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I wouldn't worry so much about your identifying as an atheist, as Buddhism is non theistic. The Buddha isn't venerated as a savior so much as he is respected and celebrated as a teacher and guide.
Batchelor's work (mentioned in another comment) may be very interesting to you, but I'm not sure it's a great place to start. I'd hold off for a bit.
I'd suggest Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind and The Heart of the Buddha's Teachings, both of which appear on r/Buddhism 's sidebar book list (which is a great resource).
I'd also suggest Ethan Nichtern's books, if you're specifically looking for more secular-minded works - One City and The Road Home.
My favorite for good daily reading is this wide ranging (yet blessedly brief) collection of various Buddhist writings: https://www.amazon.com/Teachings-Buddha-Jack-Kornfield/dp/1590305086 Not gonna lie, for me this is the juice of Buddhism without too much cruft - good stuff
> Wondering why there are so many down votes on that?
"The great majority of readers and hearers are the same all over the world. I have no doubt that the people of your country are like those I have met in China and India, and these latter were just like Tibetans.
"If you speak to them of profound Truths they yawn, and, if they dare, they leave you, but if you tell them absurd fables they are all eyes and ears. They wish the doctrines preached to them, whether religious, philosophic, or social, to be agreeable, to be consistent with their conceptions, to satisfy their inclinations, in fact that they find themselves in them, and that they feel themselves approved by them."
From the introduction in "The Secret Oral Teachings in Tibetan Buddhist Sects" , by Alexandra David-Neel & Lama Yongden
This is a good collection to look at in investing in.
-with metta
>However, aside from this I don't see myself making more progress. What I mean is I'm now trying to learn the four noble truths and the eightfold path but I don't know how to embody those practices. I'm just going to ask if you guys could give me some advice so that I could have some idea on where to go next.
You might consider picking up a copy of What the Buddha Taught — it goes into much detail specifically about the four noble truths and noble eightfold path, with some historical context regarding how the tenets of the noble eightfold path were and/or are to be followed. It's not a long or difficult read, and most of the book is specifically about these topics in particular, as they are foundational to the Buddha's teachings.
Aside from that, I would mostly just recommend learning as much as you can about each part of the noble eightfold path, and try to think deeply about the ways your behavior matches or diverges from the intent behind each part, with the goal of identifying and adjusting those behaviors which don't yet match so well.
Don't forget that there's one today:
"Part of why I love Rhonda McGee's book, "The Inner Work of Racial Justice," is the contemplative practices she shares. Many of these practices are designed to help us connect with our shared humanity, as a way to develop compassion for ourselves and others and to see beyond racial otherness. And these practices are for each of us, regardless of how we have been racialized. When the SBA Practice Circle meets again this Sunday, November 24, at 8 p.m. Central, we'll give some of these practices a try. Practice Circle is our online practice community that meets the second and fourth Sundays of each month. It's free, and everyone is invited. Just click this link on Sunday night. https://zoom.us/j/968569855 "
What does it matter what you call yourself? My view is secular but I call myself Buddhist because I want to honor the man who figured this out 2,500 years ago. The teachings of Buddha picked up some of the supernatural ideas that were already in existence at that time (reincarnation, karma), but basically he taught about how the human brain creates suffering and a practice for relieving it, one that generates peace and brings people together. No magic required. I have just published the book, Buddhism in Simple English: the essence of the wisdom on Amazon(Kindle & paperback)https://www.amazon.com/Buddhism-Simple-English-essense-wisdom/dp/B08WYDVMH8/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=buddhism+in+simple+english&qid=1615245142&s=books&sr=1-3 and NO, this is not a barefaced promotional comment. The last years of my life are being spent helping folks find freedom from the unpleasant things their own brain does and it is someone like you that I wrote this book for. However you decide to proceed, I wish you peace and liberation.
Mindfulness for Health (US Title: You Are Not Your Pain), by Vidyamala Burch & Danny Penman. An 8-week programme on mindfulness & compassion practices for chronic pain, long-term health problems, and the like: https://www.amazon.com/You-Are-Your-Pain-Well-Being/dp/125005267X/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=you+are+not+your+pain&qid=1603469471&sr=8-1
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Hope you're doing alright :)
The Miracle of Mindfulness is a great book by TNH.
Other than that, the most important thing that you can do regarding secular Buddhism, spirituality, or just bettering yourself would be to begin a meditation practice (if you have not already done so) where you meditate at least twice a day.
Meditate once in the morning, once in the evening.
At first it might be uncomfortable but soon it will be something that calms your mind. As Ajahn Brahm has said, after a meditation sit ask your mind, "does my mind feel more at ease now?" the answer is almost always a resounding yes once you are comfortable meditating and have established it as a part of your daily routine.
It has also been taught by the Buddha and other spirituality religions that through meditation alone one will inevitable reach full awakening/enlightenment at one point so belief in dogma or doctrine is unnecessary.
So in essence, the most important thing is having a strong meditation practice and practicing mindfulness. Whether you consider yourself a secular Buddhist, a Zen Monk, a Hindu, or a Christian makes no difference in reaching the end goal so my advice is to not to get too caught up and trapped in the labels and belief systems without self investigation.
Best of luck!
