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Confessions Of A Buddhist Atheist (2010)

by Stephen Batchelor(Favorite Author)

3.95 of 5 Votes: 4

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

The Random House

review 1: An absorbing book which may upset any romantic notions of buddhism created by images beatific buddhist monks in serene meditative poses. Since the post hippie-generation, Buddhism, like Yoga, is "in". It's gone mainstream with much distortion. Nowadays dozens of fake "Buddha" quotes are viral on social media which are nowhere to be found in Pali Canon.Stephen Batchelor goes further down this path of question what exactly the Buddha taught - and what was added later as Buddhism spread through different cultures. He tries to come upon a rational viewpoint for the lay meditator from the original Pali texts and his own experiences as a Tibetan and Zen monk. The chapters which reveal the life of the Buddha according to the original Pali canon are eye-opening. For one, Siddhart... moreha was not the son of a king - more likely a governor in the employ of the local king Pasenadi. I was more shocked to find out that the famous incident of the young Prince Siddhartha seeing four incidents of old age, sickness, death and a renunciate, did not happen at all to Gotama - they are narrated in the original texts as happening to a previous Buddha Vipassi. Yet, incidents such as these have been so oft-repeated that they have created a false myth around the Buddha. And made a god of a man who taught a Godless path.
review 2: This is a fascinating book.In the opening pages I was struck by the similarities in Batchelor’s teenage years and my own. In high school we were both baffled by our fellow pupils and teachers lack of interest in the meaning of existence. For us, the quest for existential resolution overrode all other concerns. We were (or still are) obsessed by the search for meaning.Batchelor too shared my love of Hermann Hesse, Aldous Huxley and Alan Watts, and also possessed a strong drive to reject the complacency and spiritual-intellectual sterility of those around him. Unlike Batchelor, however, I never wandered off to India to smoke hash and join the company of the Dali Lama (well, not yet in any case).I assume Batchelor’s trajectory is far from rare; certainly this would explain why so many Westerners are drawn to his work. His story may be a common one, but it is made far more interesting given Batchelor’s many years experience in delving into various forms of Buddhism – Tibetan Gelug and Korean Zen in particular.Batchelor’s many decades of study, coupled with his interest in existentialism makes Confession of a Buddhist Atheist a most excellent reference for fellow ponderers. Since Buddhism is still relatively new to Westerners, Batchelor has saved many of us decades of brutal legwork in de-mystifying Buddhism; stripping it of its metaphysical additives to lay bare what secular/rational value remains, and providing a humanised and historically-accurate portrait of the life of the Buddha.But the greatest value Batchelor can offer is the clear manner in which he articulates his sophisticated form of sceptical, spiritual agnosticism. His fusion of Western philosophy and Eastern spirituality has inspired me deeply, and I will be picking up more of his work in the future."The point is not to abandon all institutions and dogmas but to find a way to live with them more ironically, to appreciate them for what they are – the play of the human mind in its endless quest for connection and meaning – rather than timeless entities that have to be ruthlessly defended or forcibly imposed."- Stephen Batchelor less

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