Home / Quotes / Quote by Stephen Batchelor

Quote by Stephen Batchelor

“Our conceptions of the world affect our perceptions of the world which, in turn, condition the way we subsequently conceive the world.”

Quote by Stephen Batchelor

Book:Alone with Others: An Existential Approach to Buddhism

Work

Alone with Others: An Existential Approach to Buddhism

This book delves into the principles of Buddhism, interpreting them through the lens of existentialist thought. It examines the human condition and the nature of existence as seen in Buddhist teachings. more

Author

Stephen Batchelor

Stephen Batchelor is a renowned author and Buddhist thinker. Born on April 7, 1953, he is known for his contributions to the modern interpretation of Buddhism. Batchelor began studying Buddhism in the early 1970s and has received extensive Buddhist training in the United Kingdom and Sri Lanka. His work seeks to combine the core teachings of Buddhism with modern life, emphasizing personal practice and spiritual freedom. more

You May Also Like

“The origin of the conflict, frustration, and anxiety we experience does not lie in the nature of the world itself but in our distorted conceptions of the world.”

World Doe Lying Conflict Anxiety Frustration Conception

Book:Alone with Others: An Existential Approach to Buddhism

Source: Alone with Others: An Existential Approach to Buddhism

“It has taken four billion years of evolution to generate this kind of organism with this kind of brain, and yet we wake up in the morning and feel bored.”

Feels Years Kind Brain Morning Taken Four Evolution Wake Up Billions Bored Organisms

Author:Stephen Batchelor

“The idea that there will be something spiritual or subtle, some sort of consciousness that can escape the collapse of the body and brain, is not very credible in the modern scientific worldview.”

Ideas Body Spiritual Brain Consciousness Modern Subtle Collapse Worldview Credible

Author:Stephen Batchelor

“Living from our deepest understanding requires an enormous effort, especially when it goes against the stream of our instinctually programmed perceptions of the world.”

World Understanding Effort Perception Enormous Streams Perception Of The World

Author:Stephen Batchelor

“Buddhism, I think, is probably facing the single most difficult transition from one historical epoch to another, which is really the transition to modernity.”

Thinking Difficult Buddhism Historical Transition Modernity Epoch

Author:Stephen Batchelor

“So the Buddha is presenting awakening not as a single mystical experience that may come upon us at some meditation, some private moment of transcendence, but rather as a new engagement with life. He is offering us a relationship to the world that is more sensitized to suffering and the causes of suffering, and he gives rise to the possibility of another kind of culture, another kind of civilization.”

World Giving Kind May Moments Suffering Culture Causes Meditation Possibility Civilization Awakening Engagement Offering Mystical Transcendence Presenting Mystical Experiences

Author:Stephen Batchelor

“I reject karma and rebirth not only because I find them unintelligible, but because I believe they obscure and distort what the Buddha was trying to say. Rather than offering the balm of consolation, the Buddha encouraged us to peer deep and unflinchingly into the heart of the bewildering and painful experience that life can so often be.”

Trying Believe Heart I Believe Painful Karma Rejects Offering Peers Obscure Consolation Rebirth Often Is Painful Experiences

Author:Stephen Batchelor

“As for the law of moral causation ('karma'): this is human justice dressed up as cosmic justice and then imputed to the impersonal workings of the natural world.”

World Humans Law Natural Justice Moral Karma Cosmic Natural World Dressed Up Causation

Author:Stephen Batchelor

“To preserve the integrity of the tradition, we have to distinguish between what is central to that integrity and what is peripheral. We have to discern between what elements are vital for the survival of dharma practice and what are alien cultural artefacts that might obstruct that survival.”

Might Practice Integrity Elements Survival Tradition Aliens Preserves Dharma Artefacts

Author:Stephen Batchelor

“The individuation of dharma practice occurs whenever priority is given to the resolution of a personal existential dilemma over the need to conform to the doctrines of a Buddhist orthodoxy. Individuation is a process of recovering personal authority through freeing ourselves from the constraints of collectively held belief systems.”

Needs Belief Given Process Practice Authority Priorities Doctrine Buddhist Resolution Existential Conform Constraints Dharma Orthodoxy Dilemma Belief Systems Recovering Individuation

Author:Stephen Batchelor