Ya know, I can't even remember how I first learned about Buddhism? It's been a long and strange road, gaining a smattering of knowledge here, and a bit there. My path started with discovering the mystic side of Christianity, the Gnostics, etc., along with a fascination in quantum physics, astrophysics, and neurobiology. I'm a traveler, so I've been to a wide variety of temples and meditation centers, I've read a ton of books, heard a lot of lectures, etc.
Though I can't really tell you where I first stumbled across Buddhism, I later found Zen Buddhism through Alan Watts (you can find his lectures on youtube) which led me to Shunryū Suzuki (his book Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind is excellent), and recognized that their teachings ran pretty parallel to what I already perceived as truth.
I am in no way a traditionalist, so I encourage you to continue posing these questions to others in order to get their take on it, too. My only advice, however, is to be aware of when and where the point is getting lost in the dogmatic traditions. Each one of us has their own path to realizing nirvana. Buddhism is supposed to be a guide, one path out of many, not a set of requirements. "Commandments" and obligations will only lead to frustrations and resentment. You should always feel free to have your own interpretations. Seeing that we're on /r/secularbuddhism, I'm assuming that won't be a problem for you, but I thought it worth mentioning. :)
And yes, pronouns (and language in itself) are in general a bit silly. Haha. Once you recognize that the universe is a culmination of events, and that there really is no such happening as a "noun", and that everything is simply "verb"ing all the time, it can create a sense of futility in trying to communicate linguistically.
Welcome from a fellow (lifelong) atheist! As far as what secular Buddhism is, I recommend checking out Stephen Batchelor's work as he's sort of the "founding father" of secular Buddhism. I also recommend the Mind Illuminated by Upasaka Culadasa as a great meditation manual. Culadasa is from a lineage that blends Theravada and Tibetan Vajrayana and has a background in neuroscience, so blends the best of the east and west (the Science of Enlightenment by Shinzen Young is excellent for similar reasons). Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha by Arhat Daniel Ingram is also excellent coming from the Pragmatic Dharma tradition. It should be noted that, though both Culadasa and Ingram reject Buddhist metaphysics as anything supernatural, they both disagree with Batchelor in believing that enlightenment is a very real thing that anyone can acheive in this life. Culadasa's book takes you from the very beginning of establishing a practice to that end goal. All three do agree, however, that Buddhism is a PRACTICE not a set of beliefs, though they interpret that practice a bit differently.
As far as what secular Buddhism is, I recommend checking out Stephen Batchelor's work as he's sort of the "founding father" of secular Buddhism. I also recommend the Mind Illuminated by Upasaka Culadasa as a great meditation manual. Culadasa is from a lineage that blends Theravada and Tibetan Vajrayana and has a background in neuroscience, so blends the best of the east and west (the Science of Enlightenment by Shinzen Young is excellent for similar reasons). Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha by Arhat Daniel Ingram is also excellent coming from the Pragmatic Dharma tradition. It should be noted that, though both Culadasa and Ingram reject Buddhist metaphysics as anything supernatural, they both disagree with Batchelor in believing that enlightenment is a very real thing that anyone can acheive in this life. Culadasa's book takes you from the very beginning of establishing a practice to that end goal. All three do agree, however, that Buddhism is a PRACTICE not a set of beliefs, though they interpret that practice a bit differently.
There's a sort of looking exercise that people use to highlight this. When people say "self," they often mean "soul." Buddhism means no soul more than no self.
Where are "You"? Your body? So if you lose an arm, you're not you any more? Your mind? So if you had a stroke are you not you anymore?
Your likes and dislikes change over time. Your views about spirituality change over time.
I took the precepts in a Chan temple in Auburn Alabama of all places and they gave me the name "Dao Heng," which the Sifu said was Chinese for "persistence" or "forever." His exact words were "You are young: Buddhist today, Christian tomorrow." He meant to encourage me to stick with Buddhism rather than flitting this way and that.
So which one would be the real me? You are a victim of your genetics, your upbringing, the country you were lucky enough to be born in, the things you read and watched and heard.
A table exists in that my feet are up on something called a table, but really it's just a shape of wood. It's just a bit of a dead tree. This is where that whole "we are made of stars" cliche comes in.
The ONLY thing that remains constant is that you are conscious.
I recommend Waking Up by Sam Harris for a good secular explanation of this.
For me, Mindfulness in Plain English by Bhante G. and Breath by Breath by Larry Rosenberg have been great explanations of what practice can do for you without resorting to mystical or metaphysical explanations.
Hey. As mentioned before, there are some different traditions so depending on your flavor of choice, there can be some minor differences. I tend to come from a Theravada approach. For me, the best intro book to Buddhism was "What the Buddha Taught" by W. Rahula (https://www.amazon.com/What-Buddha-Taught-Expanded-Dhammapada/dp/0802130313). For an online resource, my go to is Access to Insight: http://www.accesstoinsight.org/
Hope those help.
Peace,
-Dave
"Buddhism Without Beliefs" by Stephen Batchelor might be exactly what you're looking for. It explores core Buddhist teachings from a non-theistic point of view.
The author's own point of view springs from having spent years in theistic Buddhist practices, then becoming agnostic himself.
I read it many years ago when I was on a similar journey, enjoyed it, and have recommended it many times since. Don't let its size fool you - it's small, but packed with things to wrap your brain around.