Linda Blanchard
@nowheat.bsky.social
Buddhist with an interest in the earliest texts. Author of "Dependent Arising In Context" and a few papers in the OCBS Journal. Also: progressive, celiac, parent of two grown kids, owned by three cats, a dog & a horse. Buddhist writings: @skepticalbuddhism
An end to suffering? Surely it's optimistic.
October 12, 2025 at 11:06 PM
An end to suffering? Surely it's optimistic.
3/ Anyone know who is doing the work of keeping up the Secular Buddhist Network site?
May 26, 2025 at 10:40 AM
3/ Anyone know who is doing the work of keeping up the Secular Buddhist Network site?
2/ In its heyday it had a lively forum, Ted Meissner's deep interviews with secular types and even non-secular bright thinkers, and many articles, including mine (now disappeared into the ether). I'm grateful they saved one of my posts on Dependent Arising though, and list my book as worth reading.
May 26, 2025 at 10:40 AM
2/ In its heyday it had a lively forum, Ted Meissner's deep interviews with secular types and even non-secular bright thinkers, and many articles, including mine (now disappeared into the ether). I'm grateful they saved one of my posts on Dependent Arising though, and list my book as worth reading.
16/ I hope you'll stick with me, even though sometimes it takes me a while. I end up working to get about the next three or four interconnected threads finished before posting the first in a set.
May 6, 2025 at 3:45 AM
16/ I hope you'll stick with me, even though sometimes it takes me a while. I end up working to get about the next three or four interconnected threads finished before posting the first in a set.
15/ Overall, what I'm saying the Buddha taught is not all that different from what the teachers we have, and those in the past whose work we still have access to, have said. Though there is some, enough to make me a bit of a heretic. Another small paradigm shift, to a more secular understanding.
May 6, 2025 at 3:45 AM
15/ Overall, what I'm saying the Buddha taught is not all that different from what the teachers we have, and those in the past whose work we still have access to, have said. Though there is some, enough to make me a bit of a heretic. Another small paradigm shift, to a more secular understanding.
14/ Anyway, I will keep on because seeing what the Buddha put into the structure he built, the care, the amount of thought, a life-long effort that is so impressive, I feel responsible to him to see if anyone else can see it if I take the time to, first, show the evidence, then finally, the scope.
May 6, 2025 at 3:45 AM
14/ Anyway, I will keep on because seeing what the Buddha put into the structure he built, the care, the amount of thought, a life-long effort that is so impressive, I feel responsible to him to see if anyone else can see it if I take the time to, first, show the evidence, then finally, the scope.
13/ I don't know you folks. Bluesky seems a cold and sterile place to me because there is so little interaction. It's not that I need praise or ego-boosting, not at all, but it's difficult to tell even something as simple as whether I should hustle to get a post out every few days, or take my time.
May 6, 2025 at 3:45 AM
13/ I don't know you folks. Bluesky seems a cold and sterile place to me because there is so little interaction. It's not that I need praise or ego-boosting, not at all, but it's difficult to tell even something as simple as whether I should hustle to get a post out every few days, or take my time.
12/ I'm not confident my readers will stick with me through delays, and my slow accumulation of details and connections. I'm not sure I'm going to be able to make the richness of the structure the Buddha put together clear enough for those who follow the teachings to be as impressed as I am.
May 6, 2025 at 3:45 AM
12/ I'm not confident my readers will stick with me through delays, and my slow accumulation of details and connections. I'm not sure I'm going to be able to make the richness of the structure the Buddha put together clear enough for those who follow the teachings to be as impressed as I am.
11/ Over on the Skeptical Buddhism account, at the moment I'm just trying to get enough background in place to explain why "contact" is a key point in the chain, and I keep finding more and more needs to be said first.
May 6, 2025 at 3:45 AM
11/ Over on the Skeptical Buddhism account, at the moment I'm just trying to get enough background in place to explain why "contact" is a key point in the chain, and I keep finding more and more needs to be said first.
10/ All of this by way of making yet another apology for the long pause between the last post on dependent arising and the next.
May 6, 2025 at 3:45 AM
10/ All of this by way of making yet another apology for the long pause between the last post on dependent arising and the next.
9/ Especially for my style of writing, which tends to be conversational, not academic; at length, not in brief; taking the time to try to explain the way this bit supports and illuminates that bit.
