[Buddha-l] FW: Stephen Batchelor --video--seminars on Buddhism

[JKirkpatrick]

> It seems strange that Batchelor never actually studied
seriously with 
> the one "Buddhist" (if you consider Goenka
> Buddhist) teacher whose teaching he actually approves of.

Maybe not so strange for a guy who defines his engagement with
Buddhism by the aspects he rejects. It seems strange to me, that
more than ten years after "Buddhism Without Beliefs", that kind
of criticism still seems to be his primary concern. 

xob~
_______________

I've not read "Buddhism Without Beliefs" yet. However, if you
follow him on these Tricyle seminars, I'd not understand how you
could arrive at the idea that he "defines his engagement...by the
aspects he rejects." That is patently ridiculous. Time to read
more, like "Confession of a Buddhist Atheist."

What I love about Batchelor is that he doesn't view the Buddha as
a magical mystery tour; instead he prefers to emphasize the
humanity of Gotama. A Muslim Irani Sufi friend of mine recently
read the "Confession of..." and was bowled over by happiness and
gratitude at what he found there.
Why anyone would bother about whether he broke with Goenka or
only did one session with him, or whatever, strikes me as
compeltely irrelevant to what Batchelor has to offer so far as
Buddhism is concerned. 

As Shams said to Rumi: Who is better, Attar or Muhammad?

Joanna