My new book, Buddhism and Human Flourishing: A Modern Western Perspective (Palgrave MacMillan, 2020) is due out this spring. You can sign up here if you want to be notified when it is published. That book devotes several hundred pages to developing an argument I intend to present here in brief. It’s an argument about why certain traditional interpretations of Buddhism will not work for us today, and how they need to be—and are being—reinterpreted to make them more consistent with how we, as modern Westerners, make basic sense of the world. In this essay I do more than simply present my argument in brief. I also frame and develop it differently than how it is framed and developed it in my book.
I want to begin by laying out three broad philosophical propositions that underlie my critique of traditional Buddhist philosophy. If you agree with them, I think my critique of traditional understandings of Buddhism inevitably follows. If you disagree with them, you will understand exactly where our views diverge.
Proposition One: Reality-in-Itself is Unknowable
The first proposition is that we that we can never know what reality is in-itself, but only what reality is for creatures-such-as-us. By ”creatures-such-as-us,” I mean creatures that can only detect a limited part of the electromagnetic spectrum by sight, a limited range of acoustic frequencies by ear, and a limited number of chemical structures by smell or taste. If there are other things happening in the world—and there are a great many of them—radio waves, ultrahigh frequency pitches, non-odorous gases—we can’t know about them without the aid of instrumentation.
In addition to our sensory limitations, our human minds organize experience in terms of Kant’s a priori categories of time, space, and causality. We don’t see the world ”as is,” but only as our minds organize it for us.
Even more importantly, the aspects of the world that appear to consciousness do not present as patches of color and shape, but as ”objects-for-use.” We understand them in terms of the various ways we can interact with them as defined by our past experience and limited by our imagination. When we see tables and chairs, for example, we understand them immediately in terms of the kinds of uses we can make of them—tables are for putting things on, chairs for sitting on. Their meanings are implicit at first glance. We don’t have to deliberate about what they are. We know what-they-are-for-us immediately from all of our prior dealings with them as living agents in the world. It isn’t something our minds ”tack on” to visual images post-perception according to laws of association. That allows tables and chairs to stay as unproblematic parts of the settled background when our intentions focus us on other aspects of the visual field—for example, when we are searching for signs of an expected friend’s arrival. The tables and chairs are there practically unnoticed, but if anyone calls our attention to them, we already know just what they are.
Another way of stating this first proposition is that we can’t know reality, full stop. We can only know what reality-is-for-us. Given this proposition, the Buddhist claim that meditation allows us see reality ”as it really is,” is a non-starter. Meditation enables us to experience our inner and outer worlds in fresh and newly meaningful ways, but it never gives us access to the world free from our own point-of-view.
Proposition Two: Languages Cannot Provide Complete Descriptions of Reality
The second proposition concerns language. One way to state this proposition is that the nature of reality is so intricately complex that no language system—or coordinated group of language systems—can describe it completely. Whatever we have to say about reality omits important aspects of it—perhaps an infinitely large number of aspects. Each language system, if it is useful, captures some salient features of reality that are useful to us for some purpose. Our everyday language refers to tables and chairs as ”solid.” The language of physics describes tables and chairs as mostly empty space. The language of Wordsworth and Keats is useful for some purposes, the language of quantum mechanics is useful for others. Religion is a language that may describe important features of the world that the languages of the sciences omit. Languages are tools rather than complete descriptions of the world. When physics completes its ”theory of everything,” it will never be able to tell us whether Elizabeth Bennett is a more admirable fictional character than Anna Karenina.
We can immediately see the limitations of language when we imagine trying to describe the taste of a strawberry to someone who has never tasted one. What can one possibly say that captures the entirety of the experience? No matter how lengthy and skillful our description, something vital gets omitted. Something very similar occurs when we try to capture the detailed texture of a dream in words: it’s like trying to capture water with a sieve.
