Our Program
We are a Buddhist-based 12 Step organization blending the wisdom of 12 Step programs with the wisdom of Buddhist teachings. The result is a practice of recovery that is secular in nature while adhering to the behavioral tenets of 12-Step: Unity, Service, and Recovery.
Raft Recovery was founded by people in recovery who discovered that working a 12-Step program alongside a secular Buddhist practice created a powerful foundation for change. The accountability and community of the 12 Steps, combined with the Buddha’s teachings (the Four Noble Truths, the Eightfold Path, and the Brahmaviharas) offer a practical, grounded way to deepen our recovery.
Together, these traditions help us reduce suffering, increase our usefulness to others, and cultivate a more satisfying and meaningful life.
How Does Buddhism Fit with the 12 Steps? #
At their core, both Buddhism and the 12 Steps share a common insight: for years we have tried to change our environment to suit our needs, and for years, it hasn’t worked. The real transformation lies not in reshaping the world around us, but in changing our relationship to it. Both traditions ask us to shift our attitude toward what is, rather than endlessly struggling against it.
They approach this insight in different, yet deeply complementary ways.
In the 12 Steps, this shift happens through honest self-examination. The Fourth, Fifth, and Tenth Steps invite us to look clearly at our resentments, fears, and patterns, not to condemn ourselves, but to see them plainly. The Sixth and Seventh Steps ask us to become genuinely willing to let those patterns go, cultivating an openness to change that goes deeper than willpower alone.
In Buddhism, the same work unfolds through meditation and the Eightfold Path. Meditation trains us to observe our thoughts and reactions without being controlled by them. The Eightfold Path provides a practical framework for living with integrity: right understanding, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration. Following it reduces harm and cultivates wisdom along the way.
A Path for Those Who Struggle with the God Concept #
Many people who come to 12-Step recovery find themselves at odds with its theistic language. For those who have difficulty with the concept of a personal God or a higher power, a secular Buddhist approach can fill those gaps naturally and with integrity.
The Three Jewels of Buddhism (the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha) offer a meaningful parallel to the “higher power” of the 12 Steps. Rather than placing faith in a supernatural being, we place our trust in the wisdom of the teachings, the support of our community, and the capacity for awakening that is present in every human being.
The concept of Buddha Nature, the innate clarity and goodness that exists in each of us beneath the noise of craving and aversion, serves as a natural, non-theistic counterpart to “God’s will.” Rather than looking outside ourselves for direction, we learn to trust the wiser, more settled part of our own nature.
We have found, as many others have, that this combination is not a compromise. It is a deepening. A non-theistic 12-Step practice that fits our worldview, honors the original structure and community of the program, and strengthens our recovery through some of the oldest and most tested teachings on the nature of suffering and the possibility of freedom.