Secular Buddhist Podcast - Jundo - Religious-Secular Buddhism: The Best of All Worlds

[Tomás ESP]

I know Batchelor has a lot of critics but I feel like I would have never gone down the Buddhist path without reading his books a few years ago. He made me feel like I can practice Buddhist ideas but not have to believe in a lot of of the superstitions to do so. It was his direct and clear voice around these subjects that caught my attention and made me curious enough to start looking into Buddhist ideas more where many other Buddhists, who are also skeptical, seemed to be a lot more indirect and unclear when talking about them. That was just my perception then and aren't saying either way is better than the other, just spoke to me personally more.

Gassho
Ross
stlah

Same! And props to him, he really tried going down different traditional paths, being a Tibetan monk and then Korean Zen monk for many years. He has written some very helpful books, though sometimes his interpretations of teachings from the Pali Canon are a bit strange.

Gassho, Tomás
Sat&LaH

[Jundo]

I know Batchelor has a lot of critics but I feel like I would have never gone down the Buddhist path without reading his books a few years ago. He made me feel like I can practice Buddhist ideas but not have to believe in a lot of of the superstitions to do so. It was his direct and clear voice around these subjects that caught my attention and made me curious enough to start looking into Buddhist ideas more where many other Buddhists, who are also skeptical, seemed to be a lot more indirect and unclear when talking about them. ...

Oh, for me too. As I am someone who is skeptical about (agnostic, open to any possibility, but very skeptical to the point of not believing) overly detailed and fantastical descriptions of processes of rebirth, his perspectives were a breath of fresh air. There are many strange beliefs in Buddhism, including in Zen Buddhism, that I personally feel are doubtful and which we can do without (I am not much for reciting magical Dharani to prevent plague and earthquakes.)

That said, I think that he has proceeded to bulldoze through many wonderful aspects of Buddhism, Mahayana Buddhism and Zen that do not deserve to be ignored, and which deprive the path of so much treasure. For example, despite being a Zen priest, he seems tone deaf to "emptiness" and the experience of the self-transcendent wholeness of reality which is at the heart of Zen. He seems to discount anything that smacks of a self-dropping "mystical" experience (even though such experiences are perfectly consistent even with modern scientific views of our relationship to the rest of the universe), so turns Buddhism into a largely ethical practice. Then, he tries to argue that his interpretation is "original" Buddhism, which is itself a kind of fundamentalism. It is a shame that he goes overboard.

Gassho, J

STLah

[Houzan]

Great episode. And interesting thread. Thank you all [emoji120]

Gassho, Michael
Satlah