Buddhist philosophy is another language system for describing the world. It introduces new terms such as ”emptiness” and ”suchness” which describe important aspects of the world previously undescribed. But whatever Buddhism is, it is just an alternative language system for describing matters of importance to us. It can never be a final, fixed, complete language of everything.
Proposition Three: The Good Life
The third proposition concerns the nature of the human project: what exactly are we doing here? It suggests, as Aristotle did in his Nichomachean Ethics, that we are all trying to live the best lives we possibly can according to our individual understandings of what ”a good life” consists of.
There are many different possible understandings of what ”a good life” is, but this is not an arena where anything goes. For one thing, a good life must be a reasonably happy one, whatever we understand ”happiness” to mean. A life of unrelenting depression and anxiety would not count as a good life. But just being ”happy” is not sufficient for a life to be ”good.” Manic persons may be phenomenally happy while conducting their lives in ways that lead to assured ruin. Psychopaths may be pleased with themselves, but we wouldn’t want to give their lives a nod of approval.
You may be familiar with philosopher Robert Nozick’s ”experience machine” thought experiment in which a scientist offers a person the option of either: a) living a relatively decent life with good enough relationships, good enough health, and a good enough job, albeit accompanied by life’s usual frustrations, disappointments, and losses, or b) being hooked up to a machine in which one would have no real accomplishments or relationships, but would have a dream-like consciousness of one successive moment of bliss after another—a life much happier than a ”real” life. Given this hypothetical choice, most people would opt for the real life. We want something more from life than just smiley-faced happiness. We want a life that is in some way objectively ”good” as well.
Buddhism and The Good Life
This brings us to the matter of Buddhism. If we weren’t born Buddhist, why bother with it? The answer is, we hope it will make our lives better in some way—that it will make us happier, or better people—whatever those terms may mean for us.
Buddhism offers a particular set of promises in this regard that are rather extraordinary. It promises, among other things, an end to all suffering. It claims it can make us virtuous in all kinds of ways—filled with compassion and loving-kindness, and spontaneously devoted to non-greed, non-harming, and non-grasping. It claims it can free us from attachment. It promises a gnostic experience that can radically improve our lives, decentering us from our preoccupation with our ”selves” and connecting us more intimately to the world. The Buddhist ”enlightenment mythology” suggests a lengthy and arduous path of practice followed by a transformative experience that completely and irrevocably changes us for the better so that we are perpetually content and always do what’s right.
Western culture offers a competing vision of well-being with a more modest set of promises. The competing vision is Aristotle’s eudaimonia, or human flourishing. Aristotle thought that the good life was a life of virtuous activity. He thought that if we developed strengths of character through practice—strengths such as courage and honesty—and if we developed our capacity for practical wisdom—knowing the right thing to do in each situation in accord with reason—and if we had the relative good fortune of having sufficient possessions, friends, and health—then we would be as happy as we possibly could be. Not perfectly forever-after happy, but as good as it gets for humans.
Now I want to suggest that most modern Westerners find it relatively impossible to believe in the Buddhist Mythology of Enlightenment. We’ve all heard about ”enlightened” gurus and Zen masters who exploit and abuse their students. We may have met Buddhist teachers we greatly admire, but they, to all appearances, seem to retain various and sundry ”imperfections.” If anyone has attained perfect Enlightenment, we haven’t met him or her, and neither has anyone we know. Perhaps they exist in a cave somewhere in Nepal, but most of us know in our bones that will never be us, just as we know that if we practice the piano for the next 10,000 hours we will never be Vladimir Horowitz. It’s just not in the cards for us.
Even if it could be in the cards for us, would we really want to spend all those years in a cave? Is that really what we want when we aspire to a better life? Do we really not want to have any attachments? No attachments to parents, children, and spouses? Do we really want to have infinite and impartial compassion, loving strangers and insurance salesman the same way we do our children? Do we really want to give up all our desires? No desires for good food, good health, useful work, moving aesthetic experiences, and reciprocal love and friendship?
