The Culture of Awakening Project is an ongoing exploration of the Buddha's teachings from a socioculltural perspective. Given the naturalistic method of my research, this exploration engages a lot of scholarly disciplines besides Buddhist studies, including linguistics, sociology, anthropology, evolutionary science, primatology, philosophical ethics, social psychology and others. The claims made here are provisional; some are likely to be revised as the exploration proceeds, until the results are published. Please visit me at cintita.org to participate in discussion.

The present talk introduces the Buddhist practice of "purifying the mind," and compares it to the ethics of Aristotle and Confucius as a practice of acquiring the "skill of virtue." We look at human nature as a dualism, the "inner chimp" and the "inner human." The latter is hyper-social and cooperative, almost bee-like (arguments for this in future episodes).

This is the fifth talk delivered by Bhikkhu Cintita at the Satipatthana Rethought retreat held at the American Bodhi Center in Hemstead, Texas, May 24-27.

This is the fourth talk delivered by Bhikkhu Cintita at the Satipatthana Rethought retreat held at the American Bodhi Center in Hemstead, Texas, May 24-27.

This is the third talk delivered by Bhikkhu Cintita at the Satipatthana Rethought retreat held at the American Bodhi Center in Hemstead, Texas, May 24-27.

This is the second talk delivered by Bhikkhu Cintita at the Satipatthana Rethought retreat held at the American Bodhi Center in Hemstead, Texas, May 24-27.

This is the first talk delivered by Bhikkhu Cintita at the Satipatthana Rethought retreat held at the American Bodhi Center in Hemstead, Texas, May 24-27.

Non-self is a practice more than it is a philosophical viewpoint. However, this practice begins with a conceptual investigation of the presumed experiential manifestations of the constructed self. (February 16, 2024)