Doug's Dharma: What is 'solitude'?

Solitude: Its advantages and drawbacks in Buddhist practice

(Doug's Dharma) June 9, 2025: The Buddha praised solitude [well undertaken as temporary withdrawal, mental seclusion, peaceful isolation, private intensive meditation, accompanied by piti from samma-samadhi] as highly beneficial.

• 00:00 Intro
• 00:48 The benefits of solitude
• 04:26 Dangers of solitude
• 07:06 Finding the balance
• 10:07 Cultivating solitude in lay life
• 11:47 Buddha's wisdom on solitude

He also warned of its dangers [when not well undertaken, done without the jhanas, the meditative absorptions, "right concentration," the stabilizing inner-stillness of samadhi].

How can we best balance solitude and community in our practice? How can we cultivate solitude [mental seclusion, temporary withdrawal] even in our busy everyday lives?

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Do God or gods exist?

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✅ Videos mentioned:

• Superiority of Solitude in Early Buddhism: The Rhinoceros Sutta
• Striking A Balance: Finding The Middle Way in Buddhism
• Is Meditation Dangerous?

✅ Sutras mentioned:

• suttacentral.net/mn122/en/sujato
• suttacentral.net/an10.99/en/s...
• suttacentral.net/sn45.2/en/su...

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• Dr. Doug Smith, Doug's Dharma, onlinedharma.org, June 9, 2025; Seth Auberon, Sheldon S. (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly