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Find out more about what’s happening at the college, read exclusive interviews and thought pieces from our teachers and get the inside scoop on our courses.

Forget about being a Buddhist. Be a human.

By Ken McLeod Over the last few weeks, I’ve received a few emails with questions about a Buddhist response to the 2016 election. Here is one: What does Buddhism have to say about how to respond to the behavior and rhetoric of Donald Trump? And just as important, what does it say about how to […]

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A Word from the Board – Spring 2017

by Brigitte Huber-Jordi, Herrliberg Sitting in the middle of Europe in pre-spring Switzerland I am happy to share some information with you about the Bodhi College. As you may know, BC – as an educational charity – is governed by a board of trustees. The Board presently consists of Richard Fernyhough (chair, GB), Gary Born (GB), […]

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The Facebook Sutta (SN 57.1)

by Bernat Font Thus have I imagined. At one time, the Fortunate One was staying in Silicon Valley. There, he addressed the bhikkhus thus: “Bhikkhus.” “Venerable sir,” they replied. “These things should not be cultivated with regards to Facebook by one gone forth. Which things? Thoughts of greed, thoughts of aversion, ignorance of filter bubbles. […]

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A Buddhist Brexit – A Response

by Michael Hoey I am grateful to Stephen for the opportunity to respond to his Tricycle article on the UK ‘Brexit’ referendum, now that it has been translated for Buddhismus Aktuell . I would like here firstly to outline some of the reasons why a British Buddhist like me might make a principled case in favour […]

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Saṅkhāra Dukkha and the Suffering of Views (A Cautionary tale)

by John Peacock From the Buddha’s perspective one of the major causes of violence and contention in the world are the delusions produced by subject-centred views – diṭṭhi. Views, as the Buddha explained them, are not solely ‘ideologies’ in the sense of logically coherent systems of thought, which proceed from an assumed first premise. The […]

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A Buddhist Brexit

by Stephen Batchelor The world changed in the early morning of June 24th, 2016. I woke up in an airport hotel in Bordeaux. After a few hazy minutes I remembered that I should check my iPad for the result of the British referendum on membership of the European Union that had taken place the day […]

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Singing the Dharma?

by Andrew Olendzki Ambapali was a courtesan living in the city of Vesali, and is portrayed in the Pali literature as a woman of considerable wealth and influence. She had been left to die as a baby in a mango (amba) grove, no doubt the illegitimate offspring of influential people, but was discovered and rescued […]

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Why *Early* Buddhism?

Letizia Baglioni What follows is part of an ongoing attempt at articulating what is it about the early teachings that makes them unique and relevant, and why it is worthwhile taking the time to undo (or at least relax) some of the meanings and methods we may have inherited from Buddhist schools and teachers, and […]

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Beyond scientific materialism and religious belief

Akincano M. Weber Secular Buddhism, a concept still somewhat vague yet emotive, is being exalted or vilified across net and media – and so are its users occasionally. We need to be clear: secular Buddhism is neither Stephen Batchelor’s invention nor the final triumph of scientistic rationalism over religion. History is full of examples of […]

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Reflections on language, culture and social identity

John Peacock The Buddha repeatedly points out in the course of his teaching career that all languages are cultural constructs and that the relationship between the signs that constitute a language, and what is signified by those signs is purely conventional. He also recognized the role that language plays in conditioning what we might refer […]

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