Working with Repetition (Jason Siff)

Does a formulaic approach to meditation get in the way of discovering exactly what’s going on? In this talk Jason talks about how we respond when our mind gets stuck in a groove, answering questions from those taking part.

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The Secret of Happiness

by Mark Knickelbine In The Goal of Practice and elsewhere, I have argued along with Stephen Batchelor that the goal of secular dharma practice is not a final cessation of suffering (regardless of how many thousands of times the Pali canon says otherwise). As Batchelor points out, the word commonly translated as “suffering” in English…

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Buddhism Without Buddha

by Mark Knickelbine One of the topics we get into with some frequency is what the relationship is or ought to be between Secular Buddhism and the Buddha.  Is dharma practice inextricably linked to the smiling sage beneath the Bo tree?  Is it possible for the core practices to be presented entirely outside the framework…

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Putting Buddhist Practice Under a Microscope

Disclaimer: This method is how I approach my practice, and is not necessarily the views of other Secular Buddhist. That said, these methods fit well within the context of the secular Buddhist practices. Occasionally I am accused of being a reductionist. So I admit here and now, I do indeed take a reductionist approach to…

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A Mala Prayer

*~*~* The first time I am aware that I met another Buddhist, I met several.  There was the man who would become my teacher, Dennis, who was quietly organizing a visit from some Tibetan lamas and the monks accompanying them. There may have been more Buddhists among those of us who had arrived to hear…

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A 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…

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