May 6, 2025 at 3:45 AM
9/ Especially for my style of writing, which tends to be conversational, not academic; at length, not in brief; taking the time to try to explain the way this bit supports and illuminates that bit.
8/ As is writing about all this in a way that is, ideally, accessible to the beginner, as well as useful to someone further along in their practice. It's challenging, especially for a writer of my bent, who feels the interconnecting of the pieces is part of the beauty of the Buddha's dharma.
May 6, 2025 at 3:45 AM
8/ As is writing about all this in a way that is, ideally, accessible to the beginner, as well as useful to someone further along in their practice. It's challenging, especially for a writer of my bent, who feels the interconnecting of the pieces is part of the beauty of the Buddha's dharma.
7/ But it's worth the effort.
May 6, 2025 at 3:45 AM
7/ But it's worth the effort.
6/ But as one on the path, it can be rough going at first. Initial reactions to concepts like "There is no self" are often rejected as not fitting our current understanding of the world. A paradigm shift is required, and it's usually not a comfortable one.
May 6, 2025 at 3:45 AM
6/ But as one on the path, it can be rough going at first. Initial reactions to concepts like "There is no self" are often rejected as not fitting our current understanding of the world. A paradigm shift is required, and it's usually not a comfortable one.
5/ This interdependence of each piece is part of the reason the dharma is good for the beginner, and the advanced, and the fully awakened practitioner. Each piece when barely understood is helpful, but as we connect them up, what we now see becomes clearer, and more helpful.
May 6, 2025 at 3:45 AM
5/ This interdependence of each piece is part of the reason the dharma is good for the beginner, and the advanced, and the fully awakened practitioner. Each piece when barely understood is helpful, but as we connect them up, what we now see becomes clearer, and more helpful.
4/ But perhaps the most incredible and, unfortunately, challenging aspect of his teachings is the way just about all the pieces are interconnected, and not just casually, but intimately, fundamentally. This is not news; it's been recognized for a long time.
May 6, 2025 at 3:45 AM
4/ But perhaps the most incredible and, unfortunately, challenging aspect of his teachings is the way just about all the pieces are interconnected, and not just casually, but intimately, fundamentally. This is not news; it's been recognized for a long time.
3/ One thing I've discovered, since taking a context-driven approach to understanding his teaching methods is the way that layering of meaning allowed him to live the dharma he expressed. I'm working on laying a foundation that will, I hope, allow me to show that.
May 6, 2025 at 3:45 AM
3/ One thing I've discovered, since taking a context-driven approach to understanding his teaching methods is the way that layering of meaning allowed him to live the dharma he expressed. I'm working on laying a foundation that will, I hope, allow me to show that.
2/ Another is his personal style of teaching: the way it evolved over time; the way he built it to have layers of meaning making it useful for newcomers just beginning to understand it, more useful with each deeper level of insight.
May 6, 2025 at 3:45 AM
2/ Another is his personal style of teaching: the way it evolved over time; the way he built it to have layers of meaning making it useful for newcomers just beginning to understand it, more useful with each deeper level of insight.
8/ “The Realized One does not declare such things for the sake of deceiving people or flattering them, nor for the benefit of possessions... Rather... When they hear that, they apply their minds to that end. That is for their lasting welfare and happiness."
March 15, 2025 at 5:26 AM
8/ “The Realized One does not declare such things for the sake of deceiving people or flattering them, nor for the benefit of possessions... Rather... When they hear that, they apply their minds to that end. That is for their lasting welfare and happiness."
7/ (From Sujato's translation) "What do you think, Anuruddha and friends? What advantage does the Realized One see in declaring the rebirth of his disciples who have passed away: ‘This one is reborn here, while that one is reborn there’?”
March 15, 2025 at 5:26 AM
7/ (From Sujato's translation) "What do you think, Anuruddha and friends? What advantage does the Realized One see in declaring the rebirth of his disciples who have passed away: ‘This one is reborn here, while that one is reborn there’?”
6/ He is very consistently answering questions as if he believes in, experienced, knows rebirth intimately, but every answer is perfectly aligned to 12-link DA as a metaphor of rebirth that points to something else entirely.
March 15, 2025 at 5:22 AM
6/ He is very consistently answering questions as if he believes in, experienced, knows rebirth intimately, but every answer is perfectly aligned to 12-link DA as a metaphor of rebirth that points to something else entirely.