**Recorded at Upaya Zen Center, June 2nd, 2006

Evening Session from "A Retreat on the Secular Buddha"

Time: 52:25**

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.

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Upaya Zen Center

Ottmar Liebert + Luna Negra

Kazuaki Tanahashi's web site Brush Mind

Stephen Batchelor

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