I suspect the answer to all these questions is ”no.” We want desire fulfillment, but we want to pursue the right desires in the right kind of way, and in a way that doesn’t compromise our values. We want the right kind of attachments to the right kind of people that express mutual love, friendliness, respect. We know that good relationships may not last and that losing them will cause us grief—but we also think avoiding attachments to prevent the pain of loss is an impoverished way to live a life. We want to extend good will and compassion towards all people, but love our families and friends more than acquaintances and strangers. These are all Aristotelian rather than Buddhist aspirations.
So, if we Westerners are really at heart Aristotelians, what good is Buddhism? I want to suggest that Buddhism contains features Aristotelianism lacks, and that a syncretic Buddhist-Aristotelian model of the good life makes better sense than one or the other alone. I want to further suggest that Buddhist practice can be done within this Buddhist-Aristotelian frame, and that this is what most Western Buddhists are in fact already doing without acknowledgment.
What features does Buddhism possess that Aristotelianism does not? First, Buddhism emphasizes certain virtues that Aristotelianism ignores—compassion, first and foremost. Second, Buddhism offers a practice—meditation—that increases one’s qualities of mindfulness and discernment and greatly improves the quality of one’s life. Third, Buddhism offers a critique of Selfhood that de-emphasizes self-gratification and increases identification with others. Fourth, Buddhism offers a vision of the all-togetherness-of things that stresses interdependence and connection—a vision of the wholeness of being and our belongingness in the world. Our ability to maintain this vision while negotiating the vicissitudes of life with its various losses, traumas, discouragements, and disappointments may be Buddhism’s most important contribution to well-being.
In this Buddhist-Aristotelian frame, when we meditate or engage in compassionate activity, we’re building the character strengths, skills, insights, and states of mind that increase the likelihood of feeling happier and being better people. I think that is sufficient reason to practice diligently.
In addition, when we give up the mythology of perfect Enlightenment, we get something back in return. We no longer measure our progress against an unrealistic yardstick. The goal of practice is no longer a fantasied perfection, but just to be better than we were the day before. We no longer have to strive to achieve an unobtainable trans-human state. We no longer have to struggle against any and all desires and attachments. We just need to become more discerning as to which are in our own and other’s best long-term interests and which are not. This is a do-able program.
Thanks for this concise summation of the main propositions put forward in your forthcoming book, Seth. I’m very much looking forward to reading the full version as soon as Buddhism and Human Flourishing is published.
Thank you, Tom!
Dear Seth, as a ”Western” Buddhist, by which I assume you mean I am culturally ”Western”, which also implies I can never escape my western roots and become culturally ”Eastern”, no matter how many years I live in Bhutan or how many temples I practice meditation in, I found your discussions of Buddhism weak at best, and misguided at worst.
Gosh, let’s just make more do-able and moral choices of which goals to pursue, and we will be happier and and so will everyone else around us because we are all being a bit more Buddhist. Hopefully, you didn’t say this and also vote for Donald Trump, in which case you are lying to yourself on two fronts.
”Religion” is not a language. German is a language, and many diverse religions (and philosophies) have been established and practiced in it. So with all of the world’s spoken (or now ”dead”) languages. Math is our only other ”language”. That is why it is used in sciences (like quantum mechanics) where verbal language has no equivalent (and vice versa – no equation can describe love like Shakespeare). But those are our only two choices. Calling systems of thought ”languages” is philosophically sloppy at best, and Aristotelian at worse (who often used loosely or tightly woven language to ”win”
logical arguments. ”Logic” is also a system of thought that tries to use basic math principles applied to language structure to enhance understanding.).
But Buddhism is a ”practice” (of self-knowledge), one that has been turned into a religion (as was ”yoga” at that time of history). ”Merging” it with the philosophy of Artistotle is like putting the roast in a blender, adding the Merlot, and calling it Sunday dinner. They are completely different things.
