On a chilly evening in November 2021, a small group of people arrived at The Kairos Centre in Richmond, UK, for the first evening of a one-year Bodhi College course on Secular Dharma.

The course was to be taught by Martine and Stephen Batchelor, who had come from their home in the southwest of France, and by Bernat Font, who arrived from Barcelona. The sixteen students who trickled into the building with them had come from all over: from France, Germany, Ireland, Poland, the UK and the USA.

They would meet several more times over the following year during four residential retreats, as well as a Seon retreat at Sharpham House.

In the excerpt from the book, below, Cathryn Jacob’s foreword sets out a vivid account of the course, the teachers who took part, and the ideas they explored together.

From a course to a book

As the course proceeded and everyone’s understanding of secular dharma deepened, Cathryn decided that she wanted to share the wisdom and insights she had gained with those who had not had the opportunity to come along.

Before the year was over, she had started the considerable task of transcribing all fifty talks. She then selected six talks by each of the three teachers for publication. Her aim was to create a collection which captured the essence of Stephen Batchelor’s fourfold task, while at the same time allowing every talk to stand on its own.

Choosing talks that approached the dharma from fresh and thought-provoking perspectives, as well as those which had most deeply inspired her personally, this resulted in the eighteen talks which make up Living life on life’s terms: turning the wheel of secular dharma. In the foreword Cathryn writes:

It felt as though I had uncovered a mine full of precious gems – treasures that I believed could benefit others.

Transcribing the talks became a practice in itself. As she listened to them repeatedly, she found that she understood and embodied the teachings more deeply in her own life.

A contemporary path to freedom

Living life on life’s terms is an inspiring guide for anyone seeking a contemporary path to freedom. Identifying the core values and principles of the teachings of Gotama, the Buddha, this book systematically rethinks them in ways that address the issues of this secular age.

The main question that runs through the book is a direct one: What matters today? The response is the practice of four tasks:

Embrace life
Let reactivity be
See reactivity stop
Actualise a path

These are not doctrines to accept but tasks to be performed – guidelines for meeting experience, living ethically, and responding wisely to the realities of life.

The four sections of the book follow this four task structure. Each section brings together talks by Stephen, Martine and Bernat in which they explore the corresponding task, along with the qualities and practices found in a Cartography of Care, which can be found in the book.

Care is the thread that runs through the whole framework. As Cathryn writes in a section introduction:

The dharma becomes true when it is lived – not in perfection, but in the shared fabric we stitch through care.

The path is thus not confined to meditation or private insight. It becomes visible in how we speak, listen, work, participate, respond to harm, and negotiate our differences. The book presents the dharma as something to be lived rather than simply understood.

Click here to watch a video of the authors speaking about the book.

Questions rather than certainties

This approach rests on a philosophical scepticism which values questions over answers. Following the Buddha’s middle way between the extremes of ‘it is’ and ‘it is not’, secular dharma avoids dogmatic claims about ultimate truth or reality.

Instead, teachings are tested by their consequences. Do they help us live with greater awareness, care and integrity? Do they loosen the habits of clinging, resistance and denial that keep us trapped? Do they enable us to respond more freely and cause less harm to ourselves and others?

The measure of dharma lies in what happens when we put it into practice.

Three distinctive voices

In this book, three very different leading voices bring secular dharma to life.

Stephen Batchelor offers a tapestry of philosophical insight, drawing not only on early Buddhist sources but also on ancient Greek thought, philosophy, literature and contemporary culture. His talks place the dharma within a broad intellectual landscape, while continually returning to the question of how we might live now.

Martine Batchelor brings warmth, practicality and a strong emphasis on embodied experience. Drawing on her years as a Buddhist nun in Korea as well as everyday life, she translates complex teachings into practices that can be integrated into the way we live, work and relate to others.

Bernat Font combines scholarly rigour with an artist’s sensibility. His background in Buddhist studies and as a jazz musician gives his teaching freshness, imagination and playfulness. Stories, personal experience and metaphor bring difficult ideas to life.

Put together, these three teachers have created a multidimensional exploration of secular dharma which speaks to both heart and mind.

On sale from 18 August 2026

You will be able to order it from your local bookstore, from bookshop.org and other online stores from 18 August. When you buy the book through Tuwhiri’s website, postage is included in the price.

Living life on life’s terms: turning the wheel of secular dharma
Soft cover • 238 pages • RRP USD $19.95 • ISBN 979-8-9909491-1-9
AUD $29.95 • CAD $27.95 • EUR €16.95 • GBP £14.95 • NZD $34.95
Epub • RRP USD $6.95 • ISBN 979-8-9909491-3-3

BOOKSTORES & LIBRARIES CAN ORDER IT FROM INGRAMS, OR TUWHIRI

Tuwhiri • 701 Ozier Drive, Batavia IL 60510, USA
ussales@tuwhiri.org • ph +1 (630) 465-0380 • www.tuwhiri.org