Secular Buddhism
As a secular Buddhism views is called the Buddhism that is different from metaphysical , esoteric or magical dissociate aspects of Buddhist traditions.
definition
Stephen Batchelor is one of the most influential authors on the concept of secular Buddhism . For him, the need for secular Buddhism arises from two aspects:
- The idea of reincarnation does not fit the western scientific worldview.
- The idea; that karma affects the cycle of reincarnation; can also not be combined with a scientific worldview.
practice
Batchelor does not want to reform existing traditions or establish a new one. Instead, he suggests that secular Buddhists turn to the texts of early Buddhism in order to understand what experiences the historical Buddha actually had as a person and what we can learn from them for ourselves. The primary purpose of this process of selection is to eliminate metaphysical statements from Indian traditions that existed before the time of the Buddha.
Key positions
This process of selection gives Batchelor four key positions in original Buddhism that secular Buddhists can adopt:
- The principle of arising in dependence
- The four noble truths
- The practice of mindfulness
- Independent questioning of teaching
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Stephen Bachelor: Buddhism 2.0. Buddhism News, accessed July 23, 2017 .