Dismissing that Buddhism can ”reveal” reality misunderstands Buddhism at its most fundamental level. The practice of Buddhism reveals reality only to one person. At a time. The person who practices it. It is not your reality. It is theirs. Even a cursory knowledge of Einstein (much less quantum study) establishes quite clearly that no one is ”in” the same time, because none of us is in the ”same” space-time. That doesn’t make time (or space-time) ”not real” (as the physicist Rovelli just tried to argue in a poorly written book) . It just makes it unique to every person (in some ways) but all of these ”realities” still follow the same operational ”rules” (eg, E=mc2).
For Buddha, those ”rules” are (what we call) morality. Yes we should all be more moral as you say. But not for the reasons you say it.
I recommend Michael Carrithers ”The Buddha” (Oxford, 1980) for further reading. And it’s a bit cheesy to flog your own book in a summary. Make your case. If it’s good we will find your work.
Hi, Mitch! I guess we profoundly disagree. If you find that you can genuninely believe in rebirth, celestial bodhisattvas, and end-states of perfect enlightenment, more power to you. I find that my practice doesn’t lead me in that direction, and I don’t find those ideas helpful for my practice. If you think that you can directly perceive reality simpliciter and that your experiencing can be exhaustively described by language, I allow you the right to believe those things, although I can’t believe them—they run deeply contrary to my own understanding and experience. And lastly, if you aren’t aspiring to live a life that is happy and good, however you understand these terms, then what are you engaging in Buddhist practice for? Mitch, I am only sharing what my experience has been and what works for me with the thought that it might be helpful for others who have found many traditional Buddhist teachings perplexing, but who love the practice. If you find traditional beliefs more in line with your own experience and understanding, then please continue with it. As I say in my book, I expect that more traditional approaches will continue to find their adherents among Westerners, but that something like I am proposing is, in fact, already the dominant approach to Buddhism in the West, at least in vipassana and Zen practice communities.
Well Seth, expecting Westerners to practice Buddhism ”accurately” is like expecting North Koreans to practice Christianity ”correctly”. So what if the hippie communities in Northern California have been doing it wrong, or the Sedona art crowd?
All the things you quote about Buddhism that you can’t ”genuinely believe in” are similar to the self-castigating practices of Christianity in the Middle Ages. Does that mean that the 1.1 billion Christians in the world believe in them now? Or that they don’t believe in Christianity *now* because they performed those practices *then*? I thought you were Aristotelian? That argument lacks all logic. Religions are cultural and sociological. They arose from their time. And evolve with time, to fit current memes.
But I will stop digressing. I happened on this web site because, after a fair amount of reading and study and Practice (I live in Asia) I think there is a fundamental link between Duhkha and Angst (in the formal, Heideggerian sense, hence the ”existential” Buddhist search.).
So I was quite surprised to find a ”capitalist” Buddhist self-promotion piece that as my first entry, hence my posts. Moreover, a essay that tries to link Buddhism to Artistotle, who believed that 1) some people deserve to be slaves; 2) the world has been in existence forever: 3) things reproduce because they want to be like God (and full of love). Alan Watts linked Buddhism to several religious lines of belief; I think that ground has been covered.
For those who are still not convinced that science and Buddhism cannot be linked, I urge you to read ”The Monk and The Philosopher”, the debate between Jean Francois Revel (the famous French philosopher) and his son, Matthieu Richard (the Buddhist monk), who is as charming in person as in his book (he quit his medical studies to practice). I can assure you that the concept of ”merging” Is thoroughly covered (and dismissed) in their conversion (see my blender metaphor above). Your proposal to merge one, single, quite ancient specific thinker, with one equally ancient but still-globally-recognized practitioner of self-understanding appears facile, even if it’s couched in a 20-dollar word like ”syncretic”.
Ans I have news for you: monks have fathers and mothers and siblings they love. They don’t give up their life. They just give up suffering so that they can focus on what’s important. I guess what’s important to you is selling more books.
