Part 2 of 2 Pilgrimage and journey [58:20m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (185)

Recorded at Upaya Zen Center, June 4th, 2006
Sunday morning session from “A Retreat on the Secular Buddha”

Stephen begins his talk with an exploration of the “sublime” which he sees as an experience of the fascinating which can also be somewhat terrifying! Poetry can reveal to us this sense of the sublime by taking us beyond the strictly representational.

The effect of being on pilgrimage is beyond what can be explained intellectually, the simple act of putting ones feet on the same ground as the Buddha inspires a sense of devotion. Stephen described the early statues that existed at the time of the Buddha and for some time following his death, their simplicity i.e. foot prints, and an empty seat, speak to one in a very different way from the ornate iconography that followed. Stephen feels that in the west we are slowly moving towards developing an iconography arising out of our own culture.

Stephen provides a description of the Eight Fold Path which he feels is shorthand for the practice of our lives.

We gratefully thank our friend of Upaya, Ottmar Liebert for his contribution of music and bells used in our Podcasts.

 

 Stephen Batchelor - Part 1 of 2 Pilgrimage [1:05:20m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (250)

Recorded at Upaya Zen Center, June 4th, 2006
Sunday morning session from “A Retreat on the Secular Buddha”

Stephen begins his talk with an exploration of the “sublime” which he sees as an experience of the fascinating which can also be somewhat terrifying! Poetry can reveal to us this sense of the sublime by taking us beyond the strictly representational.

The effect of being on pilgrimage is beyond what can be explained intellectually, the simple act of putting ones feet on the same ground as the Buddha inspires a sense of devotion. Stephen described the early statues that existed at the time of the Buddha and for some time following his death, their simplicity i.e. foot prints, and an empty seat, speak to one in a very different way from the ornate iconography that followed. Stephen feels that in the west we are slowly moving towards developing an iconography arising out of our own culture.

Stephen provides a description of the Eight Fold Path which he feels is shorthand for the practice of our lives.

We gratefully thank our friend of Upaya, Ottmar Liebert for his contribution of music and bells used in our Podcasts.

 

 Mara the Marriage of Life and Death [1:06:55m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (208)

Recorded at Upaya Zen Center, June 3rd, 2006
Saturday Morning Session from “A Retreat on the Secular Buddha”

Making reference to the canonical texts, going back to the source, Stephen explores the life long relationship between Mara and the Buddha, using material that has been largely overlooked. He begins to draw out the historical pattern of duality that appears to exist between good and evil, God and Satan, Buddha and Mara. Though this process of reduction there is a failure to grasp the slippery living process of life itself.

Stephen explores how the different ways of viewing Buddha is as a human being or as a perfect omnipotent being, will influence how we view Mara and what it means to “conquer” him. Stephen expands his arguments to include an evolutionary biological exploration of what it means to “survive” as a human race.

We gratefully thank our friend of Upaya, Ottmar Liebert for his contribution of music and bells used in our Podcasts.

 

 There is only one Koan and that is "you" [1:12:15m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (203)

Recorded at Upaya Zen Center, June 3rd, 2006
Saturday Afternoon Sessions from “A Retreat on the Secular Buddha”

Stephen explores and describes the different types of meditation practices available. He goes on to describe the differences between an intellectual understanding of them and a complete embodiment of the practice both on the cushion and in daily life.

We gratefully thank our friend of Upaya, Ottmar Liebert for his contribution of music and bells used in our Podcasts.

 

 Awakening not a state but a process [1:25:54m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (214)

Recorded at Upaya Zen Center, June 3rd, 2006
Saturday Evening Session from “A Retreat on the Secular Buddha”

Stephen discusses how ideas, beliefs and views find form in the form, using the medium of art from both the Christian and Buddhist traditions. Using the teachings of the “Three bodies of the Buddha” Stephen argues that awaking is not adequately understood until it has found a concrete expression in the world, moving from the realm of the formless to the realm of form. The process of awakening is illustrated using the story of the Buddha’s own awakening and his eventual decision to share his experience.

We gratefully thank our friend of Upaya, Ottmar Liebert for his contribution of music and bells used in our Podcasts.

