STEPHEN BATCHELOR
Buddhism Beyond Beliefs:
An Agnostic Perspective on Buddhist Thought and Practice
Course ID: | TTT-03 |
Original Dates: | 11/23, 11/30, 12/7, 12/14 (2005) |
Archived Content: | MP3 (digital audio file) recordings / PDF transcripts | Price: | $60.00 |
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Course Description:
These four lectures will present a critical exploration of key Buddhist teachings in the light of contemporary secular culture. We will examine doctrines such as the four noble truths, karma, rebirth and emptiness, as well as practices such as mindful awareness and Zen. Throughout, the emphasis will be on developing a healthy scepticism towards received wisdom and a personal commitment to embodying what the Buddha taught in the world as it is today.
Course Overview:
Session One: Awakening to the Four Ennobling Truths
This reflection on the fourfold content of the Buddha’s awakening will present these foundational teachings as injunctions to act rather than as propositions to believe: Fully know suffering; let go of grasping; experience cessation; create a path. [Reading: Buddhism without Beliefs: Awakening, pp. 3-13]
Session Two: Karma and Rebirth
Since both these doctrines were already current in India at the Buddha’s time, they are not exclusively Buddhist teachings. To what extent do they simply reflect the worldview of ancient India, and to what extent are they still valid for Buddhist practice in the modern world? The beginnings of an agnostic perspective on the Dharma. [Reading: Buddhism without Beliefs: Agnosticism, pp. 14-20, Rebirth, pp. 34-38]
Session Three: Emptiness is Letting Go of Opinions
An exploration of what lies at the heart of the Buddhist experience of liberating insight. Drawing on early canonical texts, the philosophy of Nagarjuna and the teachings of Tsongkhapa, we will seek to illuminate the key Buddhist ideas of no-self and emptiness in a critical but pragmatic way. [Reading: Verses from the Center: Intuitions of the Sublime, pp. 1-80]
Session Four: Buddha and Mara
Although the Buddha is said to have conquered Mara (the devil, the demonic) on attaining awakening, that does not prevent Mara from interacting with Buddha after the awakening. Rather than thinking of Mara as an evil power that has to be destroyed, we will consider it as a way of speaking about whatever limits our experience, psychologically, physically, or socially. This concluding lecture will incorporate materials from the previous sessions into an integrated, non-dual vision of how each moment of life is an opportunity to manifest either one’s buddha-nature or mara-nature. [Reading: Living with the Devil]
Recommended Readings:
Batchelor, Stephen. Buddhism Without Beliefs. New York: Riverhead Trade, 1998.
Batchelor, Stephen. Living with the Devil: A Meditation on Good and Evil. New York: Riverhead Books, 2004.
Batchelor, Stephen. Verses from the Center: A Buddhist Vision of the Sublime. New York: Riverhead Trade, 2001.
Teacher Bio:
Stephen Batchelor was a Buddhist monk for ten years in both the Tibetan Geluk and Korean Choggye orders. He is the co-founder of the Sharpham College for Buddhist Studies, a member of the teaching council at Gaia House Meditation Centre, and a contributing editor to Tricycle. He has translated and written numerous works on Buddhism. His most recent publication is Living with the Devil: A Meditation on Good and Evil (Riverhead). He lives in France and teaches worldwide.
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