[Buddha-l] Looking for an article/paper

[Curt Steinmetz]

  On 9/24/10 1:27 PM, Rahula wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I don't think Stephen Batchelor ever converted out of Buddhism, and I believed he still considered himself a Buddhist, though some, perhaps many Buddhists disagree with his views and/or thought of him as a Buddhist "apostate". He still conduct Buddhist retreats.
>
> Best wishes,
> Rahula
>

Obviously there is nothing to prevent Batchelor from claiming to be a 
Buddhist while simultaneously attacking Buddhism. But there is also 
nothing that requires others to uncritically accept Batchelor's 
nonsensical claim to be a Buddhist just on his say-so.

Buddhism either means something or it means nothing. If it means 
something then there must be things that it does not mean, and 
Batchelor's New Dispensation is an obvious candidate for one of the 
things that Buddhism is not. Batchelor himself tacitly accepts this by 
his repeated insistence that his vision of "Buddhism" has nothing 
whatsoever to do with what he considers to be the idiotic superstitions 
of 99% of all the people who call themselves Buddhists (including those 
teachers who taught Batchelor what little he actually knows about Buddhism).

Curt