[Todilrdc]

Yes a good question and the last few answers very interesting.

I describe myself as a secular buddhist because i am really not comfortable with anything of a supernatural nature and this is the only type of buddhism that seems to fit with a skeptical mind such i've got - although i think soto zen (I think its soto) is also fairly down to earth, though i find i get a bit uncomfortable with any tradition which includes cultural practices that are not from my own culture. I don't mind bowing to each other as a show of respect but i wouldn't like to bow to an alter. I also don't like holding a teacher on too high a pedestal as often happens in these traditions.

That said, i have a zen teacher and who is lovely and i go to his groups at a tibetan centre. When i look at the website of my tibetan centre its all about lineages and the teachers and nothing about buddhism or the dharma. I do not care about lineages. All traditions seem to make a big deal of lineages especially tibetan i think.

There are aspects that i like in each of the traditions but secular buddhism really fits the most comfortably with me. Stephen BAtchelor is one well known teacher and writer. John Peacock also does great podcasts on buddhism.

So you can mix it up if you have to, ie because you don't have a lot of choice in what's available around you. I find attending a centre imperative. YOu can learn so much that you can't really pick up from a book. Just little details that make your meditation go better.