The Secular Buddhist Network online group held its first meeting 21 January 2021.  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.

 The purpose of the first meeting was to introduce the participants to each other and to begin to explore the relevance of secular Buddhism in our lives.

The meeting was structured around two breakout group sessions:

Breakout Session #1 – We explored three questions:

• What is your current practice or connection with Buddhism?
• What got you to join this group?
• What would you like this group to focus on? (meditation practice, discussions of relevant topics, building secular Buddhist sanghas, etc.)

Breakout Session #2 – We explored the following questions:

• What does secular Buddhism mean to you?
• What key questions do you have about a secular approach to the dharma?

The response to the participants to the meeting was very positive. In response to the meeting, Kelly White, from Stroud, England, offered this appraisal:

….It was wonderful to meet so many likeminded people, feel part of a community and get to explore other opinions and experiences.

I thought that the format of the meeting was great; by using the break out rooms, everyone got to participate and have a voice and this would be a good format to follow in the future.

The next meeting of the SBN online group will be held 18 February. If you are interested in becoming part of this group, please email to secularbuddhist.network@gmail.com.