Stephen Batchelor
 

Anyone here familiar with the writings of Stephen Batchelor? I quite like the guy, not least because he calls himself Stephen Batchelor and not some eastern sounding name like........not mentioning names.:smile:

I actually like his agnostic attitude towards certain "doctrines" favoured by many in the Buddhist community. I like his secular approach.

A short example of Mr Batchelor's writing:-

Dharma (Buddhist) practice requires the courage to confront what it means to be human. All the pictures we entertain of heaven and hell or cycles of rebirth serve to replace the unknown with an image of what is already known. To cling to the idea of rebirth can deaden questioning.

Failure to summon forth the courage to risk a nondogmatic and nonevasive stance on such crucial existential matters can also blur our ethical vision. If our actions in the world are to stem from an encounter with what is central in life, they must be unclouded by either dogma or prevarication. Agnosticism is no excuse for indecision. If anything, it is a catalyst for action; for in shifting concern away from a future life back to the present, it demands an ethics of empathy rather than a metaphysics of hope and fear.

Waffling on, I find it fascinating to learn of the history of Buddhism, of its movement into various countries of diverse cultures and already deeply grounded belief systems.

This has given rise to such as Ch'an and the various Japanese forms, zen and Pure Land.

Possibly some would argue that there is a "fundamental Dharma" beneath the variations, thus the Dharma would be the sole thing in existence with an unchanging essence!! Others might see Theravada as "authentic". Plenty of opinions, all to the good.

Now the Dharma has come west and given the time it took in other areas to settle into a new expression, we can wonder (or not) how it will morph and change here. Too soon to tell.

Obviously as practicing Buddhists we cannot afford to wait and see. Now is the hour! As Dogen said, as he asked his own questions and sought his own time and place:-

“Therefore, if there are fish that would swim or birds that would fly only after investigating the entire ocean or sky, they would find neither path nor place.”

As I see it, Stephen Batchelor is just one part of the coming of the Dharma to the West.

Everyone says Batchelor never got to his master thesis :tongue:

???

Oh now is the hour...

Do not look for a sanctuary in anyone except your self. The past is already gone, the future is not yet here and there's only one moment for you to live, and that is the present moment. Buddha

Exactly, Mind-Full-Ness....

I understand how we can turn our entire life into a succession of anticipations and epitaphs, and mindfulness of the present moment is good, but my "sanctuary" has too often been the support given by others, and is still, for me to discount it. "Looking for it" is another matter.

I must say I find any constant emphasis on the "self" just a little bit claustrophobic. I'm sure its not meant to be. Maybe it just gets mixed up with "mind"........"Whoever told people that ‘Mind’ means thoughts, opinions, ideas and concepts? Mind means trees, fence posts, tiles and grasses.” (Dogen) ......and another master said:- "if consciousness is confined to the skull, how can joy exist? "

Not-self (anatta) is there to be understood.

"Everyone"? It's certainly not mentioned on his website.....:biggrin:

It must be! Like in big capital letters BATCHELOR!
Unless he hides his real name!

Oh, I missed the joke!

:redface: