Secular Buddhist Network

POSTS:

A brief history of secular Buddhism

The emergence of secular Buddhism in the west is part of the secularization that has been developing since before the Renaissance. Secular Buddhism represents the attempt to continue the process of rooting the dharma in modern western culture where the earlier non-monastic insight movement left off.

Review of Rhonda V. Magee’s ‘The Inner Work of Racial Justice’

This book skillfully weaves together personal stories of Magee and other workshop participants, meditative and reflective practices which help us develop mindfulness and compassion in the context of confronting racism, and an account of how racism affects all of us – people of color as well as those who our society labels as ‘white.’

Touching the earth: exploring a new, secular self-help mindfulness group approach

Touching the Earth groups aspire to treat participants as equals, where no one is paid to lead or facilitate, and each participant takes responsibility for cultivating their own path and for supporting others in cultivating theirs. The basic format involves meditation, journaling one’s meditation experience, and then exploring the meditation in triads.

UK & IRELAND

Check out the secular Buddhist groups and communities in Europe and South America.

Meditating in a secular world

Meditative practice enables us to develop a more present, lucid and conscious connection with what surrounds us, in the precise moment and place where we find ourselves. Meditative practice does not take us beyond that present moment in its totality. If anything, it leads us deeper, to union with it.

Reimagining Community newsletter #4 Jan 2020

This month’s glossary item is Dukkha and we have an interview with meditation teacher Dave Smith and an unconventional glossary of attitudes relevant to the Buddhist path developed by Nelly Kaufer. We also introduce a new feature of the website, an interactive map that connects secular Buddhists worldwide. Our feature article is by Stefano Bettera, called Defining secular Buddhism: beware of certain traps.

Interview with Dave Smith on teaching meditation and the Secular Dharma Foundation

Dave Smith is an internationally recognized Buddhist meditation teacher, addiction treatment specialist, and published author. We recently interviewed Dave about his approach to being a meditation teacher and his Secular Dharma Foundation.

An unconventional glossary of Buddhist qualities, translated from meditative experience and Pali

This unconventional glossary provides us with grounded, experienced-based definitions of qualities, attitudes, skills, and concepts which are relevant to all meditators.

Defining secular Buddhism: beware of certain traps

Secular Buddhism doesn’t need to be understood as a new ‘Buddhism’ but more as a different approach to practice. This approach starts from our perspective as modern people, and thanks to this lens, revises the meaning of the teachings of an ancient tradition so that they can speak to human beings today.

New horizons for emerging sanghas: community groups and lay women dharma teachers

In a talk given to the June 2019 Sakyadita Australia conference Anna Markey discusses how there is an emergence of many small community-based clusters of intimate dharma groups in Australia, either leaderless or led by lay teachers. And many of these teachers are women.

What next? two years of path in the Secular Dharma with Bodhi College

Stefano Bettera offers his reflections on the two year course on the Secular Dharma at Bodhi College and what the next steps are for the course participants. He asserts that it is the 'creative, adaptable, non-dogmatic and unorthodox characteristic of the secular Dharma that is an opportunity' for contributing to a culture in which awareness and compassion are predominant.

Ongoing meetings of secular Buddhist groups and sanghas

Workshops, retreats, meetings and other events of interest to secular Buddhists, and the curious

How to be an ecosattva

Acknowledging the importance of social engagement is a big step for many Buddhists, since we have usually been taught to focus on what is happening in our own minds. On the other side, those committed to social action tend to suffer from frustration, anger, and burnout. The engaged bodhisattva path provides what each needs because it involves a double practice, inner and outer, each reinforcing the other.

On freedom and nirvana

A moment of freedom is a freedom from something, but it’s also a freedom to something. It’s not just that you’re freed from something, let’s say, attachment or anger or self-centredness, but that that freedom clears a space to act in a way that is not conditioned by your anger or self-centredness.

Secular Dharma Foundation: Educational tools & resources

The mission of the Secular Dharma Foundation is to foster the advancement of emotional and psychological well-being through the education and integration of mindfulness, psychology, and various therapeutic modalities.