Aug 06 2021 64 mins 5
I have been interested in Buddhism for some years now, and so to further feed my curiosity and broaden my knowledge on the subject I decided to turn to Stephen Batchelor, whose knowledge as both Buddhist practitioner and scholar is impressively extensive. Following his immersion in Buddhist teaching and training as a monk from the early 1970s, Stephen grew increasingly discontent with traditional Buddhism, in particular those aspects common to most religions, including a priestly class, dogmatism, and adherence to infallible holy texts. He has therefore devoted the last number of decades to promoting Secular Buddhism, incidentally the title of one of his many books. Some of Stephen’s other major publications include Buddhism Without Beliefs, Confession of a Buddhist Atheist, and, most recently, The Art of Solitude. My aim for this episode was two-fold: roughly the first half is devoted to exploring some basic tenets of Buddhism, while in the latter part we delved into Stephen’s approach to secularising the tradition. After he told me about how he initially became a Buddhist in India, my guest was asked to provide some biographical background on the Buddha. Here Stephen painted a vivid cultural and historical portrait of India during Gautama’s lifetime, which was a period of momentous transition. I asked him about the veracity of the famous account of what set the Buddha’s quest for enlightenment in motion, which while not historically accurate has the kind of timeless truth all great myths possess. He clarified the three marks of existence and then explained the five precepts. I asked Stephen to provide insight into the Middle Way, after which we discussed how the Buddhist conception of enlightenment, something of a mistranslation as he noted, differs from the European variety that emerged in the eighteenth century. I provocatively, if still good naturedly, challenged Stephen about why he even bothers to call himself a secular Buddhist and does not simply slough off all affiliations to a faith tradition. We then had an extended discussion on mindfulness meditation, including how rapidly its popularity has expanded throughout the world in recent times, the centrality of this practice to the Buddha’s teachings, and how its numerous physiological and psychological benefits point to the practical aspects of Buddhism that transcend any associations with, or even knowledge of, the religio-philosophical system whence it emerged. I hope, and am fairly convinced, Stephen’s insights, articulacy, and erudition will give everyone who listens at least a few nourishing morsels for deeper reflection.
Stephen Batchelor’s website: https://stephenbatchelor.org/index.php/en/
Some of Stephen Batchelor’s books: Buddhism Without Beliefs (1997) / Confession of a Buddhist Atheist (2010) / Secular Buddhism (2017) / The Art of Solitude (2020)
Bodhi College, which Stephen co-founded and where he teaches courses off and online: https://bodhi-college.org/
Twitter account for Skeptically Curious: https://twitter.com/SkepticallyCur1
Patreon page for Skeptically Curious: https://www.patreon.com/skepticallycurious
