Examples of Buddhist Practice Without Buddhism
Recently there has been a trend to discuss Buddhist practice without mentioning Buddhism or explicitly stating that there is no Buddhism in the practice under discussion. I have some examples of this kind of dialogue and promotion of Buddhist practice without Buddhism. I am not criticizing this tropeonly pointing out this latest phenomenon which decontextualizes and abstracts teachings and practices from their Buddhist worldview. There are certainly many more examples than the ones below, however, these have a web presence and I have been thinking about them for other writings lately.
The Secular Buddhistis a companion website to the Secular Buddhist podcast which aims to apply secular ideas to early Buddhist thought. Here are the main aims of the podcast:
Share accurate information, clarify misperceptions, and critically examine the teaching and practice of early Buddhism of interest to a secular audience. Distinguish cultural accretions from that teaching and practice, and discuss secular Buddhist culture. Discuss other topics and skills, like critical thinking, of benefit to the practice of secular Buddhism. Discuss issues pertaining to separation of church and state, as they impact both traditional Buddhism and secular practice.
The podcast and website explore further these ideas of a secular Buddhism and its practice. The guests on the show, many are well-known authors such as Stephen Batchelor, align with the idea of a secular Buddhism and discuss related topics. Main themes that run throughout the podcast discussions are reading the Buddhas teachings in Pali, setting up secular Buddhist practice groups, and hearing the life stories of those former monks and nuns who have turned to a more secular Buddhist practice.
The founder of the website and podcast, Ted Meissner, has a modern Buddhist view that early Buddhism is a rational and pragmatic practice that holds an empirical method close to ! science. He finds that Buddhism is now however, laden with religious trappings. The purpose of his website and podcast is to disseminate information about Buddhism from a non-religious perspective
Stephen Schettinihas two websites dedicated to practicing Buddhism without Buddhism. A former Tibetan Buddhist monk, he has come to realize that the religion of Buddhism is unnecessary.
Years of meditation, studying and reflection have led me to believe that the Buddha Siddhattha Gotama was what I can only call a humanist and skeptic of the first order. He had no time for the religion of his day or the eternally inconclusive debate as to whether or not there is a creator God. His question wasnt why are we here, but here we are now what? . . . I no longer belong to any tradition; my understanding of what the Buddha taught led me away from Buddhist institutions. As paradoxical as that seems, its a common theme of our times not just for me, and not just for Buddhists, either . . .
Similar to the perspective espoused in the Secular Buddhist, Stephen Schettini looks to the early life and times of the Buddha and finds no religion. Because of this they both decide to be non-religious in their Buddhist practice. The Quiet Mind website and its Mindful Reflection practices of Stephen Schettini are also discussed as non-Buddhist practices that came from teachings of the Buddha and Buddhist teachers.
These two practitioners provide evidence of a further divorcing of Buddhist practice from what they consider to be the Buddhist religion. These kinds of ideas are well-entrenched within modern Buddhism but it seems now these ideas no longer need Buddhism attached to the phenomenons name. Now this is a secular or non-religious practice that bows its head to the Buddha but not to anything else related to the tradition named after him.
