September 2024 to November 2024

16 September to 25 November (Online) 

Secular Buddhist Network's course on Exploring a secular dharma
taught by 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.

October 2024

1 October to 6 October (residential)

The Path of Mindfulness: Feeling Tone and Mind (Gaia House)

taught by Martine Batchelor and Bernat Font

In this retreat we want to explore how the mindful contemplation of feeling tone (vedanā) and mind (citta) can help us untangle reactive patterns. We will investigate how certain habits keep us stuck and stop our potential for wisdom and compassion from manifesting fully. Through the meditative tools of mindfulness and the four boundless qualities (brahmavihāras), we can engage more creatively with our experience and transform limiting habits into positive functions.

For more information, click here.

19 October (online)

Introduction to Secular Dharma: Theory and Practice (Bodhi College)

taught by Martine Batchelor and Bernat Font

This day-long online seminar explores the question what is secular dharma? Looking at its link to ancient teachings, the seeming need to address our contemporary perspective and the question of what is essential or changeable. 

In terms of practice, we will use the tools of mindfulness to cultivate meditation in daily life and explore a secular take on the three characteristics that orient us to caring and engaging with this transient, imperfect world, rather than wanting to transcend it. 

For more information, click here.

November 2024

8 November to 10 November (online)

Retreat After the Election

taught by Linda Modaro and Nelly Kaufer

Our upcoming US election is consequential. We intentionally planned this retreat to be a holding environment for potentially strong emotions and reactions to the outcome of this election.

Meditation creates a holding environment, one where we’re relatively still with the contents of our bodymind and, over time, develop the capacity to ‘hold’ more internally. There’s a classical Buddhist image of the archetypal bodhisattva of compassion, Avalokiteshvara, with a thousand arms. While we’ll never grow a thousand arms, we’re developing the capacity to hold more.

Sangha creates a supportive environment in which skillful means are nurtured. Upaya (skillful means) is a concept emphasizing that meditators use their own specific methods or techniques that fit the situation in order to “awaken”. In Reflective Meditation we consider “waking up” as a process of developing awareness and wisdom, together with others.

By offering a retreat at this time: you’ll have the time and space to meditate and share your experience, and reflect about the way you relate to the political landscape in real time. Practice makes skillful, not perfection.

For more information, click here.

January 2025

21 January to 26 January (residential)

Secular Dharma Study Retreat (Sharpham - Coach House, Devon, UK)

taught by Martine Batchelor and Bernat Font

In this retreat, we will reflect about right view, ethics, and the place of beauty and pleasure for lay practitioners, while encouraging each participant to find their own way within the secular/religious spectrum of their lives.

Days will combine periods of silent meditation with sharing and discussion. We will offer meditative practices based on the Pali discourses, such as mindfulness of feeling tone and the boundless qualities or brahmavihāras.

In this way, we hope to explore how a pragmatic, contemplative and ethical understanding of the dharma can help us flourish fully as persons and communities in this world.

For more information, click here.