Posts Tagged ‘secular buddhism’
Thich Nhat Hanh, Secular Buddhist
Those of us who gathered for Social Circle last Friday evening spent a fair amount of time talking about Thich Nhat Hanh, whose recent hospitalization made headlines after rumors of his death had circulated online. The way the Internet lit up with expressions of concern and well wishes for the Vietnamese Zen monk, known to…
Read MorePractice Circle: Forgiveness
“He abused me, attacked me, Defeated me, robbed me!” For those carrying on like this Hatred does not end. “She abused me, attacked me, Defeated me, robbed me!” For those not carrying on like this, Hatred ends. Hatred never ends through hatred. By non-hate alone does it end. This is an ancient truth. (Dhp 3-5,…
Read MoreBrahmali and Batchelor Debate
In my last post I looked at a talk given by Ajahn Brahmali on Secular Buddhism. Recently the Melbourne Insight Meditation Group released a debate that Brahmali had with Steven Batchelor on the same topic, which once again revolved around the central issue of rebirth. It raises interesting questions worthy of a follow-up post. (As in my…
Read MoreAjahn Brahmali on Secular Buddhism
Ajahn Brahmali of Bodhinyana Monastery gave a talk on February 7, 2014 about Secular Buddhism. Brahmali is smart and well-spoken, and he represents a saṅgha that is at the liberal end of Theravadin monastic saṅghas (for example, they were instrumental in the ordaining of bhikkhunis, as against their more traditional Thai counterparts), so spending some time…
Read MoreAbout that Label …
As many of you know, there’s a “Religious Views” label on the Facebook “About” page. When I signed up for Facebook several years ago, I was pretty deeply into the New Atheist movement, spending much of my time griping about traditional religion and writing skeptical material on various pseudoscientific agricultural practices with some friends of mine.…
Read MoreA Secular Evaluation of Rebirth
Rebirth: it’s one of those topics that defines the Secular Buddhist approach. Practitioners who accept the traditional Buddhist notions of rebirth and the kammic causation that accompanies it will be less interested in a naturalistic ‘secularization’ of the dhamma. Discussions along the frontiers of belief tend not to be very fruitful: people find their beliefs…
Read MoreIs Scholarship Important?
When I was doing my undergraduate and graduate work I sometimes heard snarky criticism of history of philosophy. “Why do I have to know all this?” they’d ask. True, if we’re studying ethics or theory of mind, it’s good to know what people have said about them in the past. But since appeal to authority…
Read MoreSecular Buddhism, Thin and Thick
There is an important split in the way many of us approach Secular Buddhism. Some of us want a “big tent” form of Secular Buddhism that welcomes believers from any and all faith backgrounds who are looking for a way to incorporate meditative practice within the context of their own views about religion, salvation, God,…
Read MoreBuddhist Global Relief
We should all be looking for ways to help alleviate the dukkha of the world on a larger scale than just our own minds. But doing so is a much bigger program than sitting on the cushion, one that requires money and coordination. As secularists we would prefer that these projects be done without sectarian…
Read MoreSecular Humanism and Secular Buddhism
Recently I attended a meeting of the Center for Inquiry, a Secular Humanist group, where I got into a discussion about Secular Buddhism. It raised the question of how to distinguish Secular Humanism from its Buddhist counterpart. What were their strengths and weaknesses? What did they each have to learn, and how could they be…
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