Hi

I have been practicing/investigating Buddhism on and off for the past two or three years. I have had serious issues with the ‘religious’ elements and the need for beliefs.

From my first read of Stephen Batchelor’s ‘Buddhism without beliefs’ I have been leaning towards secular dharma.

That’s where I am now and hope to develop my practice and knowledge with the help of this site/forum.

Graham

Hi. My name is Debra. I studied Buddhism seriously in my twenties. I am an atheist but love the Buddhist philosophy. I have been studying the pages in Starting Out and hope to learn more. 

Debra

Graham & Debra,

Welcome! We hope you find the information on the site useful. Feel free to ask questions in these forums, or start discussions.

Buenas!

I'm Jennifer Hawkins, the Community Director, and shamefully, I kept forgetting to post a new introduction on here after Dana so kindly rebuilt our forums. I'm a nerd who fights for justice with my sidekick, Happy (my dog). Currently, I'm taking an opportunity to start formal meditation teacher training with Linda Modaro as we at various organizations begin to work on formal certifications for Secular Buddhist leaders. When I have time, I record narrations of various Pali Canon Suttas (Listen to the Suttas! on Youtube and Insight Timer). I also pop up in various organizations and am the mod for r/SecularBuddhism (over on Reddit). Along with Doug, I'm also one of our bilingual (Spanish) Directors. So... if you need me, I'll help. (Si me necesitas, te ayudaré.)

Hi

I'm aronmindfulman (a.k.a. Ron Stillman).  I was a member, starting in 2011, of the hacked SBA website but there was no way to login to the new SBA website under my real name so I changed my name so I can participate in the forums once again.  I've been practicing insight meditation since 1999 and have found it to be invaluable in my life. 

Hi.  I'm new to Secular Buddhism. A long-time atheist, I began meditating in Spring this year, after many unsuccessful attempts going back to my teenage years.  I'd read various books on meditation, and could never quite work out what they were on about.  (I read Christmas Humphries as a kid, and was just baffled.  But even in this century, Andy Puddicombe's Headspace book didn't make any sense to me).

However, I thought I'd give it another go, and came across Martine Batchelor's videos on Tricycle, and found they made sense to me.  Searching her name on the web led me to her book on meditation and to Stephen's work, which I've been reading avidly.

My interest in Buddhism has deeper roots, though.  Brought up in a Catholic family in Scotland, I was nevertheless naturally sceptical, and began my own search as a teen, and found Buddhism of more interest to me than any other religion. (As well as Humphries, back then I read Walpola Rahula's "What the Buddha Taught", and various other standard books).  I ultimately rejected all religions, but always harboured a soft spot for Buddhism.  So I was delighted to find that there were people who were leaving to one side the supernatural claims, but finding in Buddhism practical material that can be applied in this life.

So I thought I'd drop in and see what goes on here.

Hi all

I am Johannes Cairns, from Finland but currently doing a postdoc in Cambridge, UK. I became interested in Zen Buddhism in my teens as a result of martial art practice, and subsequently attended various Buddhist retreats and events in Finland and immersed myself in popular literature on the topic. To understand the relationship between popular Zen Buddhism and history, I completed a master's degree in East Asian (focus on Japanese) Studies, studying comparative religion as a minor subject. During these studies and based on my own experiences, I became disillusioned with contemporary Buddhist culture, as I was introduced to skeptical thinking, academic methods of inference and empiricism, the major role of modernisation processes in how Buddhism is perceived and presented as historical reality, and the prevalence of superstition and social problems in Buddhist communities worldwide. This questioning became further exacerbated as I ventured into natural sciences (currently I study drug resistance evolution in microbes) and began to doubt the biological sensibility in pursuits such as sense restraint and equanimity. I am also not sure about agreeing with Buddhist passivity about social and global issues. 

Nevertheless, I similarly have major issues with the lack of wisdom in the main philosophical strands driving contemporary society (namely, that individual and societal welfare spring from accumulating wealth, status and pleasurable experiences, often through outcompeting other people), and find the pragmatic ethical teachings and contemplative practices within Buddhism to offer a very appealing alternative vision. This vision is also consistent with sustainable development on a global scale.

I try to actively practice meditation and Buddhist ethics, focusing on a life philosophy of simplicity and kindness. I am a solitary practitioner as I have not been able to find a sangha of like-minded people. It would be wonderful if this could become such a sangha for me. Unfortunately, I may not be able to participate in the online meetings which take place in the late hours of night local time. I suppose I could be positioned within secular Buddhism based on aligning with those not assuming the following premises: i. that Buddhism offers perfect answers to everything (I rather see it as an imperfect human-derived system); and ii. on a related note, that all problems/superstition etc. in Buddhism arise from later corruptions of the original teachings. I am most inspired by the ethical-contemplative vision whereby the cultivation of a certain measure of equanimity allows one to be content with little and decreases the urge to base one's activities in life upon rampant selfish desires. In this scheme, the active practice of ethical activities (contentment, kindness) and contemplative practice (calmness and mindfulness cultivating equanimity) both reinforce one another.

