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Now you can qualify as a Secular Buddhist!
DairyLama
Veteran Veteran
Some of the courses look interesting - quite expensive though: https://bodhi-college.org/events/textual-studies-satipatthana
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For a cheaper alternative you could consider the Dinsdale Piranha College for Dodgy Dharma which is underneath the arches in the East End. The College is happy to arrange appropriate documentation for overseas students ( wink wink ) and for a small premium there is "accelerated learning" which means you can qualify right quick ( as soon as the cheque clears actually ).
Where did you find the fees? They seem quite...'cagey' about clarifying costs up-front....
Which always makes me immediately suspicious....
At the bottom of the page on the second link, £595 for a week.
Jeesh! A villa in Sicily doesn't cost that much!!
Hm. Bodhi College seems to be just getting started this year. Has some well known scholars behind it. 595 for a week long live in course doesn't sound excessive for a place like the Sharpham house, if they're actually packing that week with classes and activities. But I can't think of a more boring subject.
You guys go ahead and get a Buddhist education, at whatever price. I'm holding out for @federica's villa in Sicily.
Yeah, I feel much the same. I've done quite a lot of retreats over the years, all very worthwhile, but now I'd prefer to just go on holiday and chill out. Do they have good ice-cream in Sicily? Maybe they would offer me a Neapolitan I couldn't refuse?
My local Triratna retreat centre is about half that cost for a similar programme.
I'd like to know how they can justify the cost. I'd be happy to have a retreat in a hut, where we had to fetch water, chop wood (for the wood-burning stove).... Bliss.....
@federica -- C'mon, little sister! Just think "wine, women (or men) and song" ... or possibly a villa in Sicily?
If something is free, people say it is useless. If it is expensive, people complain. These people need Buddhism all the more. Many people here (in india) dismiss vipasana because it is free. But they are willing to pay lots of money to go to some 'yoga course' and feel good. It is like money alone determines a thing's worth. So I can't say I blame people for charging exorbitant amounts - that's the only way people are going to respect you, else they think what you offer is valueless.
In the material world, we are taught that nothing is 'free'. This results in many people equating cost with quality or value. as you have noted.
However, when we look closely, one of the most valuable thing we have in life is time .
Buddhism shows us the value of our lives and of our time. As we share our time, the value grows and as we horde it, the value diminishes. So many of the precepts and guidance are/is to do no more than teach us this one lesson.
One can follow countless precepts and spend a countless fortune yet gain nothing.
One can seemingly break countless precepts and spend little if any money yet 'gain the world'.
It all come back to Right Mind which leads to Right Action, etc.
Opps, "Preaching to the quire" again.
Sorry.
Peace to all
Tee hee.
I wonder how deep the rabbit hole goes?
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/an-WZsC2YJ44htum/the_matrix_1999_on_the_way_to_the_oracle/
The best holiday, retreat, step back from The Matrix?
Meditation!
Iz lobsters cunning, location free, secular plan ...
Silly rabbits. They are still here.
Unfortunately there is some truth in this, people sometimes think of Buddhist teachings as a product to be bought and sold.
People trade in many ways. For example, 'I must be capable of understanding because I meditate/behave a certain way/am asking.' Paying for entitlement is a natural extention of such behavour.
Secular dharma, allowing a more critical insight into our attempt to buy our awakening is always an open course of action.
In a sense we all buy into what reinforces our tendencies. Fortunatly exposure to dharma changes the basis and extent of that initial purchase.
Maybe I will do a cyber retreat right here:
http://secularbuddhism.org