Archive for June 2011
Is Secular Buddhism Cherry Picking?
For me, yes! Just as I would pick cherries from a tree, taking the ripe ones and the almost ripe, and leaving unripe on the tree and the rotten ones on the ground (or throw them away), I have cherry picked from Buddhism. Over the last ten years or so, I have studied Zen Buddhism,…
Read MoreHow an Atheist Practices Secular Buddhism
What science has taught me about being skeptical of the outer world, Buddhism has taught me about being skeptical of the inner world. Both require critical thinking, and both require evidence. While science turns those methods outward, Buddhism turns those methods inwards. What differs are the tools. In science, to evaluate the world and universe…
Read MoreA Secular Religion?
This is the second installment in which I discuss ideas presented by Stephen Bachelor in a series of dharma talks in late 2010. You can hear them at dharmaseed.org. The debate about whether Buddhism is a religion or not is a classic case of the futility of dispute. Much heat is generated, little light is…
Read MoreSecular Dharma Semitreat :: Day Three
Day three, at last our horrific kammic past has been fully extinguished, and we’re enjoying a change from that perfect weather. Rain, all day. And you know, that really is okay, the rich scents the moisture brings is better than incense. Our dish cleaning team of Stan, Stan, Bill, and Ted (yes, Bill and Ted,…
Read MoreNo One to be Reborn
Critical thinking, skepticism, and experimentation are not only important in science, but our everyday lives. This is also true in Buddhism, and especially secular Buddhism. In fact, the Buddha was well known for saying, and I’m paraphrasing here: Don’t just believe what I say. Look for yourself.
When we first began practice with meditation, and mindfulness in our daily lives, many of the teachings prove themselves to be true. It becomes starkly apparent, for instance, that we cling to pleasure and we have aversion to pain. Our reactions to such clinging often cause a great deal of internal suffering. Mindfulness goes on to reveal much more than just clinging, but also how we create and recreate a feeling of self.
Read MoreSecular Dharma Semitreat :: Day Two
We’re cursed with yet another absolutely gorgeous day. Clearly bad kamma coming to fruition. Darn you, vipāka! Darn you, previous me! We started the day with instructions from Martine on listening meditation, simply hearing the sound without creating additional commentary around it. In this setting, the sounds are typically birds and chippies, so that was…
Read MoreEpisode 70 :: Steve Hagen :: Faith and Belief
Steve Hagen Steve Hagen speaks with us about faith and belief, a wee bit of Nagarjuna, and a big ol’ rock. Hi, everyone. Today I write this sitting by myself in the farmhouse at Barre Center for Buddhist Studies, after a week long seminar on Secular Dharma. And it was wonderful, if you ever get…
Read MoreSecular Dharma Semitreat :: Day One
by Ted Meissner First full day of the retreat, and traditional retreat habits of all kinds have taken up right where they left off. This includes the penchant for what I rationally know to be unpalatable Folgers instant coffee in the morning, and the same brand in decaf before bed. The food is proving to…
Read MoreSecular Dharma Semitreat :: Prologue
by Ted Meissner Several people have asked that I keep them posted about the Secular Dharma seminar with Stephen and Martine Batchelor, so I’ll be posting here on the blog as time, connectivity, and silence permit. The blog entries say “Semitreat” as the combination of it being somewhere between a seminar and a retreat, a…
Read MoreWhat is Dukkha?
This is the first of a series of posts in which I hope to explore ideas Stephen Batchelor discussed in a series of dharma talks in Fall 2010. You can hear them at dharmaseed.org. What is the First Noble Truth? If you’re deep enough in the Buddhist weeds to be reading this, you will probably…
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