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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.
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.
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.
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.
How do we know if secular Buddhism is the ‘appropriate’ view and path?
While we cannot definitively know that secular Buddhism is the most ‘appropriate’ approach to the dharma in some universal sense, Mike Slott asserts that each individual can determine whether secular Buddhism is an ‘appropriate’ view and path for their own life based on their experiences, interests, and goals.
A response to SBN’s interview with David Edwards: the need for skillful goal-oriented activism
Responding to David Edwards' criticism of goal-directed Left activism in his interview with SBN, Mark Evans argues that we do need skillful goals to guide our actions, counter cynicism, inform our judgment. Skillful goals are a 'middle way' between reactive cynicism and debilitating myths.
Interwoven nature: reflections on reconnecting body, mind and world
A longtime practitioner of Zazen and a secular Buddhist, John Danvers argues that mindful meditation enables those who practice it regularly to experience the self as a process that extends out into the world, to realise how open and porous we are and how interconnected we are with other beings and with our surroundings.
Dharma vision and tragic vision
In a dharma talk given to the Bluegum Sangha (Australia), Winton Higgins discusses the close affinity between Gotama's notion of dukkha and the tragic tradition in western culture, beginning with the Greek tragic playwrights. A common theme is that our difficulties are an essential part of every human life. Our task is to embrace these difficult challenges and say ‘yes’ to life no matter how dire the predicament.
SBN’s online group meets for the first time
The Secular Buddhist Network online group held its first meeting 21 January. 41 people participated in the Zoom meeting from nine countries: Costa Rica, Ireland, the UK, New Zealand, France, Australia, Germany, Canada, and the U.S. During the meeting, the participants shared their practice and perspectives with each other as we explored the relevance of secular Buddhism in our lives.
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