Stephen Batchelor at New York Insight March 3, 2010
Posted by Philip Ryan in : Buddhism , trackback
Book Launch hosted by Tricycle and New York Insight: Confession of a Buddhist Atheist
Stephen Batchelor at New York Insight Meditation Center
Thursday, March 4, 2010 - 7 p.m.-9 p.m.
Stephen’s new book Confession of a Buddhist Atheist tells the story of his thirty-seven-year quest to understand the meaning of Buddhism. It recounts his life as a monk in India and Korea and concludes with his search to discover the historical Buddha. Stephen will talk about the writing of the book and read selected passages.
Stephen Batchelor was a Buddhist monk in the Tibetan and Zen traditions. Known for his secular and agnostic approach, he teaches Buddhist meditation and philosophy worldwide. Author of the bestselling Buddhism Without Beliefs, his most recent publication is Confession of a Buddhist Atheist. Read more at stephenbatchelor.org
The registration fee for this event is $25. Register here.
Comments»
I’ll confess I haven’t read his new book yet, but Batchelor’s approach to Buddhism sounds quite similar to the work of Christian progressives such as John Crossan and Marcus Borg in rediscovering the historical Jesus and placing his life and ministry in that context. Approaching my own Zen Buddhist practice from a progressive Christian background, Batchelor’s approach seems much less radical to me than it might to more traditional Buddhist practitioners. I feel, in many ways, like it’s something I’ve heard before.
I’m about a quarter of the way through the book, and enjoying it so far. The ideas are largely restatements of those in his earlier books, but it’s fascinating to see how they arose from his life experiences and his struggles to accept (and ultimately reject) Tibetan orthodoxy. I’m very glad Batchelor has the courage to use the “A” word on the cover–it should embolden those of us who believe that not only is metaphysics NOT an essential part of Buddhism, but that beliefs like reincarnation and afterlife karma are inimical to core Buddhist concepts such as impermanance and emptiness, and must be rejected if Buddhism is to survive in the West. I hope while he’s here Batchelor will take some steps to help create a community of like believers who can share their practice together.
This is a complete mistake. This book has arisen from Batchelor’s doubts and wrong views regarding Buddha’s teachings. Agnostic Buddhism is not Buddhism, pure and simple - it’s ‘Buddhism’ without a point, ‘Buddhism’ with the heart torn out of it.
You cannot take away the concepts of rebirth and karma from Buddha’s teachings and still be left with anything meaningful. The whole point of Buddha’s teachings is to liberate us from suffering and if you refuse to recognise samsara, then you don’t have a purpose for practising those teachings. Both the Theravada and Mahayana teachings aim to either release oneself or others from samsara - without samsara, the creation of contaminated karma, what reason is there to practise meditation? You’re not trying to attain release from anything. Meditation on emptiness has no purpose - it’s like firing a gun at a target, but you don’t even know where the target it!! It just becomes another new-agey method of finding temporary happiness in this life and will bring no end to suffering.
My advice is to follow genuine Buddhist masters and traditions that can lead to actual liberation and enlightenment.
Bill, I would respecfully ask that you read Batchelor. He does not pull his ideas out of speculation, but documents them with a close reading of the Pali canon. You will see that he doesn’t refuse to recognize samsara — he locates it where the Buddha did, in the context of dependent arising and the Four Noble Truths. Nor does he reject karma, but acknowledges it as the condition of the self we create through our actions and intentions, rather than as a magic bank account of merit. Meditation’s purpose is to see deeply into our lived experience in order to recognize its contingency and impermanance — not to be “released” from the reality of life and death. For myself, I am less concerned with “being a Buddhist” than with exploring an approach to confronting the existential challenges of life without retreating to the dubious comforts of metaphysical dogma. I do not wish to exchange ancient Western superstitions for ancient Asian ones.
I have only read some interviews with Batchelor and enjoyed those. But I dont get the motivation for this “atheistic” word. Agnostic made sense–we dont know– but atheistic assumes we or he does know. He is not the only person who has read/ studied the canon or has practiced for many years or has studied western science and philosphy and has come up with a less severe conclusion. Also there is a good deal of data on mystical and near death experience that serious people find might be significant. So again what is the motivation-that Buddha was just a good guy telling us that ultimatley life is a meaningless accident but we should love each other anyway with a little meditation thrown in. Richard Dawkins says the same thing without the trouble to meditate.
ugg for cheap,
.haha..after a second reading it strikes me that Batchelor is a typical intellectual malcontent. Too much determination & labor in his points, that recalls the political side of faith in whatever form one espouses them. No doubt composure, albeit a begrudging type, exists too in his ” steel “. Of course I have a personal method of assessing this & i could be nothing short of a semi- spiritual schmuck when everything else is put aside but his work comes across more & more as a semiotic Buddhism, as if his Buddhism was predominantly for the mind. Not enough trace of that intuitive compassion inherent in works of those i find a little more ” knowing. “. Nothing all too new there at all. Brave i’d say in the face of certain traditions, but more eager to teach then to offer. That he tried to savor the tibetan approach first means to me his gleanings at that age were a pretty standard type..the need to be spoonfed is part of it. The Japanese from the bare bones perspective always had the better alternative. anyway i’ll excuse myself with older words from an ancient. all this is of course is my half sleepy Thursday morning opinion. And when Buddhism suffers the delusion of the significance of east & west we may as well grow trees without roots & pluck our eyes out for the flowers. anyway…
” We must know that it is not enough just to see what the Mind is, we must put into practice all that makes it up in our daily life. We may talk about it glibly, we may write books to explain it, but that is far from being enough. However much we may talk about water and describe it quite intelligently, that does not make it real water. So with fire. Mere talking of it will not make the mouth burn. To know what they are means to experience them in actual concreteness. A book on cooking will not cure our hunger. To feel satisfied we must have actual food. So long as we do not go beyond mere talking, we are not true knowers. ”
Takuan Soho (1573 - ?)…
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