March 2023 to November 2023

17 March – 19 March; 12 May – 14 May; 7 July – 9 July; 22 September – 24 September; and 17 November – 19 November

Five Principles of the Middle Way Retreats
taught by Robert M. Ellis

Robert M. Ellis will be drawing on the ideas in ‘The Five Principles’ of the Middle Way to offer five weekend retreats over 2023 at the Tirylan House to explore and practise each of them. You can attend all these retreats in sequence or only one of them, as you are able. Like all Middle Way Society retreats, these retreats will be open to people working in any tradition (or none) who want to explore the subject in a practical and universal way. They will combine talks and discussion with meditation, arts activity, and free time in which you can make friends and enjoy the countryside.

For more information, click here.

September 2023 to November 2023

15 September to 30 November (Online) 

Secular Buddhist Network’s course on Exploring a secular dharma
taught by Ciara Cullen, Lorna Edwards and Mike Slott

In this online course we will explore the key ideas and practices of secular Buddhism, an important trend which has emerged in western Buddhism in recent years.

The course will provide both secular Buddhists and those curious about secular Buddhism the opportunity to gain a greater appreciation and understanding of a secular approach to the dharma. In this course we will:

• Identify and explain the key concepts of secular Buddhism
• Contrast secular Buddhism with traditional/institutional forms of Buddhism
• Sketch a vision of secular Buddhist practice for individuals and communities

For more information, click here.

December 2023

3 December to 10 December (in person)

Secular dharma and ethical living study retreat

taught by Stephen Batchelor, Winton Higgins, and Lenore Lambert

This residential study retreat will explore through talks and dialogues how the dharma taught by the Buddha 2,500 years ago can help provide the ethical perspectives and practices needed to engage effectively with the various interconnected crises our world faces in the twenty-first century — economic, environmental, social, psychological and spiritual.

We will be presenting a secular approach to the dharma, which leaves aside the metaphysical beliefs of the Buddhist religion to focus entirely on how to respond to the sufferings of this world. Drawing on canonical Buddhist discourses as well as ancient and modern western philosophy, the teachers will consider the theoretical foundations of ethics as well as its practical applications here and now.

For more information, click here.