If this is the ”scientific Buddhism in the Aristotelean tradition” argument then where is the discussion of what is moral, which was his central focus? We are destroying the planet where we live and all living things on it at an unprecedented pace, so is not climate destruction the most pressing moral imperative of all humans now ? Shouldn’t everyone immediately join Greenpeace ?
Did I miss that in your answer ?
Hi Seth, hi Mitch!
I haven’t been studying Buddhism for very long but I will say that what Seth has written regarding his book resonates with me. I too have great difficulty with the metaphysical aspects of all religions. If the book helps more materialist folks like myself along the eightfold path, that seems like a worthy endevor. In any case, I don’t know why discussing a book a book one has just written should be referred to in a derogatory manner as “flogging” it. Sounds like someone needs to do a few more meditations on right speech. Seth, thank you for your contribution; I’ll be buying the book.
PS And I am sorry about the typos. I am writing from my older (and smaller) iPhone and trying to write quickly. But I am sure you get the drift.
I can only repeat my shock that an essay that purports to link Aristotle and Buddha does not discuss morals.
And I don’t always life a life that is happy and good because I am often too busy trying to help the people (and things) that the rest of the (overfed, happily psychologically isolated) world tries to ignore.
Here’s one:
https://www.buddhistglobalrelief.org/index.php/en/
Cheers.
Mitch, I’m sorry you find informing people who have followed my blog for ten years that I’ve written a book they might happen to be interested in to be “shocking.” Every author hopes that readers will read what he or she has written, or why bother to write?
I think you misunderstand what I say, both in my essay and in my book. I agree that “our” Buddhism today is not the Buddhism of medieval times. My book discusses the evolution of Buddhism from India to East Asia to the West, and addresses the question of why Western Buddhist modernism has taken the form it has. It is not critical of these changes, and does not say that one form of practice is right and another is mistaken. It also discusses why my Buddhist-Aristotelan synthesis offers a better support for a socially engaged Buddhism than traditional Buddhist teachings do, and has a lot to say about creating a more just world. Finally, the book is very concerned with ethics and morals—it has two chapters largely devoted to just that. I am not so much interested in Aristotle the logician, or Aristotle the metaphysican, as I am in Aristotle the ethicist, and despite his repulsive views on slavery, women, and “barbarians” he has a suprising lot to interesting things to say about ethics and morals that is still highly relevent today. His Nichomachean Ethics remains an indispensible classic, and you might actually enjoy reading it.
Thank you for sharing the information on Buddhist Global Relief. I have been an active supporter of Buddhist Global Relief for many years now, and they are a wonderful organization.
I rarely comment on blogs, however after 40 years of Zen practice it is encouraging to see someone has come to many of the same conclusions as I. I recall introducing inmates at a prison where I taught Zen to Nozick’s experience machine. Not so surprising, many were willing to trade in their existence for the machine experience, though still a majority declined. I was especially struck that those more inclined to go for the machine were also the more traditional Buddhists. Despite the Mahayana equating Nirvana and samsara, the notion of cessation as the goal dies hard. Other metaphysical ideas that lurk in the background of Buddhist thought create other confusions, and what is presented to the average Westerner from teachers who have now absorbed a variety of teachings is often an incoherent mishmash of conflicting approaches based on differing metaphysical views. Most Buddhist practitioners I have encountered believe in the existence of Buddhism rather than Buddhisms.
I recall years ago being a history of philosophy student and being converted by each philosopher I read only to have each successive philosopher one demolish the previous. Many that come to Buddhism encounter the first systematic world view they can believe in. Critiquing one’s ideology is hard painful work, and won’t win you approval by many within the fold.. Despite the oft repeated injunction in Zen to not cling to fix views, the ferocity that Buddhist dogma is defended is no less than other adherents of their chosen ideology. Being willing to look critically at one’s views is as much a part of the practice as sitting in meditation. Unfortunately I have seen a lot of suffering caused by those unwilling to do so, both for themselves and others. Rather than challenging oneself with hard, deep, relentless questioning, it is so much easier and tempting to simply swallow another’s answer. That is the antithesis of practice.