 

 Stephen Batchelor - Practicing here and now [1:12:16m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (224)

Recorded at Upaya Zen Center, June 2nd, 2006
Morning Session

Stephen began to lay out for us his view of the Secular Buddha where dharma practice is primarily concerned with this world, as the focus for our love, compassion and enquiry.

He continues this exploration with an explanation of his view of contingency - dependent origination, everything in this world is a condition that brings about something else. Stephen locates the Buddha’s teachings within the spiritual culture of his time, with references from the Upanishads, and with an introduction to the work of Nagarjuna. We are invited to consider these different historical perspectives on the “self” and our relationship with it.

We gratefully thank our friend of Upaya, Ottmar Liebert for his contribution of music and bells used in our Podcasts.

 

 Stephen Batchelor - Islands of awareness [1:07:30m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (243)

Recorded at Upaya Zen Center, June 2nd, 2006
Afternoon Sessions from “A Retreat on the Secular Buddha”

Using the teachings of the Satipattana Sutta, Stephen invites us to begin to develop awareness that can lead to an understanding of what we are experiencing moment by moment. Returning again to a realization of contingency and the inevitable arising and passing of all phenomena.

Many of us are able to present a narrative of our daily actions in terms of what stood out for us during the day, which Stephen calls Islands of Awareness rising above the surface of our lack of consciousness. However, as the practice of awareness deepens we begin to see how compulsively adrift we are much of the time.

We gratefully thank our friend of Upaya, Ottmar Liebert for his contribution of music and bells used in our Podcasts.

 

 Stephen Batchelor - World in a Single Atom [52:25m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (253)

Recorded at Upaya Zen Center, June 2nd, 2006
Evening Session from “A Retreat on the Secular Buddha”

As humans we appear to have the tendency to go beyond and outside of ourselves, to rely on something or someone external to us for our salvation. However, the Buddha suggested that our true experience arises out of our relationship with the material, messy, contingent world

The Buddha acknowledged that we seem to possess an innate need to split things off from each other, to continually live in a world of duality. Stephen describes the Buddha’s method of devising “lists” as a move away from a dualistic perception of the world by breaking things up into ever increasing categories.

Stephen quotes Luther as an example of a person who entered into his own relationship with god, without the intervention of an intermediary. He said “No” to a distant omnipotent authority figure, and brought power back into the lives of ordinary people.

We gratefully thank our friend of Upaya, Ottmar Liebert for his contribution of music and bells used in our Podcasts.

 

 Stephen Batchelor - Questioning with the Marrow of Our Bones [57:00m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (256)

Recorded at Upaya Zen Center, June 1st, 2006

Opening the retreat, Stephen Batchelor opens the retreat with the importance of considering study as practice. He suggests that we call this exploration “beginning all over again.” We need to go back to that place that is beyond limitations, to leave the palace walls as did the Buddha, so that we can pose questions about existence; ie, to go to the place where all traditions begin. We might explore perplexity (doubt), a form of questioning that is not concerned with a scholarly answer, but a way for our practice to resonate with an existential pitch. To question with the marrow of one’s bones, with the pores of one’s skin this life here and now.

A Retreat on the Secular Buddha, June 1st - 4th, 2006
Is it possible to imagine a Buddhist theory and practice that is grounded in tradition while renouncing the traditional Indian metaphysics of karma and rebirth? This retreat led by the brilliant scholar and meditation teacher Stephen Batchelor explores the possibility of a Buddhism whose primary focus is this world alone: both as it is now and how it will be after our deaths. We study materials from the Pali canon, Nagarjuna and other Buddhist teachers, as well as contemporary writers in both the arts and sciences. Lively discussions of exploration are held within the context of silent meditation practices drawn from the Theravada and Zen traditions. This is a rare opportunity to be engaged by one of the great revolutionary Buddhists of our time. Stephen Batchelor, trained as a monk in the Tibetan Geluk and Korean Zen traditions, teaches Buddhist philosophy and meditation worldwide. His most recent publication is Living with the Devil: A Meditation on Good and Evil.

We gratefully thank our friend of Upaya, Ottmar Liebert for his contribution of music and bells used in our Podcasts.