Thursday, April 08, 2010

Confession of a Buddhist Atheist

"To steady one's gaze on the finitude, contingency, and anguish of one's existence is not easy; it requires mindfulness and concentration."

Stephen Batchelor in Confession of a Buddhist Atheist

I'm reading it on a kindle, so no page reference.

I'm thinking of developing a puja from some of his writings.

I am enjoying this book. I like the intellectual tour de force. I've read his other books. I like his freedom of thought. He's more into confrontation than consolation. He dislikes other power. He does not discuss sangha much, mostly in terms of disagreement. When I met him he said the other star Buddhists he hangs out with are his sangha and the editorial staff at Tricycle, but I thought that wasn't really a satisfactory answer. He was quite gracious to meet with the FWBO NYC sangha. He gave us a signed book, which was very generous. (Give it back Andrew!) Nevertheless this was an awesome book in many ways, and I really like him as a writer. I highly recommend all his works, and this latest is another sterling book that I quite enjoyed. An excellent blend of the personal and thoughts, practice and experiences.

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