Sorry I’ve been scarce. I’ve spent the past several days struggling over a review of the book Confession of a Buddhist Atheist by Stephen Batchelor. It’s a very long review. Short version: Mostly, the book sucks.
The Mahablog
Politics. Society. Group Therapy.
So, let’s say for the sake of argument that you are an atheist who is interested in Buddhism, with only the barest of understanding. Where do you start?
Samuel — where everyone else starts, by reading my Buddhism site! Belief in God is irrelevant in Buddhism.
The weekend was pretty damned boring without you Maha…………….
I’m reminded of an answer given by an elderly Metropolitan when he was asked to define God. “Yes.”
A Jewish Rabbi/scholar who had spent most of his adult life agonizing over questions like when getting dressed in the morning (according to the teachings of Judaism) does one put on one’s pants before one’s socks, or the other way around, OR, how much ‘red’ must a cow have in order to be classified as a red cow (one of the omens announcing the coming of the Messiah.) One morning, literally, he got up, announced the ‘end’ of his ‘scholarly’ life, hooked up with a temple and walked among the people for the rest of his life.
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Samuel,
Read Stephen Batchelor’s book. He talks about how the core teachings of mindfulness and compassion are very practical and powerful without all the supernatural/metaphysical stuff. You can listen to some of his lectures online.
I’m not a Buddhist, or religious at all, but I have had mindfullness meditation training. it’s hard, but a good discipline.
I guess I just believe in what works. I don’t care about gods, spirits, etc. I have friends who do, but they agree that it’s what you do that counts, not what you believe. I don’t think you should let the “religious” aspects keep you from investigating mindfulness as a discipline, though. I think it works whether you embrace the religious beliefs or not.
Some Buddhist meditation groups will welcome you for study even if you are not a Buddhist, which is more than you can say for lots of religious groups.
Regards,
Griff