Secular Buddhism: Imagining the Dharma in an Uncertain World by Stephen Batchelor

Secular Buddhism: Imagining the Dharma in an Uncertain World Reviews

• 
  Shelley Schanfield

  Batchelor continues his exploration from other books (
  Buddhism without beliefs and
  Confession of a Buddhist atheist) on how to make the ancient system of Buddhist thought practical in the modern world. He is skilled at whittling the Buddha's teachings down to their essence and removing the 'religiosity' that sometimes obscures its utter usefulness.
  
  In earlier books, he documents his doubts about teachings on karma and rebirth in the Tibetan and Korean monastic traditions. He touches on them here only to say that despite his doubts, he found Buddhist practices such as generosity, tolerance, compassion, and so forth, were not only compatible with his "post-modern secular worldview" but enhanced it.
  
  A favorite quote that resonates with my own insights during meditation:
  "Meditation on impermanence, suffering and no-self, for example, did not—as the Buddha insisted it would —lead me to disenchantment, dispassion, and a resolve not to be born again but to an ever -deepening awareness of life's infinitely poignant beauty..." (p. 157)
• 
  Albert

  Batchelor's essays were just the tonic I needed at this juncture in what was becoming a somewhat lapsing practice. I think his notion that study can be a sustaining palliative to sitting is something I needed to hear, and his framing from the perspective of western culture clarifies some subtleties I might have missed or forgotten along the way.
• 
  Lachlan

  While I was perhaps a little disappointed by the brevity of this collection (~250 pages) it was wonderful to see Batchelor develop his secular vision of the Dhamma, and engaging to follow his interests and influences through interviews and research.
• 
  Erik Steevens

  I am still reading Stephen Batchelor's "Confession of a Buddhist Atheist" but today i bought this latests published book. I might say and hope that Stephen's approach is doing a good job for Buddhism.
  Or to put it more like this, it might be a fine thing that eventually the coming of Buddhism to the West has in the end an healing effect, so that the original intentions of Gautama Siddharta will rise again as a lotus flower growing out of the mud. And the works (books) of Stephen Batchelor are constructing this new path in an excellent manner.
• 
  Shelli

  Review to follow.
  
  I received an advance electronic copy of this book via NetGalley, courtesy of publisher Yale University Press, in exchange for my honest feedback and review.
• 
  Yolanda Blanch Ruiz

  A must read for anyone interested in a buddhism without religion!!! A masterpiece of thought imho!!!!
• 
  Alex

  It was great to read this book by Stephen Batchelor as it highlighted to me the dynamics of translating from one language into another, and the difficulties in doing this; namely in relation to capturing the full essence/meaning of a word originally written in Pali or Sanskrit. It has really made me respect the fact that 'all translation is interpretation'. I suppose Batchelor uses this reasoning (amongst others) to justify his presented version of a secular Buddhism which reconfigures the Four Truths for the Nobel and the Eightfold Path.
  A rewarding aspect of reading this book was his explanation for agnosticism towards certain ideas found within Buddhism, namely reincarnation. I feel that I was committing to an 'either or' before, but now having understood the agnostic position, and how it can help one focus more on practicing Buddhist methods (namely mindfulness), I am more comfortable in loosening my grip on what reincarnation. This has brought me some relief though I sometimes have to remind myself of the agnostic attitude and that it doesn't mean I can't hope that something is true. I guess belief is faith whilst knowing is experience.
  I found the later part of the book, where Batchelor goes into detail about his collage art interesting but at times felt like he should perhaps write a separate whole other book on the topic given his very apparent enthusiasm. Nevertheless, I resonated with his art in that I often like to pay attention to objects that I think the world completely overlooks. It does feel like a gift sometimes, perhaps this is because you feel like you're the only one who is doing the act of paying attention. Like being the only person on top of Everest, no one else in the entire world has your perspective in the moment you're up there. But come to think of it, we have these moments everyday without any deliberate effort I think.
  I understand that Batchelors desire is to present Buddhism as a practice above anything else, and to inform people that the reincarnation ideas were a product of the time the Buddha was in and the world in which he grew up.
• 
  Bohdan Pechenyak

  A fascinatingly relatable, for me personally, and wonderfully fresh synthesis by Stephen Batchelor, building on his previous efforts to formulate a “secular Buddhist” approach to practice and living. An attempt to modernise Buddhism, to adapt it to the challenges and needs of contemporary Western society, and, in so doing, to go back to the basic, stripped-down teachings of the Buddha. A collection of essays and articles written earlier plus several new chapters, this book examines how life, art, and meditation practices all fit seamlessly together into something he calls “Buddhism 2.0”.
  
