[Buddha-l] Batchelor

[Joy Vriens]

Hi Herman,

Thank you for the review of Batchelor's new book. It does sound quite
paradoxical indeed and one may wonder like Richard does why not shed
the Buddhist label. Buddhist existentialism sounds like a
contradiction in terms. Existence is characterised by the suffering of
birth, old age, illness and death. If there is only existence, where
exactly is one to find the door to the immortal or simply to the end
of suffering caused by the conditioned, which existence is? Or is
there one existence but different levels of existence or somesuch,
which could be a play on words? How many of the Four Noble Truths are
left over? These are some of the questions that spring in my mind
without having read the book.

>The
> notion of the 'Unconditioned'  as a possible escape from conditioned
> existence is done away with.

> PS: Joy wrote :

>>My remark about karma and reincarnation is a boutade. It's not so much
>>I want to get rid of them entirely. They have been a wonderful
>>intellectual punching ball for me and still are. I do regret regret
>>the excessive attention attributed to them and what many people do
>>with them.

I can't do away with Unconditioned, with karma and reincarnation, with
God etc. etc. because others, in word, though, and books, keep
bringing them up. They will always be reference points, whether I
believe in them or not. In my own thinking, reading and in my
discussions with others, I will be confronted with them, challenged by
them and I will see if I can do away with them, every time again.

Joy