[Buddha-l] Confession

[Erik Hoogcarspel]

I'm sure that Stephen is a nice guy and a good friend, but I think he's 
a lousy philosopher. After ignoring the absurdity of karma and 
reincarnation for many years, he finally decided to come clean with 
them. Actually his confession should be not about his lack of belief but 
about his faintheartedness during all that time. The word 'confession' 
indicates that Stephen still has not freed himself of Christian biases 
and thinks he has been naughty, while among philosophers telling others 
about your thoughts is considered a gift.. Atheism and buddhism allways 
were good companions and there are many records of criticism of Buddhist 
monks against the Hindu idea of an 'Isvara' (sorry for the Amida 
fanclub, I think they 're not real Buddhists and should start their own 
religion).


Op 11-3-2010 19:15, Richard Hayes schreef:
> Stephen Batchelor... now has the courage to say that he finds the doctrines of karma and rebirth philosophically indefensible
>    
Unless he comes with some arguments Stephen's personal opinion is as 
interesting as knowing what he has for breakfast.
> Batchelor says he unhesitatingly and unequivocally identifies himself as a Buddhist and says he has done nothing else with his adult life that to study, practice and teach the Dharma. He will accept no other identity than that of a Buddhist.
>    
I had some discussions with Buddhist monks in the 80ies (a.o. Alexander 
Berzin the Kalachacra missionary) who simply forbid me to call myself a 
Buddhist if I rejected reincarnation and if I doubted the origin and 
validity of the vinaya. Off course I was deeply traumatised and took all 
the initiations I could get in order to prove myself that I was. ;-)
  I welcome Stephen and congratulate him with his reincarnation in the 
human world.
> As I've said before, I think Batchelor is the most insightful Buddhist teacher alive, bar none. That aside, he is also a damn good writer. He's a brilliant stylist who literally makes people gasp with admiration at his well-turned phrases, and an extraordinarily warm-hearted and kind human being. If he comes to your town, consider seeing him. If you are looking for a good read, consider reading his book. If you are not a Batchelor fan, consider reconsidering.
>    
I certainly will, but I think his book about Nagarjuna is utterly boring 
and I'm sure I'm not alone in this.
An interesting turn is that this could mean the rise of a Western 
Buddhism, a kind of Buddhism that seeks not only inspiration from 
Buddhist traditions, but also comes to terms with global philosophical 
currents. Stephens case is a sign of increasing selfconsiousness and the 
rise of a new religion always starts with people becoming aware of 
having the same objections against existing beliefs.
And about dependend origination: it 's right here before you. The 
meaning of these characters and words come together dependendly and are 
not caused by a seperate cause (somenone reading them is not a cause, 
because the reader doesn't make up the meanings). In fact you'll find 
the same idea in studies of meaning like phenomenology and semiotics.

erik