I wonder if you are familiar with the Post Traditional Buddhist site. Matthew O’Connell is doing a marvelous job in bringing guest speakers on in his Imperfect Buddha podcasts to explore this great meeting of East and West.
Shido, thank you for your thoughtful comment. It seems we are in accord. Thanks also for the information on Matthew O’Connell’s website. I will look into it.
Hi Seth! May I disagree? I think you made a little misunderstanding of Buddhism. In your words it seems a buddhist wants a life in an isolated mountain, or if in society, a life of an indigent, or someone completely unatached. I don´t think that´s true. A buddhist may decide to do that, but he won´t consider that superior than a common life of our times. The true teaching in my opinion, is to accept any life. Of course, if you are in a Brazilian prison it is unbearable. But if you have a little luck, than you should not desire a life different from yours. So, if what you have are your frieds and family,that is what you should accept and cherish. We know all is transitory, but that doesn´t mean we should not keep a certain bond. We know we may lose them, but we enjoy them while they last. To refuse our lives, to revolt, to crave for a change that would be not buddhist. A good buddhist is also a good father, a good friend, and a good one whatever your profession. The detachment is the source of your peace and compassion, and it is perfectably possible anywhere. To prefer a life where a stranger is the same as your family is to be attached to this life. There´s no problem prioritazing your family and friends. It is the same as that indifferent life you seem to believe is the true buddhist one. It is not up to you to decide your life, it is up to you to accept it. There´s nothing wrong about money insofar you acquire it for the maintenance of your biological body and of your family. Perhaps in short words the desirable life is one of no compulsion. And that´s perfectly possible nowadays. In the noble truths it is written “don´t crave”, not “don´t wish”. So, if you have the intelectual knowledge of the absolute transitoriness of everything, that will make you happy and a good person whatever your life. You may be a monk, or a father. It is the same! Do you see my point? Acceptance is accepatnce of being a writer and publishing a book if that is the life possible for you. To complain about that, to feel inferior because you don´t have the same feelings towards the beggar that you have for your son that is not detachment, that is a desire for a specific way of being, while the buddhist should accpet anything. If you feel satisfied with what you have, that´s buddhism. Whatever you have. That goes for other philosophies also. And , frankly, I don´t think in any time or place a person loved mankind equally. A certain preferance we all have. It is up to the buddhist also to accept he is human. If you are satisfied it is ok.
JoÁ£o, Thanks for adding your perspective. The funny thing is, I don’t think you are really disagreeing with me. We both agree on what Buddhism ought to be and what it is for us. The “true” Buddhism that you are pointing to (and that closely agrees with my reading) however is already a very modern Western (and heavily Zen-inflected) revisionist view of Buddhism. Just be aware that this view is only one understanding of Buddhism and there are many other more traditional understandings that disagree with us. You write “The true teaching in my opinion, is to accept any life.” This reminds me of the title of Maezumi Roshi’s book “Appreciate Your Life.” Our life is the only one we have. It is the perfect life for us, but as Suzuki Roshi added, we can still all use some improvement. Best wishes!
Thanks for reading my comment Seth. Yes, I agree there is not just one buddhism. And actually, I think in the very begining it was a thought harder to follow than it is now. I think the idea of the absence of a self was a revolution in India, and difficult to grasp. But I think the idea of accepting any life was there already. I may be wrong. I read another Suzuki I think. DT Suzuki. Is it the same person? To be honest I found really hard to understand him. I am friends with a Lama. From Tibetan buddhism. I think he agrees with what I said, but not completely sure.But he is easier to follow than Suzuki. I think Zen Buddhism is a very difficult path. Anyway I am pleased to talk to you and I think both Aristotle and Buda are people who saw deep into life and spreading their thoughts goes to the benefit of everybody. I have heard many times that Aristotle is a more “palatable” thinker than Stoics and Cetics in ancient Greece. To be honest, I am not so sure. These questions go far. I wish you luck with your book !
