After Buddhism: Rethinking the Dharma for a Secular Age

396 Pages·2015·1.231 MB·English

by  Stephen Batchelor

After
Buddhism

AFTER
BUDDHISM
rethinking
the dharma for
a secular age

Stephen Batchelor
Published with assistance from the foundation established in mem-
ory of Philip Hamilton McMillan of the Class of 1894, Yale College.
Copyright © 2015 by Stephen Batchelor.
All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced, in whole or
in part, including illustrations, in any form (beyond that copying
permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and
except by reviewers for the public press), without written permis-
sion from the publishers.
Yale University Press books may be purchased in quantity for
educational, business, or promotional use. For information, please
e-mail [email protected] (U.S. office) or [email protected]
(U.K. office).
Map by Bill Nelson.
Designed by Mary Valencia.
Set in Scala type by Integrated Publishing Solutions.
Printed in the United States of America.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2015935009
ISBN 978-0-300-20518-3 (cloth : alk. paper)
A catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library.
This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO
Z39.48–1992 (Permanence of Paper).
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For Don Cupitt
The dharma is clearly visible, immediate, inviting, uplifting,
to be personally sensed by the wise.
—Gotama, the Buddha (c. 480–c. 400 bce)
The dharma of the buddhas has no special undertakings. Just act ordinarily,
without trying to do anything in particular. Move your bowels, piss, get
dressed, eat your rice, and if you get tired, lie down.
—Linji Yixuan (d. 866)
Contents
Preface ix
1. After Buddhism 1
2. Maha¯na¯ma: The Convert 29
3. A Fourfold Task 54
4. Pasenadi: The King 90
5. Letting Go of Truth 115
6. Sunakkhatta: The Traitor 151
7. Experience 178
8. J¯ivaka: The Doctor 206
9. The Everyday Sublime 231
10. A¯nanda: The Attendant 260
11. A Culture of Awakening 293
Afterword 323
Selected Discourses from the Pali Canon 333
Notes 343
Bibliography 365
Index 373
This page intentionally left blank
Preface
This book is an attempt to synthesize an understanding of Buddhism
that I have been working toward since my first publication, Alone with
Others, appeared in 1983. In the intervening thirty years I have pub-
lished a number of other writings that have branched off in different
directions but maintained, at least in the eyes of the author, a steady
focus on a single question: What does it mean to practice the dharma
of the Buddha in the context of modernity? My most recent publica-
tion, the essay “A Secular Buddhism” (2012), can be seen as a prepara-
tory sketch of what I seek to flesh out in this book.
I am indebted to Geshe Tamdrin Rabten for training me in Ti-
betan Buddhist logic, epistemology, and philosophy, which provided
the intellectual foundations for everything I have done since; Satya
Narayan Goenka for introducing me to the practice of vipassana¯ and
the early Buddhism of the Pali Canon; and Kusan Sunim for instruct-
ing me in the practice of Korean So˘n (Zen), which, together with mind-
ful awareness, continues as the basis for my practice of meditation.
While all of these Buddhist traditions have played an important role in
my understanding and practice of the dharma, my interpretations of cer-
tain Buddhist doctrines may strike some readers as highly unorthodox.
My primary authority for understanding what the Buddha taught
is the discourses of the Pali Canon. My inability to read Chinese is
ix