The Buddha's criteria for regarding a statement as valid; a pragmatic view of the dharma; the "all" is equivalent to "experience" or "life" -- no need of metaphysical realities; supportive quote by Lucretius; awakening to the delight, tragedy and emancipation of life.

Meaning of the term "namarupa" in Upanishads and early Buddhism; the Buddha's critique of an unconditioned consciousness; the interdependence of namarupa and consciousness like two sheaves of reeds.

Definition of dukkha; dukkha and pleasure; "fully understanding" dukkha; the Buddha and Nagarjuna's understanding of the five bundles as not self; definition of tanha (craving); clinging and narcissism.

Insight into conditionality as the core of the Buddha's awakening; reading of and reflection on the first discourse; the process of the four: embracing dukkha, letting go of craving, experiencing the stopping of craving, cultivating the path.

Reflections on the demonic: what rises up and limits us on the path; Mara and Namuci; the parable of the crow and the piece of rock as an alternative metaphor of freedom; the Buddha's response to Mara who appears as a farmer.

Negative capability; the ambiguous nature of self; self as process; foundations of ethics; Buddha and the sick monk; definitions of stream entry: as lucid confidence, as freedom from perplexity, as abandoning three fetters; the lay sangha.

A definition of the term "Secular Buddhism;" a practice-based rather than belief-based form of the dharma; concern with human flourishing in this life; links with the Hellenistic philosophies of Pyrrho and Epicurus.

The Pali Canon as a user's manual for this life; reconfiguring the core elements of the dharma; problems with the term "truth;" rewriting the operating system of Buddhism: from Buddhism 1.0 to Buddhism 2.0; the post-metaphysical practice of the four noble tasks; the acronym ELSA.

The four P's: principle of conditionality, process of the four tasks, practice of mindfulness, power of self-reliance; ELSA as a framework for living; the city as a key metaphor of Secular Buddhism; emergence of a secular sangha based on friendships that support self-reliance.