Buddhism may need a Plan B

The latest Buddhist Geeks podcast is an interview with Zen teacher Norman Fischer who argues in favour of secular and therapeutic expressions of Buddhist wisdom, such as Jon Kabat-Zinn's Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction. This obviouly ties in closely with what I was discussing in my recent posting Mindfulness Based Therapy and Buddhism

As Buddhism transitions to the West, we see that it is doing so in a couple different ways. Some forms look more like their original Asian roots, while others are secular and non-Religious in their presentation. Zen teacher Norman Fischer, an early 2nd generation teacher in the lineage of Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, calls the more traditional forms part of "Plan A" and the more secular forms, "Plan B."

In this interview we discuss with Norman the importance of Plan B approaches, like Jon Kabat-Zinn's Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction. We also discuss his personal experience teaching Plan B at places like Google. Finally, we explore how the livelihood of trained and competent meditation teachers may relay heavily on Plan B approaches.

For anyone who isn't already a subscriber to Buddhist Geeks - I thoroughly recommend it.