Bhikkhu Bodhi’s “Towards an Integral Model of Buddhism”

In my last post I discussed the nature of models in Buddhism, both historically and today, and as a feature of basic human understanding and communication. Today I’m posting videos from the wonderful contemporary teacher, Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi, who discusses his own tentative “integral model” for understanding Buddhism.

This lecture was given to the board members and volunteers of Buddhist Global Relief during a Board Retreat. It is an early attempt by Ven. Bodhi to develop a model for understanding and practicing Buddhism suitable for the post-modern stage of mind’s evolution. A Domain Matika that illustrates the structure of realms and their interconnectness can be downloaded as a PDF. The lecture was given on April 10th, 2010, at Bodhi Monastery in Lafayette, NJ.

Bhikkhu Bodhi notes that his purpose isn’t a grand intellectual overview, but rather a grounding for practice, but I think the two are not mutually exclusive unless one simply forgets one for the other… As a wonderful teacher of mine, Anam Thubten, made clear in a funny story once: road maps are important if you plan on getting anywhere.