Thanks, although I may have a few niggles with it this undoubtedly is the kind of underlying thought we need to promote secular Buddhism. That Buddishm is, over and above all, a philosophy in the same class, and to be treated the same way, as the Greek eudemonia philosophies.
Thanks, Ian, for coming across the pond to offer your words of appeciation. Niggles, by the way, are also always appreciated! I do not personally consider myself a “secular” Buddhist, but I am sympathetic to their project.
Hi Seth – sometime reader of your blog, longtime student of Buddhism and philosophy. Eastern yearnings, Western archetypes. I’m going to buy the book
Wayfairer, I hope you find it worthwhile!
I enjoyed this essay so much I read it twice. It speaks to me and my experience. I think I now understand better why Amod Lele refers to you as a ”Eudaimonian” Buddhist. Maybe I’m taking him out of context?
I wish you had the time to write more posts on this blog. (I assume you are quite busy).
I will be buying your book.
Regards,
Allen
Thank you, Allen. You are not mistaken. I think it is fair to call my Buddhism a “Eudaimonic Buddhism,” and to place me in the same general camp as Amod Lele and Dale Wright. I wish I could write more posts, too. It is not so much that I am “busy” as it is, I have to wait until inspiration calls. I don’t want to keep on writing the same thing, and after 130 essays on this blog, it seems harder to write something that is truly new and fresh. Right now, I am beginning to appreciate how much the early Chinese philosophies of Kongzi and Mengzi resonate with Aristotelian virtue ethics, and how much of the philosophy we call “Confucianism” found its way into Chinese Buddhism and eventually Zen. This is something I never really appreciated before. Maybe that will be a new topic down the road. Best wishes!
Is your new book a college textbook? I ask because it’s priced differently than ”Living Zen”… Also, wondering if ”Living Zen” was written withIn the context of three propositions in this post.
Thank you
Allen, Buddhism and Human Flourshing is a philosophical investigation published by a scholarly press—they are always a bit pricey—whereas Living Zen is a popular mass-market book priced to sell and designed for people who know absolutely nothing about Zen and who are vaguely curious about it but don’t really want to go too deeply into it. My guess is that Living Zen wouldn’t be an appropriate book for you!
Seth – thank you for this and for your recent article in Tricycle, which raise important ethical issues. Re: Buddhist sects that don’t “aim for perfection” and are realist about our desires, etc. I’d welcome your thoughts on Shin/Pure Land practice.
Ed
Ed, I’m glad you liked both this blog post and the Tricycle article. I don’t have anything to say about Shin practice, which I only have a superficial knowledge of. But on a related note, I think so-called convert Buddhism can learn a lot from the Buddhisms of Asian-American communities. Convert Buddhism focuses too much on meditation, mystical experience, and magical expectations about attainments, and not enough on simply cultivating one’s heart and mind to become a generous, caring, harmonious member of the communities to which one belongs.
Thanks for your reply. I was in a Shin sangha a while back – the end of your last sentence is exactly what their practice is about!
Dear Seth,
I enjoyed your post immensely and it resonated with me completely. I came to this post via, Secular Buddhist newsletter. I can’t see what Mitch is not agreeing with in your blog. What is so ‘shocking’ about promoting one’s own book in a blog post? Anyway, I have been a Buddhist practitioner for a long time and ended up investigating mindfulness scientifically. I have been awarded a PhD for doing that! As some traditional Buddhist practitioners adhere to the letter, rather than the spirit of what the Buddha taught, scientists have reduced, as they are wont to with everything, Buddhism to Mindfulness. I believe Buddhism is about living right and most other ancient philosophies such as Stoicism and Hinduism have advocated the same thing. Knowing how to live in the right way IS enlightenment. No need to chase some elusive state. I think that’s what the Buddha taught. I will buy your book and read your other blogs. Thanks.
Thanks, Harry! Glad you enjoyed reading this post!