I am looking forward to sharing thoughts and experiences with like-minded people, and wish you all the very best in your practice. 🙂

Hello,

My name is John and Bodhibuddy is the handle I've chosen, but think I might shorten it up a bit, perhaps to just Buddy, if it's not taken, My avatar is the same one I've used for gmail and is something I grabbed off Google. I do not want to violate the rules and create suffering here by using my actual photo! ?

I'm renewing my practice and I'm currently taking  this free online MBSR course, for a few reasons. One reason is to renew my daily practice, to see what people are taught in MBSR and use this as an opportunity to experience it, an to use it as a basic training tool and curriculum for renewing my teaching practice or more correctly form a meditation group. I plan on sending beginners to this MBSR program for a good secular start on the path.

I recently had a good look over this site and Doug Smith's excellent academic teachings and I think this might be a good spiritual and intellectual home for me as traveler on the path. I started my journey in the 70's with TM and moved on to Buddhism in the 80's in a casual way. In the late 80's I moved to Winnipeg MB with my job and started attending dharma centers there and receiving teachings from itinerant monks and teachers. I started a serious practice then and also followed the science of meditation very closely with the arrival of the internet in the early 90's. Today I describe myself as a Buddhist Geek or Nerd!

My current beliefs are in accordance with human evolutionary history (tribal) and I look at the ethics of practice through this lens, as well as, that of the early Buddhist traditions. The end point of practice for the modern secular practitioner is not nibbana, but a  fearless and peaceful death. That is attained through selflessness and selflessness is attained by putting others before oneself as our intention with a clear mind and a clean heart. Our deep values must align with our practice for progress to occur. 

Good morning!

My name is Matt Hunter, and I've been practicing (not as steadily as I would like) mindfulness and meditation for about five years. I came across the practice quite accidentally, when I found a discarded copy of a book called "Mindfulness for Dummies" sitting in our lobby. 

Since then, I started to explore different methods of meditation and mindfulness practices, and different approaches to Buddhism (I've attended our local Therevada temple sometimes, because it's a nice communal atmosphere, but it isn't quite the right fit for me, because of my secular/agnostic background and outlook). I read and was influenced by "Buddhism Without Belief", and have listened to various courses and podcasts by Jack Kornfield, Sam Harris, and others. I'm also currently enrolled in the "Unwinding Anxiety" program created by Judson Brewer. 

I'm a married father of four, living in a suburb of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

I'm looking forward to participating in the community. I had been a member of the SBA a couple of years back, but didn't really dive in as much as I could have. I'm currently on a short-term medical leave, and because of this, I hope to be able to use my time away from work to its full potential, which includes having more free time and flexibility for activities such as the practice circle. 

Ok. I think I wrote enough for now ?

I would love to hear your thoughts on how best to get started with the materials offered by the SBA, how to get involved in the community, and basically how to be a productive member who both learns and gives to the sangha ?

Matt

Hi all, I'm Mike, a new member to the community.  I'm not sure why my profile pic is upside down, I tried everything to correct it 🙂

I have had an interest in Buddhism for about 25 years, and took refuge in the three jewels about 16 years ago now.  Was raised as a Catholic, but was never convinced of the existence of any God or afterlife.  Secular Buddhism fits very well for me and my mental health.  Looking forward to continuing my practice and learning more. 

Have now managed to flip my picture the correct way ?

@johannes-cairns

Johan,

Here is something that might interest you, I'm taking this free course now in Buddhist Psychology and the material is also covered in Robert Wright's book, Why Buddhism is True(in a naturalistic sense), that I've almost finished.

A review by Doug Smith who is affiliated with this site.

Why Buddhism is True

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FS5Orvr0iRE

@bodhidharma55

Thank you for the kind suggestion. I will look into this!

Hello all,

I'm new to this. I had some personal issues and was looking into mindfulness as a way to help work through them when I stumbled upon Secular Buddhism. It's a very complicated path that took me from where I was literally last month to who I am right now but it's been an amazing journey of discovery and insight. I have had many "ah ha!" moments in the past few weeks and I find myself connecting with all of the information I've been exposed to. I am enrolled in the Coursera course right now and subscribe to a few podcasts. 

Thank you for the opportunity to sit in with your practice circle this evening. I wasn't sure what to expect so it was nice to observe. I look forward to learning and participating more in the future.