Contemplation and Tradition

Homework

(from the Ways of Knowing home page this week)

For this week's homework, we'll share perspectives "about how buddhism has been dominated by the monastic ethos of the east, and needs to be re-conceptualized from the ground up for our own cultures."  We can open up the discussion to include all religious views, and consider ways we have (or have not) been able to accomodate these.

Sources

• The first Ways of Knowing meeting which set expectations and directions for this group that still have hold: http://waysofknowing.kira.org/4Transcripts/2009.02.12_-_Workshop_01.
• http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/gg_live/gg_podcast/podcast/stephen_batchelor/
• http://www.stephenbatchelor.org/creating.html
• http://www.stephenbatchelor.org/other1.html
• http://www.tricycle.com/feature/crossroads?page=0,0
• The Art of Inquiry,  Art of Contemplation and Cornerstone Principles from the Cheng Hsin school.
• The Unfettered Mind and Lojong Mind Training.

Quotes

Batchelor finds the basis within buddhist philosophy to argue for a contemporary buddhism whose practitioners do not look to "buddhist tradition" as a source of ideological conviction and existential security, and do not emphasize withdrawal and transcendentalism as a way of life or define it as a central principle of a spiritual "path".

"In accordance with the central Buddhist doctrine of "conditionality," the concept of Sangha and the role of the monastic in Buddhist societies arose in dependence upon the socio-economic conditions of former times. And in accordance with the equally central notion of "impermanence," they too are subject to change. There is, nonetheless, a trend to overlook the implications of these doctrines on Buddhism itself and its institutions. This may in part be due to the one-sided interpretation of impermanence as "subject to destruction." This negative connotation obscures how it is equally a pre-condition for creation, transformation and renewal. Change is neither good nor bad: it is simply the way things are."
http://www.stephenbatchelor.org/creating.html

"The emptiness of self, for instance, is not the denial of individual uniqueness, but the denial of any permanent, partless and transcendent basis for individuality. The anguish and uncertainty of human existence are only exacerbated by the pre-conceptual, spasm-like grip in which such assumptions of transcendence hold us. While seeming to offer security in the midst of an unpredictable and transient world, paradoxically this grip generates an anxious alienation from the processes of life itself. The aim of Buddhist meditations on change, uncertainty and emptiness are to help one understand and accept these dimensions of existence and thus gently lead to releasing the grip.

"By paying mindful attention to the sensory immediacy of experience, we realize how we are created, moulded, formed by a bewildering matrix of contingencies that continually arise and vanish.

"Moreover, this gradual dissolution of a transcendental basis for self nurtures an empathetic relationship with others. The grip of self not only leads to alienation but numbs one to the anguish of others. Heartfelt appreciation of our own contingency enables us to recognize our inter-relatedness with other equally contingent forms of life. We find that we are not isolated units but participants in the creation of an ongoing, shared reality.

"A postmodern perspective would question the mythic status of Buddhism and Agnosticism. In letting go of ‘Buddhism’ as a grand, totalizing narrative that explains everything, we are freed to embark on the unfolding of our own individuation in the context of specific local and global communities."
http://www.stephenbatchelor.org/other3.html

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