Western Buddhism and the New Age
Western Buddhism has been heavily influenced by the New Age movement. In online forums it is common to encounter nominal Buddhists proclaiming New Age beliefs that are alien or even antithetical to Buddhism. Adherents of such ideas rarely seem to be aware of those ideasβ origins, however; nor of their problematic nature from a Buddhist point of view. And even less rarely will they self-identify as followers of the New Age. The latter is typical, however. As Margrethe LΓΈΓΈv remarks in a recent book about the New Age movement, βvery few people actually denote themselves New Age β the preferred...
On Selfish and Selfless Readings of Buddhist Scripture
In Indian religions and philosophy, mokαΉ£a β the escape from the cycle of death and rebirth (saαΉsΔra) and, thereby, the liberation from suffering (dukkha) β is (typically) the ultimate goal of (oneβs/my/your) life. Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and other schools of thought disagree about various details β Buddhists prefer the term nirvΔαΉa instead of mokαΉ£a, for example β but all accept a version of the doctrine that right (non-) action leads to good karma, which leads to better rebirth, and ultimately to mokαΉ£a. That ultimate goal is a selfish goal, however β the ultimate aim of my right (non-) action (regardless...