Stephen Batchelor

Stephen Batchelor is a teacher and writer known for his secular or agnostic approach to Buddhism. His books include Secular Buddhism: Imagining the Dharma in an Uncertain World and After Buddhism: Rethinking the Dharma for a Secular Age. He teaches several online courses with Tricycle, including Secular Dharma and The Four Noble Truths.

Magazine Society & Environment

Embracing Extinction

Will Buddhism change to face humanity’s impending peril?

By Stephen Batchelor

Fall 2020

Trike Daily Meditation & Practice

Waiting for Something to Happen

How a listening practice can help us let go of our preconceived notions of what’s supposed to happen to us during meditation.

By Stephen Batchelor

Mar 17, 2020

Magazine Personal Reflections

The Art of Solitude

The challenges and rewards of being alone

By Stephen Batchelor

Spring 2020

Trike Daily Teachings

When to Let Go of the Dharma, Too

A secular Buddhist teacher considers the parable of the raft and how once helpful things can become a burden instead.

By Stephen Batchelor

Sep 24, 2019

Trike Daily Meditation & Practice

What Mindfulness Is Not

As interest in mindfulness booms, four Buddhist teachers discuss the history and meaning of the term and how it can get distorted in the popular imagination.

A conversation with Stephen Batchelor, Christina Feldman, Akincano M. Weber, and John Peacock

Sep 17, 2018

Trike Daily

Dropping the Bodhisattva Gods

In this excerpt from his latest book, secular Buddhist Stephen Batchelor explains why he traded magical thinking for a more historical—and human—understanding of the dharma.

By Stephen Batchelor

Jun 13, 2018

16th century Tibetan painting of mahasiddhas

Magazine Personal Reflections

Why I Quit Guru Yoga

Does elevating the guru to the same status as the teachings themselves set the stage for teacher-student abuse?

By Stephen Batchelor

Winter 2017

bodhi college teachers Stephen Batchelor, Christina Feldman, and Akincano M. Weber

Magazine

Understand, Realize, Give Up, Develop

Three contemporary Buddhist teachers discuss their take on what’s traditionally known as “the four noble truths”: why they believe the term has been mistranslated and the concepts behind it misunderstood.

A conversation with Stephen Batchelor, Christina Feldman, and Akincano M. Weber

Fall 2017