A review by petertruog
Confession of a Buddhist Atheist by Stephen Batchelor

2.0

Mixed feelings about this book; it had incredibly boring parts about the author’s personal journey through Buddhism, his exploration of different Buddhist sects, his experience traveling around India writing for magazines, etc. - all this personal religions memoir stuff was not very interesting. On the other hand, he had a great exposition of the Buddha’s life, and really great takes on some of the core elements of Buddhist thought. My biggest takeaway from the book however was the attack he laid against doctrinal schools of Buddhism that require you to blindly follow your teacher; he insists that man of his Buddhist teachers were just as inflexible and dogmatic as leaders from other religions - the are equally unable to doubt their faith. The Buddha didn’t ever as for this, as he shows through his examination of the Pali cannon. Therefore, this “experiential learning” that Buddhism is so often lauded for is actually often not attainable through participation in a Buddhist school or organization, but only if you strike out alone like a renegade (like the author). he advocates for a practical Buddhism focused on the here and now, not concerned with re-birth and reincarnation.