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Summary: A major contribution to the development of a western Buddhis
Review: 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.
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Summary: Not for beginners, but great later on...
Review: I read this book at the beginning of my Buddhist path, and found very little that connected for me. After a year of practice, though, I went back to it and found it full of wisdom and insight, and very helpful in allowing myself to maintain a "don't know" stance toward those culturally-conditioned aspects of Buddhism brought to us from the East. Although the core of Buddhist dharma-transmission over the centuries has been wonderfully consistent, it seems obvious that barnacles of beliefs associated with the original feudal/tribal/animist/deist cultures through which it's passed would of course find their way onto the hull (excuse the clumsy metaphor!). The Buddha stressed over and over that we were to test *everything* against our own experience, to believe nothing until proved true for each of us. All Batchelor is up to here is saying this, clearly and from a modern Western perspective. The vitriol evident above in some of the mini-reviews from dogmatized Buddhists is all the motivation I would think one needs to read Batchelor's book. It's partly about the non-compassionate controversies some kinds of "Buddhism *With* Beliefs" have side-tracked students and cultures in the past.
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Summary: Read it before you decide
Review: How sad that someone here wrote, " I stopped dead in my tracks when I read that someone wrote, after reading the book, that (s)he is a 'violently angry atheist.'"
Sad, because the person in no way implied, much less stated, that the book is what led him or her to become an atheist. Sadder still because the former reviewer denies him/herself the sublime pleasure of this excellent text based on one person's irrelevant comment. Saddest of all because the book in question clearly takes an agnostic approach to the philosophy of Buddhism and essentially rejects the trappings of "religion" altogether, focusing instead on the here-and-now, anybody-can-do-this approach to enlightenment, of which the latter reviewer appears to be in desperate need. An excellent book that deserves better than its critics here have bestowed upon it.
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Summary: Back-to-basics Buddhism
Review: Batchelor has written a gem of a book, and his title couldn't have been more appropriate, in that "Buddhism without Beliefs" is really a redundancy. The author reminds us that Buddhism at its core is about openmindedness, analysis, individual searching, and experimentation, and that to accept anything (even Buddhist teachings themselves) on blind faith is to miss the greater point. His most important observation, which he presents in straightforward and lucid language, shines through clearly: One can still follow the Buddhist path without blind allegiance to metaphysical speculation. If anything, he could have spent more time pointing out that many Buddhist scholars and practitioners alike already accept "rebirth" as metaphorical rather than literal, to drive the point home amidst Buddhist "fundamentalists" who, like their Christian counterparts, sometimes miss the subtler message their respective teachers conveyed and who, unfortunately, help to present Buddhism to the West not as the open-ended method of inquiry into existential experience that it really is, but rather as just another ready-made, rigid, superstitious dogma to be accepted on blind belief. Batchelor, however, regards the Buddha himself as being "far from agnostic" on issues of life after death, so the author's relative reticence in this area is understandable but unfortunate. After all, the Buddha tailored his message to match the needs and aptitudes of his audiences, so why not assume that he employed metaphysical/cosmological imagery familiar to his culture in order to get his message across, without automatically assuming it to be literal? In the end, Batchelor doesn't demand that we either believe or disbelieve in literal rebirth but rather to approach the matter with a healthy skepticism, rather than as a requirement for living a good Buddhist life, following the path, and achieving full awakening. This approach does no more than remain on the Buddhist Middle Way, and, here in the skeptical West, it's an important statement to make that may even help to ensure Buddhism's survival here. If Western Buddhism loses its speculative add-ons in the process, nothing is lost, and possibly something is gained: an unclouded insight into the parts of Buddhism that actually can make a difference here and now, in the lives of ourselves and others. That is the kernel of Buddhism, and Batchelor has pointed directly to it. A fine job.
