mediated experience by asking: what is this?
What Bhikkhu Analayo got wrong: a review of ‘Superiority Conceit in Buddhist Traditions’
While the overall purpose of Bhikkhu Analayo’s new book, Superiority Conceit in Buddhist Traditions: A Historical Perspective , is well-intended, his treatment of superiority conceit in Buddhist traditions fails to identify the root cause of this problem in Buddhism. He also mischaracterizes the writings of Stephen Batchelor and ignores the ideas and practices of contemporary secular Buddhists.
Reimagining Community newsletter #18 March 2021
Welcome to our March 2021 newsletter. This month we highlight new articles by John Danvers and Mike Slott, a collaborative photography project for meditators organized by Cameron Macfie, and a new Mindful Feminist Facebook group initiated by Freida Maverick. We also note the second meeting of SBN's monthly online group and the publication of Lenorë Lambert's new book on secular Buddhism.
Meditators needed for a collaborative photography project
Cameron Macfie, a documentary photographer, is asking meditators to send him photos of themselves in the spaces in which they meditate and a photo that represents meditation for them. His goal is to bring all participants together in a shared online space for a collective meditation, and to provide a visual representation for inner experiences.
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