Sutta Study: What's happening now?

Exploring Doug's Secular Dharma

One of the expressions of modern Buddhism is a movement called Secular Buddhism, an approach articulated by one of Doug's teachers, Steven Batchelor, a contemporary Scottish Buddhist who spent time as a monk in two very different traditional expressions of the Buddha’s teachings, e.g., Tibet and Korea. Secular Buddhist practitioners tend to turn to the earliest layer of the written texts for guidance and inspiration because these early texts offer a view of Dharma, the nature of reality, that is more in line with what a scholar, psychologist, or philosopher would say. There is much less emphasis on supernatural and mystical forces that influence our lives. Behavior is lawful. Actions have causes, conditions, and consequences, even though we might not always know what they are.

Doug Smith is an independent scholar and serious practitioner and for several years has been offering short videos on various aspects of the teachings of the historical Buddha. He has had many years of Buddhist practice in the Zen and Theravāda traditions. He is also the founder and director of the Online Dharma Institute. Join us to explore and enjoy the fruit of Doug's practice.

Here's how to participate

We meet Monday nights at 6:30 to meditate and the program for the week begins at 7:00. We are currently working with a hybrid format so you can access in person or on Zoom. Get the link on the Community Event Schedule. Our in-person meetings are at Porters Neck Yoga Co-op and Bhavana Community at 106 Marshall Court Unit 120 Wilmington, N. C. 28411 (just behind Bayshore Dental Excellence 7643 Market Street). For information and online links, contact me, catherine@bhavanacommunity.org. There is no charge for this program but you are invited to make a donation to support our programs and the periodic donations to teachers we support.

Previous Programs

Talks from Thanissaro Bhikkhy

Thānissaro Bhikkhu is an American Buddhist scholar monk in the Thai Forest Tradition. He studied for ten years with Thai forest meditation masters. Since 1993, he has been abbot of the Metta Forest Monastery near San Diego County, California—the first monastery in the Thai Forest Tradition in the U.S. He is well known for his translations of the early teachings which are provided free on his website, Talks, Writing & Translations of Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu.

Samadhi: Doors of Harmony

We will be exploring a program that has been offered through Sangha Live, a global online platform for interactive dharma classes and courses. Ulla Koenig offers another program on Samadhi which we will be adapting to our evening format. The program was offered during the week of February 23, 2024. Each meditation is preceded by a few minutes of discussion and is followed with stories and Q & A as they happened in the live presentation. Each program is about an hour long and we will modify our format slightly to accommodate the timing of the program. We will start the video at 6:35 to give everyone a chance to check in briefly at 6:30 and there will be time after the video for discussion.

Wise Thinking

In following with the theme of the last several weeks, we are continuing to explore the Third Foundation of Mindfulness: Mindfulness of Citta. These guided meditations and talks from his 7AM Sit & Daily Dharmette series explore some of the basic mindfulness teachings. This series presents his most recent thinking on the topic of wise thinking.

Thoughts are not the Enemy

In 2020, the Dharma Talks section of Tricycle Magazine offered this four week series from Jason Siff.

Mindfulness of thinking is a different way to practice meditation. By becoming aware of thoughts and emotions in meditation, you can become kinder to yourself, more interested in your inner experience, and more flexible and autonomous in your meditation practice. This retreat will provide opportunities to write about your meditation sittings, talk about them with Siff, and hear what other meditators experience in our online forum.

Jason Siff is the co-founder of the Skillful Meditation Project in Idyllwild, CA, which is has developed the meditation technique called Recollective Awareness. He has taught at Esalen Institute and the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies, and has been published in Insight Journal in Spring, 2005.

Digital Detox: Reclaim your mind from Social Media Addiction

In 2020, the Dharma Talks section of Tricycle Magazine offered this four week series from Bodhipaksa which addresses the problem of managing our distracting thoughts, especially around our phones and computers. The Vitakkasanthana Sutta, Buddha's teaching on managing distracting thoughts is explored in the context of managing social media addiction. Of course the Buddha didn't have a cell phone, but he recognized the dangers of allowing our attention to wander.

Bodhipaksa is a member of the Triratna Buddhist Order. He is a meditation teacher and the founder of an online meditation center called Wildmind. He has been publishing his ideas and offering guided meditations for over 20 years. His most recent books are "This Difficult Thing of Being Human," published in November 2019, and "A Year of Buddha's Wisdom," published in December, 2021. Bodhipaksa was born and raised in Scotland, but now lives in New Hampshire.

The Buddha's Teachings Harmony

At this time in history, the skills for Living in harmony are needed more than ever. The teachings for this program will be drawn from the 2017 Tricycle Program with Andrew Olendzki. Dr. Olendzki selected several excerpts of texts from the Pali Canon that reflect the Buddha's early teachings on how to live in harmony. These texts suggest that Buddha's inspiration for teaching was his compassion for the struggle of human beings trying to deal skillfully with interpersonal conflict.

Harmony and Human Flourishing

More than a year ago, I started writing about harmony and have posted the essays on the blog for this website. Three essays from February, March, and April have either the word harmony or community in the titles. As we watch a world at war, many of us have been concerned about the challenges of living in harmony not only locally but globally. Recently I have been writing about the concept of human flourishing and have been focusing on factors that bring out the best in us. The first of these flourishing factors is mindfulness. Join our discussion to explore these teachings from the Buddha in the context of contemporary psychology, neuroscience, evolutionary biology, and philosophy.

Reimagining The Eightfold Path

We offer a variety of meditation programs designed to support you on your journey. From introductory courses to advanced workshops, our programs are designed to help you deepen your practice and achieve your goals.

Bodi College has partnered with Tricycle Magazine again to present another program that is destined to become a classic. Each of the four Bodhi College faculty bring a slightly different and personal view to the teachings on the Eight-Fold Path. Each of them are well-educated in traditional Buddhist concepts as well as the more contemporary views that are emerging from the study of the Early Buddhist Texts (EBT). Although some of the views are unconventional, they are presented in the context of the traditional view so you can see for yourself what parts of the path draw you personally to the practice. I will also be sharing my own views of these teachings and why I think they are important for human flourishing, not just for the liberation that is highlighted in the traditional teachings.