  Some key themes include the story of Nanavira Thera and his life in the Sri Lankan jungle, immersed in translating and adapting Buddhist texts into English; Buddhist agnosticism and it’s limits; what a mindful nation might look like; discussions of what comes “after Buddhism” - secular Buddhism? Buddhism 2.0? Something else entirely?; and how art and imagination are similar with and different from meditation practices; closing the book on the consideration of an “aesthetics of emptiness”.
• 
  Kevin

  I think I won’t finish this. It’s fascinating, and I learned a lot about what a secular Buddhism might look like, and I like it. I’m very attracted to Buddhism. But I’ve lived my entire life in a Christian world. I think it will be more fruitful for me to begin working on what my version of a secular Christianity might look like, rather than try to jump ship to an entirely foreign practice system. I will find a way to incorporate mindfulness work into my secular Christianity, though, for sure. Maybe it will be my version of prayer? Anyone have any suggestions on where I might start reading about secular Christianity? Or maybe it’s for me to construct for myself. Weirdly, Quakerism probably comes close, especially those Quakers who do not consider themselves Christian. But right now, I’m in a position in which it’s not possible for me to attend Meeting. 😣
• 
  Kevin Maness

  Didn’t actually read the whole thing, but I did find it helpful. After a while, I started to realize that, as much as I admire Buddhism, I’ve grown up Christian, and that’s my culture, more or less. Although I’ve become increasingly secular in my understanding, I still appreciate the core values of Christianity and know that they have shaped my own defining values. I also realized the obvious: that my current placement in Quakerism is ideal because it freely borrows from the practices of Buddhism while being based in Christian mythology. It’s my ideal spiritual home. If only I could attend Meeting for Worship!
• 
  Annette

  An interesting perspective
  
  I found much to contemplate within this book. I've never considered myself a student of any particular flavor of Buddhism because there was always one thing or another about them that didn't make sense in the worldview of my western upbringing. Mr. Bachelor has convinced me that I'm not alone. I don't particularly like the term Buddhism 2.0, but I do like his argument for change.
• 
  Dave

  I enjoy all of Batchelor's work, but this read more like a collection of unrelated essays than a coherent vision about the author's journey first into Buddhism and then into a secular version of it. That said, it was worthwhile to witness aspects of that journey in the individual essays, but I would only recommend this to someone who has already read and deeply enjoyed Batchelor's other work on secular Buddhism.
• 
  Kristin Topping

  Overall a good read. You can feel the authors struggle to reconcile his desire for communal, spiritually-based living and his non-belief of several key tenets of the traditional Buddhist faith (namely, reincarnation, karma and the attainment of enlightenment) from start to finish. Secular Buddhism is the way the west will be won - mindfulness through a science-based reality, and an encoded philosophy, ethics and values that has enduring for decades
• 
  Cody

  I don't go as far as Bachelor in rejection of the Buddhist teaching of rebirth, but I believe that he has something important to offer to the continual turning of the dharma, as it adapts itself now to Western culture. We could learn a lot from the needs of those who have developed a secular and cultural pattern, those who have been educated in Western science and epistemology, that modern Buddhists must address for their benefit and the benefit of all living beings.
• 
  Paul

  Selected writings by a man who is interested in helping to define a new "Western" approach to Buddhism. He's serious, knowledgeable, and writes well, but some of his ideas give this Buddhist pause; I think there may be quite a bit of baby in the bathwater he wants to throw out. The collection ranges over a wide field and is not really unified around a single theme.
• 
  Chula Watugala

  At one point, the author admits he cherry-picks from the Pali Canon and that is fair criticism. The problem isn't just that, it's that he misinterprets even the suttas he does pick. I appreciate anyone trying to understand the early Buddhist texts, but what he does here is intellectually dishonest.
  
  +1 star for the Nanavira essay that has some good original research behind it.
• 
  Jessica

  Some of the essays went over my head, but many of them blew my mind and were right what I needed. Thinking of Buddhism in a purely secular sense and reframing the Four Noble Truths as the Four Great Tasks appeals to me. I will also be reading other books by Stephen Batchelor, like Buddhism Without Beliefs.
• 
  Clayton

  Good compendium, but not the place to start
  
  I found almost all of these essays illuminating, but I don’t think this book is the place to go to understand Batchelor’s interpretation of Buddhist thought.
• 
  Edward Taylor

  
  Stephen Batchelor has always gotten my attention with his clear, concise, and human explanations of what Buddism is (a philosophy) and what it is not (a religion)
• 
  Valerie Sherman

  Thoughtful discourse that's usually practical, sometimes academic, but that's probably what you'd expect from an adorable British guy who used to be a Buddhist monk and now makes collages and meditates in southern France.
• 
  Les Moore

  4.8
• 
  Ruth

  Read 75% of it, then a year elapsed, then the last 25%. So, hard to judge, really. Moments of amazing lucidity but also kind of solipistic at points
• 
  Leona

  4.3 stars
• 
  Ann

  This new understanding of the Four Noble Tasks is very useful!
• 
  David

  I find Batchelor's defanged Buddhism to be a wan, pale thing and his ideas are fairly uninteresting. That said, he is a lovely writer and I found some of the pieces here quite touching.
• 
  Jeff Wikstrom

  This is the first book that I've read on Buddhism. I come from a Christian background, but am an atheist. I have no interest in the supernatural aspects of the religion, but find the practice and philosophy to be compelling. I was not disappointed. I would like to re-read this book. I currently apply a cross of this book, Stoicism, and some vestigial Christianity (I presume) to my daily life.