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 ideasâ 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 Løøv remarks in a recent book about the New Age movement, âvery few people actually denote themselves New Age â the preferred...
What does it mean to be a Buddhist?
In âWhat Does it Mean to Be a Marxist?â, Norman Geras distinguishes âthree meanings of âbeing a Marxistââ: personal, intellectual, and sociopolitical. He writes that âfor someone to be a Marxist, in the first â personal â sense âŚ, he or she must (a) subscribe to a significant selection of recognized Marxist beliefs and (b) describe him or herself as a Marxistâ. About the intellectual meaning he writes that âa person can work â as writer, political publicist, academic, thinker, researcher â within the intellectual tradition begun by Marx and Engels and developed by later figuresâ, and about the sociopolitical...
“Protestant Buddhism”
The term âProtestant Buddhismâ was introduced in 1970 by Gananath Obeyesekere to describe a development in Ceylonese Buddhism that started with Anagarika DharmapÄla almost a century earlier. The notion was further developed in a 1988 book he co-authered with Richard Gombrich, but variants of the term have also been used outside the Ceylonese (Sri Lankan) context â in reference to certain trends in Western Buddhism, for example, as well as to the switch from âself-powerâ čŞĺ jiriki to âother-powerâ äťĺ tariki in Japanese Pure Land Buddhism. The term is also sometimes used in a more general sense in reference to...
Can an Anarchist Take Refuge?
The first of the Bodhisattva vows is to liberate all sentient beings (from suffering) and it isnât a stretch to include sociopolitical liberation in that goal. It shouldnât come as a surprise, then, that Buddhist anarchism has been a small, but persistent undercurrent within Buddhism and anarchism throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. One may wonder, however, whether it is really possible to be both a Buddhist and an anarchist, although this very much depends on the definitions of âBuddhistâ and âanarchistâ. The term âanarchismâ suggests that an anarchist opposes or rejects (áźÎ˝-) (coercive/opaque) power/authority (áźĎĎÎŽ) and the institutionalization thereof...
Is Secular Buddhism Possible?
The question whether secular Buddhism is possible might seem absurd at first. Varieties of what has been, or could be called âsecular Buddhismâ have been around for well over a century, and there is a sizable group of people who consider themselves âsecular Buddhistsâ. So, of course, âsecular Buddhismâ is possible. So, letâs be a bit more precise. My question is not really whether there are âthingsâ (in a rather broad sense of âthingâ) that could be or have been called âsecular Buddhismâ, but whether there could be something that is genuinely secular and simultaneously genuinely (a variety of) Buddhism....
Mythos, Wisdom, and Scavenger Philosophy
According to Karl Jaspers, philosophy arose in the âAxial Ageâ as a kind of critical reflection on myth and tradition. Nowadays, there is widespread agreement among historians of ideas that the notion of an âAxial Ageâ is itself a myth, but I think that the other part of Jaspersâ idea is right, that is, philosophy indeed originates in critical reflection on myth and tradition. This doesnât mean that this defines the scope and purpose of philosophy, of course â as a âmatureâ discipline, philosophy mostly reflects on itself â but I believe that reflection on this idea about the origins...
On Selfish and Selfless Readings of Buddhist Scripture
In Indian religions and philosophy, mokᚣa â the escape from the cycle of death and rebirth (saášsÄra) and, thereby, the liberation from suffering (dukkha) â is (typically) the ultimate goal of (oneâs/my/your) life. Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and other schools of thought disagree about various details â Buddhists prefer the term nirvÄáša instead of mokᚣa, for example â but all accept a version of the doctrine that right (non-) action leads to good karma, which leads to better rebirth, and ultimately to mokᚣa. That ultimate goal is a selfish goal, however â the ultimate aim of my right (non-) action (regardless...
On Secular and Radical Buddhism
In a number of influential books and articles, Stephen Batchelor has proposed, developed, and defended something he has called (among others) âsecular Buddhismâ and âBuddhism 2.0â. The idea of such a secular or scientific or naturalistic or otherwise not traditionally religious kind of Buddhism isnât new â it has been especially popular among 20th and 21st Western converts to Buddhism, but there have been Asian precursors as well. Nevertheless, the idea is also somewhat controversial. Adherents of âsecular Buddhismâ like Batchelor typically consider it a return to the roots of Buddhism and to the original teachings of the Buddha, but...
The (Self-) Corruption of Critique
This is a lightly edited excerpt from my book/pamphlet The Hegemony of Psychopathy. * * * Hegemony is the spread of ideas (such as values and beliefs) that support and maintain the socio-political status quo. Alternative sources of ideas can (at least in principle) undermine hegemony, but if hegemony is effective, then alternative ideas are often not taken seriously, or may even undermine themselves. If hegemony is effective, then the belief that there is no alternative becomes common sense, turning proposed alternatives (i.e. alternatives for common sense) into obvious non-sense. This is how hegemony undermines critique: by making it âirrational.â...