#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.
Book 'launches' to introduce Winton Higgins's new book on secular Buddhism
Revamp: writings on secular Buddhism, Winton Higgins’s newest book, tracks the emergence of secular Buddhism, and has as its focus today’s climate emergency and intensifying social injustice, as they cry out for radical socioeconomic and political change. The book is published by Tuwhiri, a publishing imprint created by secular Buddhists.
The keen interest in secular Buddhism from around the world has meant that this book will be launched four times. For more info on each launch, and to register and take part in person or by Zoom, go to https://lu.ma/tuwhiri/.
A fundraising appeal
If you have found this newsletter and the SBN website to be a valuable resource, please consider donating to SBN by clicking here. There are new, monthly costs for the maintenance and upgrading of the website which require additional funds.
Special offer: Anyone who donates $50 or more on a one-time basis, or donates $5 per month to SBN, will receive a free copy of Winton Higgins's new book, Revamp: writing on secular Buddhism.
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.
Join SBN's online 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.
Connect with Secular Buddhists worldwide
If you have a sangha, centre, meditation group, resource or website, or are an individual who would like to connect with other secular Buddhists, fill out our simple form and we can add you to our listing of secular Buddhist groups and individuals, as well as an interactive map.
A review of Lenorë Lambert's new book: The Buddha for Modern Minds
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.
Readers of the book are encouraged to provide a positive review of the book on Amazon.
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.
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Learn about the basic ideas and concepts of secular Buddhism through a free online course
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