Articles
A Few Words on Bodhi and Batchelor
I would like to have more time to respond to Bhikkhu Bodhi’s recent piece on Secular Buddhism over at Secular Buddhism New Zealand, “Facing the Great Divide”, as well as to Stephen Batchelor’s lengthy response in the comments. Unfortunately time is short so I will be necessarily brief. Bhikkhu Bodhi Bodhi’s essay is something of an…
Read MoreReflections on the Second Noble Truth: It’s More Than Craving
Buddhists (secular and non-secular alike) have it right: suffering is caused by craving. But that’s not the end of the story. While the Buddha’s views on suffering provide us with essential insights about how and why we suffer, we need to broaden our view of suffering beyond the explanation offered by mainstream Western Buddhists. Introduction…
Read MoreOn the Skillfulness of Refined Taste
On the first day of a course in wine appreciation I was presented with two samples and asked to describe their aromas. They both smelled like wine. There was nothing else I could say about them. I remember thinking that that would change, and that by the end of the course I would be able to…
Read MoreCultivating Wisdom in an Era of Technological Change
My grandmother grew up in the era of the horse and buggy, but lived to see a man set foot on the Moon. When I was a kid growing up in New York we had rotary dial telephones. Personal computers were just being introduced, with green phosphorescent screens and weird command-line interfaces. The first office Xerox…
Read MoreOn the Path
The Fourth and last Noble Truth is the most complex and important. In the suttas the Buddha gives many different understandings of the Path to nibbāna, but of those the one most associated with the Fourth Noble Truth is the Eightfold Path. This is the path of right view, right intention, right speech, right action,…
Read MorePractice Circle: Trust Emergence
At Practice Circle, we’re working with an interactive mindfulness practice developed by Gregory Kramer called Insight Dialogue. In this practice, we work with a partner, and take turns speaking and listening to one another on a theme chosen to help us share on a deep level. Although we are conversing, Insight Dialogue isn’t chatting; it’s…
Read MoreOn Cessation
The Third Noble Truth is the truth of the cessation of craving; that there is a method by which craving can come to an end within a human lifetime. As such it is a rather spare truth: the content of that method awaits the Fourth Noble Truth for its elaboration. What is the cessation of…
Read MoreOn Craving
Last time we looked at the Noble Truth of suffering, of dukkha. As we saw, it is not easy to understand precisely what “suffering” amounts to in the Buddha’s dhamma, and part of what we need to do to understand it is to see how it is produced, how it relates to the Second Noble Truth…
Read MorePain and Proliferation
The Buddha’s gradual path to awakening begins with generosity and ethical behavior. These calm and gladden the mind, taking it away from states of possessiveness or regret. However when it comes to gaining the wisdom essential to right view, the Buddha tells us in the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta that there is something which “is to be…
Read MoreShould Secular Buddhists be Engaged Buddhists, Too?
The SBA website has been an invaluable forum for discussion and dialogue about what secular Buddhism is and should be. What is the difference between secular Buddhism and more traditional forms of Buddhism? Which aspects of Buddhist theory, belief, and practice are consistent with secular forms of Buddhism and which are not? What distinctive role…
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