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Summary: Wonderful non-dogmatic introduction to Buddha's teachings
Review: In this wonderful, concise introduction, Batchelor has captured the essence of the Buddha's teachings . By going directly to the source and peeling away the accumulated dogma of various traditions, he makes Buddhism relevant for our time. He shows how, despite the Buddha's wishes, over time Buddhism became a religion and an institution unto itself. Of course, rigid doctrinaire thinkers like Bob Thurman will see red when they read Batchelor's simple wisdom, which eliminates the need for hocus-pocus and a priestly class. Batchelor even questions the need for belief in karma and reincarnation, long accepted as essential Buddhist beliefs. Batchelor presents his ideas in simple, but not simplistic, prose, with easy-to-grasp examples. His credentials as a Buddhist and a scholar are beyond reproach, and while others may disagree, no one can question his seriousness and authority. Unlike self-styled gurus and flim-flam artists like "Lama Surya Das" (Jeffrey Miller), Batchelor is not interested in self-aggrandizement; merely in conveying his ideas. He succeeds admirably in this book. Highly recommended.
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Summary: start on the path, then read this book
Review: I perhaps made the mistake of reading this book on Buddhism first, before any others. It resonated with me but I had difficuty grasping the complexity of the arguments without a more basic grounding in Buddhism. (For that I recommend any of the Tricyle's introductory books, John Snelling's 'Elements of Buddhism', and Jack Kornfield'd 'A Path with Heart'). I returned to book again with a more seasoned and educated mind and found it to be provocative and relevant to thinking afresh for oneself on the Buddhist Path. Batchelor reduces Buddhist principles to their essentials, sweeps away the accretions of 2,000 years of cultural dogma that have muddied the path, and shows a way for the contemporary Westernized Buddhist to proceed. An incdientally, whether on not you agree, if you appreciate good writing, this it is beautifully written book.
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Summary: very interesting to read these reviews....
Review: This book seems to inspire either devotion or vitriol, depending on one's point of view. My own take is that it is an excellent, if quite culturally conditioned, interpretation/presentation of Buddhism. If one takes seriously the teaching of Upaya, skillful means,that seeks to express Dharma in terms that will be most useful to the sufferer in need, then this book cannot be dismissed. Many a skeptical Westerner could be inspired to practice by an interpretation such as this, and for that Batchelor deserves much praise. However, this in no way means that this interpretation of Dharma is any more or less valid than the myriad of others serving to liberate beings. Devotional, or 'religious', Buddhism, has inspired countless Tibetans (and others) to transcend profound suffering and carry on in life with compassion and integrity. It is sad to see Batchelor reify his view of authenticity into a view consonant with Western existentialism - though this view is totally valid, to claim it is the TRUE Dharma at the price of excluding other culturally appropriate forms of practice is unfair and myopic. Whew!
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Summary: Isn't it odd...
Review: That so many of the negative reviews of this book seem to say precisely the same thing? Isn't it even odder that, if you click on the links to the negative reviewers, you find that so many of them have reviewed exactly the same books? Is there some sort of organized effort underway here to discredit "heretics"? Oh, um... the book. It's good. Read it.
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Summary: Are the other reviewers members of his family?
Review: I enjoy books on Buddhism, but this one is a clear disappointment. He seems like a Westerner who has been exposed to some basic tenets of Buddhism but is anything but a wise master. I kept waiting for it to get better, it never did.
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Summary: Beautifully Written!
Review: This book was my first experience with Buddhist thought. I was very impressed, not only by the ideas, but by the way Batchelor writes. His use of words is peaceful and extremely interesting. I think that there is so much to be learned in this book, and it is a great place to start because the book is not very long. If you are interested in Buddhism I would suggest this book because it does not go into an extreme amount of detail. It is simply about another way of thinking about things and looking at the world. I feel that whatever beliefs a person holds has no relevance in choosing this book to read. It is not about believing in a specific religion, but as I said before, thinking about the world in a more peaceful, abstract and thoughtful way. One big thing I got out of this book was how people are so valuable, and in life it is easy to pass others off as less intelligent and less deserving of compassion, but this work helps one to understand that everyone has an important place in this world and everyone deserves to be treated with respect.
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