Secular Buddhism and Conceit
A discussion of the word "secular" from the Oxford English Dictionary
There are the main categories in which the word is used sense the word is used in
- of or pertaining to the world
- of or pertaining to an age or long period
In the first sense from a religious sense it includes:
- people not living in monastic seclusion
- belonging to the world and its affairs as distinguished from the church and religion; civil, lay, temporal. Chiefly used as a negative term, with the meaning non-ecclesiastical, non-religious or non-sacred
- of literature, history, art and the writers or artists not concerned with or devoted to the service of religion; not sacred; profane
- of education, instruction; relating to non-religious subjects - often implying the exclusion of religious teaching from education
- of or belonging to the present or visible world as distinguished from the eternal or spiritual world; temporal, worldly
- caring for the present world
In the second sense it includes:
- occurring or celebrated once in an age [a period of existence] century or very long period
- living or lasting for an age or ages
So for me I'm a person of the modern world. I do not live in a monastery and nor do I want to. I'm generally happy in the "secular" world with all its trappings and seductions; food, drink (in great moderation), movies, video games, scuba diving, quilting, etc. I have struggled in my past with internal demons and have, what I consider to be, normal friction with my everyday life, including my almost 35 years of marriage and the father of 2 sons. I do look for guidance on how to be a better person in my explorations of Buddhism as a body of ideas and practices and more recently Greek philosophy or specifically Stoicism.
A discussion of the word "conceit" from the Oxford English Dictionary
- after the conceit discussion describe how I might or might not be conceited.
- go point by point through Kevin Knox's blog post - especially around my distaste for the Buddha's non-egalitarian stance ... why is this a virtue?
