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Monday, October 04, 2010

Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi - Towards an Integral Model of Buddhism

Interesting presentation . . . . Bhikkhu Bodhi is arguing that Buddhism must be able to update itself to mesh with the cultural and scientific context in which it is expressed. He uses a simplified stage hierarchy of traditional, modern, and postmodern.

I've made this argument over the last few years - and it seems to me that there is a great resistance in many Buddhists toward allowing Buddhism to adapt to our rational and emerging postmodern contexts.
Towards an Integral Model of Buddhism by Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi (approx. 53 min. total)

This lecture was given to the board members and volunteers of Buddhist Global Relief during a Board Retreat. It is an early attempt by Ven. Bodhi to develop a model for understanding and practicing Buddhism suitable for the post-modern stage of mind's evolution. A Domain Matika that illustrates the structure of realms and their interconnectness can be downloaded as a PDF. The lecture was given on April 10th, 2010 at Bodhi Monastery in Lafayette, NJ

Part One:


Part Two:


Part Three:


Part Four:


Part Five:


Part Six:


Part Seven:



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1 comment:

  1. ~nomsOctober 4, 2010 at 11:27 AM

    Nice. I have just started listening to the videos. Bill, you wrote "seems to me that there is a great resistance in many Buddhists toward allowing Buddhism to adapt to our rational and emerging postmodern contexts." I have seen that too, but that is not the case at all in the Shambhala community, Naropa, IMS, Spirit Rock, Boulder in general, the general Boston-Austin-London kind of communities where its all very postmodern. The resistance that I have noticed is mostly in places like Sri Lanka, Thailand where the culture itself is predominantly traditional. In the USA, I have not seen the kind of traditional orthodoxy amongst Buddhsts, the kind that Bhikkhu Bodhi must surely experience in Sri Lanka. This is why most western monks in the Theravada communities in Asia end up disrobing or getting back to their western monasteries where the resistance is far less (but that too, i think, depends mostly on the individual). And, well, this is rampant in any religion too :-( ~ Nomz (and yes, you can call me Nomz :-)

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