Buddhism Without Beliefs: A Contemporary Guide to Awakening Paperback – March 1, 1998

Originating in Northern India some twenty five hundred years ago, the teachings of the historical Buddha Sakyamuni have spread across many countries: south to Sri Lanka, south and west to Burma, Thailand, and Vietnam, across the Himalayas to Tibet and China, and West to Korea and Japan. In each case, the country as been changed by the teachings, and the form of the teachings has been changed by the country, by the particular circumstances, the history and temperament of the people. As the historian Arnold Toynbee wrote, "The coming of Buddhism to the West may well prove to be the most important event o the twentieth century."This book is not an introduction to Buddhism, a Buddhism 101. If you're looking for an overview of the beliefs and practices of Buddhists, there are many more appropriate texts available. My personal recommendation would be Lama Surya Das' Awakening the Buddha Within : Tibetan Wisdom for the Western World. In contrast, the book under discussion is a provocative attempt to reinterpret and (re)introduce the core of the Buddhist teachings to the west, in a form easily understood and assimilated by the western student. Just as Christ wasn't a Christian, the Buddha Sakayamuni was not a Buddhist: he was a teacher, a spritual friend. His teachings have been filtered through thousands of years of history an individual cultural circumstances. This is one more take. The book resonates strongly with me. Perhaps it will with you, too.

Stephen Batchelor has studied in several different countries and Buddhist traditions, but he thinks there is a core of teaching that transcends both the religion and any dogma. "Buddhism Without Beliefs" outlines a spare but elegant way of life and looking at the world that invites humans of every kind into the fold.When Batchelor talks about being “without beliefs,” what he means is separating vital teaching from formal orthodoxy. In the case of Buddhism, he goes so far as to suggest that the notions of rebirth and karma (the idea that our actions influence the course of future lives) may do more harm than good, and that they should be left behind as relics of another time and culture.In place of such creeds, Batchelor focuses on what has always been the heart of Buddhist instruction: the four noble truths, or as he strikingly calls them, the four ennobling truths. These include the fact of our dis-ease with life—what has often been called “suffering” and what Batchelor refers to as “anguish”—followed by the fact of what causes anguish and the fact that there is a way to relieve anguish, and finally a path that allows us to realize and embody that relief. Batchelor also addresses emptiness, the teaching that all people and things are connected in an ultimate sense."Buddhism Without Beliefs" reminds me of the book of James in the New Testament, in that it is intensely pragmatic, and unsparing in its view of our human faults. It is not, however, without hope; Batchelor is no more upset with his readers than is a doctor diagnosing an illness. Identifying the problem is simply the necessary first step to curing it.The key words in Batchelor’s vision of Buddhism are creativity and freedom. Through practice of the teachings of the Buddha, we seek to obtain freedom from anguish, which is to say, freedom from the wish that the world be other than the way it is. In this freedom, we find the ability to creatively reimagine our lives and produce novel expressions of compassion, among others.This book is short and stark; hardly a sentence in it is without import. (Notwithstanding some of Batchelor’s early fulminating against religious institutions, which goes on just a bit too long.) Many of Batchelor’s insights are startling. He is not proposing something new, but artfully clarifying something very old. Although this book contains a few basic meditation exercises, it is not a book about meditation. And although it makes reference to the life and teachings of a figure called the Buddha, it is, oddly, not a book about Buddhism. It a book about a profoundly human problem, and a solution to that problem that can be embraced by anyone, regardless of age or nationality or faith.To achieve true understanding, of course, would entail leaving behind the need for this book, as one would leave behind a raft after crossing a river. But as long as we find ourselves on the river—which most of us do, most of the time—we need rafts; as long as we are adrift we need guides; and Batchelor is an exemplary one.~

Absolutely loved this book. Strips away the superstition, smoke and mirrors, the lies of organized religion, its overt hostility to self and indivualization and enforced conformity to mass belief, manipulation and totalitarianism and reveals both the simplicity of the Buddha's revelation, its availability to everyone, his humanity (and lack of divinity). Buddha is not a god, nor is there any god. The universe and the self at macro and micro levels are far more complex and fascinating than the limited mind numbing concept of god and kingship or even ideology allow. Buddha and his teachings are an example to reflect upon and to serve as an inspiration of growth of self, but not to worship or pray to. Meditation and the practice of Dharma (not an "-ism", not a belief) is focused inward on self-growth and betterment which projects to a better life, here and now for all, along with an acceptance of what is and that emptiness provides a fertile foundation for clarity. Prayer, by contrast, is focused outward, a submission to powerlessness of self and a surrender to the forces of a conceptual supernatural entity envisioned before science, before medicine in a violent uneducated society. Where human progress in science expands, the Dharma and Buddha's teaching will likewise grows and maintain relevance while religion remains stuck in a distant past shackled by dogma and manipulation by others. Dharma thrives in self not indoctrination or intellectual bondage. Bravo, as others have stated in reviews, this is truly the book I have been waiting my whole life to read.