Secular Buddhism

How do we avoid fooling ourselves? We’ll consider some similarities between the methodology of the sciences and the Buddha’s understanding of dharma and its practice.

Secular Buddhism means different things to different people. In this video I'll try to outline some of my own ideas about a secular path, and a little about how my views may differ from some others.

During the last thirty years there has been a significant rise in the non-religious in the US. We'll look at a recent YouTube video from the channel Religion for Breakfast that engaged with "atheist churches" or communities devoted to…

There are two aspects to secular Buddhism that sometimes get lumped together. In this video we'll try to tease them apart and look at secular Buddhism's psychological and its social aspects.

There are many forms of Buddhism for today. Once we understand this we will see the way to make room for a more inclusive and contemporary approach to belief and practice. I'll discuss this and the role of the Secular Buddhist Association…

It can be difficult to find reliable information about early or secular Buddhism on the Internet. I'll discuss some places we can look, and find both good translations of early texts and reasoned articles or discussions relating to them.

What would a secular Buddhist practice look like, and how would it compare to more traditional approaches to practice? We will try to sketch some answers to these questions in this video, keeping in mind that secular Buddhism is a broad…

Some of the roots of secular Buddhism go back to Thailand. We'll look at two of the fascinating characters that were instrumental in modernizing elements of Thai belief and practice, even as some of that modernization remains…

Many of us have questions about including images or rituals in secular Buddhist practice. We may find the idea congenial, on the other hand we may have an aversion to traditional forms of practice, or indeed we may come from a different…

It's a good question. We'll consider some of the reasons why someone with a secular outlook should care what the Buddha thought, as well as other aspects of this question.

Is the Dalai Lama a secular Buddhist? In two of his recent books he has outlined a universal, secular ethical program grounded in basic human values that are shared by believers and nonbelievers alike. We will take a look at these two…

We'll look at three ways that Buddhism isn't a religion, focusing on early Buddhism in particular. Of course, Buddhism has religious aspects. However it also can be seen as something entirely non-religious, more in the vein of a school of…

It may seem like "secular Buddhism" is an oxymoron, a kind of contradiction in terms. But this depends on how we understand secularism, and how we understand Buddhism. Both concepts have a wide range of senses, which we will explore.

Today we'll be taking a look at Robert Wright's new book Why Buddhism is True, some of its positives and negatives, and whether or not it fits well with secular Buddhism.

What might the Buddha have thought about secular approaches to Buddhism? We will take a look at arguments found in a couple of early texts, the Apaṇṇaka and Sandaka Suttas, as jumping-off points. Our trip will take us through perhaps the…

On this vlog I'll talk about the strange instructions that started me off meditating, and a great podcast I was just on.

Mixing things up here, today we'll get into questions from a couple of viewers. One involves whether there is room for a kind of deep secular Buddhist practice akin to monasticism, and another deals with the way I've been editing these…

Secular Buddhism has roots that go well back into 19th c. South Asia. We will look at some of that history here.

Folks interested in a secular approach to Buddhism will find many forms of Buddhism congenial. Why is early Buddhism particularly so? We will look at the Kevaddha Sutta (DN 11) and some material from Richard Gombrich, eminent scholar of…

Are you interested in helping foster a wiser, kinder, less stress-filled world? Here you'll find short videos about how to do that, with material from early Buddhism, secularism, and related topics. There will be a mix of introductory…

Secular humanism is a naturalistic life stance oriented towards this life, as is secular Buddhism. How are these allied life stances similar and different?

What is secular Buddhism and how does it differ from traditional Buddhism? This video will try to answer that question. It's my first video, so the production values are rougher than later videos!