[Buddha-l] Batchelor (once more))

[Zelders.YH]

>HZ:
>Joanna wrote :
> >I ignore anything anyone says about existentialism. period.
>
>HZ:
>Better to dump Batchelor's book then.
>JK: That's silly.

Sorry Joanna, I couldn't resist the temptation, so I asked Batchelor 
if he would object to being called a 'buddhist existentialist'.
His answer : "Yes, please call me an Existentialist Buddhist or, if 
you prefer, a Buddhist Existentialist". (Now there's a dilemma.)

>If Nyanavira (referred to by SB) was taking note of the 
>existentialists fashionable in his day, so what?

I'll quote again : Batchelor shares Nyanavira's view that : "[.] the 
existentialist philosophers can provide a helpful bridge, especially 
to a modern reader puzzled by the jargon of Buddhism to understanding 
the relevance of Gotama's discourses in the Pali Canon to their own 
lives."(pp.144-5).
I think that's clear enough and should not to be so easily dismissed 
by a "so what".

>His [Nyanavira's] death made it all too clear that he was deeply 
>identified with the Theravada vinaya.

Nyanavira apparently reasoned that, given his personal circumstances, 
and considering himself to be a stream-enterer, committing suicide 
wouldn't have bad karmic effects for him. But what's that got to do 
with the Theravada vinaya ? And why would it speak against N's 
serious interest in existentialist views ?

>Nice thing about a book is that you are not in a position to discuss 
>with the author-- except maybe virtually on Boodle-L.

Well, you can actually ask the author, and if he's Stephen Batchelor 
there's a fair chance that you'll receive a reply.

I think Erik already took care of some other open questions.

Herman