Can Buddhism sur­vive and thrive in a consumerist, materialist world?

Vidyamala explores two oppos­ite pos­i­tions that can be taken in response to this ques­tion

One can be ‘lib­eral’ and try to change Buddhism to align with pop­u­lar val­ues in soci­ety, or ‘con­ser­vat­ive’ and try to change soci­ety to align with tra­di­tional Buddhist values.

Is there a middle way between these two extremes, where Buddhism is dynamic, access­ible and attract­ive and yet remains true to the uncom­prom­ising and rad­ical teach­ings of the Buddha?

Vidyamala draws on her exper­i­ence of teach­ing both ‘hard core’ Buddhism on the one hand and sec­u­lar mind­ful­ness on the other, in vari­ous coun­tries and cul­tural con­texts,

Talk given at Manchester Buddhist Centre on 28th May 2011, as part of a series of free public talks: Buddhism and the Big Questions