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Quote by 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.”

Quote by Stephen Batchelor

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

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“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

“Each time the dharma moved into a different civilization or historical period, it faced a twofold challenge: to maintain its integrity as an internally coherent tradition, and to express its vision in a way that responded to the needs of the new situation.”

Way Needs Different Challenges Situation Vision Periods Integrity Civilization Tradition Moved Historical Dharma New Situations

Author:Stephen Batchelor

“We can be consicous of how we tend to ignore or escape anguish rather than understand and accept it. We can be aware that even when we gain insight into these things, we rarely behave differently in the future. Despite our overt resolve, we are still creatures of habit.”

Stills Accepting Habit Creatures Gains Insight Despite Behave Resolve Anguish Creatures Of Habit

Author:Stephen Batchelor

“Expectations of goals and rewards (such as Enlightenment) are recognized for what they are: last-ditch attempts by the ghostly self to subvert the process to its own ends. The more we become conscious of the mysterious unfolding of life, the clearer it becomes that its purpose is not to fulfill the expectations of our ego.”

Ends Self Lasts Purpose Process Goal Ego Enlightenment Expectations Conscious Rewards Mysterious Unfolding

Author:Stephen Batchelor

“Exotic names, robes, insignia of office, titles - the trappings of religion - confuse as much as they help. They endorse the assumption of the existence of an elite whose explicit commitment grants them implicit extraordinariness.”

Helping Names Existence Office Commitment Titles Assumption Grants Elites Exotic Robes Explicit Implicit

Book:Buddhism without Beliefs: A Contemporary Guide to Awakening

Source: Buddhism without Beliefs: A Contemporary Guide to Awakening

“A compassionate heart still feels anger, greed, jealousy, and other such emotions. But it accepts them for what they are with equanimity, and cultivates the strength of mind to let them arise and pass without identifying with or acting upon them.”

Feels Mind Heart Stills Acting Emotion Accepting Greed Arise Compassionate Identifying Equanimity Strength Of Mind

Author:Stephen Batchelor

“The greatest threat to compassion is the temptation to succumb to fantasies of moral superiority.”

Compassion Moral Fantasy Threat Temptation Superiority Moral Superiority

Author:Stephen Batchelor

“Without a rigorous, self-critical discourse, one risks lapsing into pious platitudes and unexamined generalizations.”

Self Risk Critical Discourse Pious Generalization Platitudes

Author:Stephen Batchelor

“A secular approach is not a dumbing down, it's not reductively identifying Buddhism with one or two particular techniques of meditation, but it is actually a complete world view and way of life in this world.”

World Way Two Views Meditation This World Particular Buddhism Approach Technique Secular Identifying World View Dumbing Down

Author:Stephen Batchelor

“Consciousness is an emergent, contingent, and impermanent phenomenon. It has no magical capacity to break free from the field of events out of which it springs.”

Consciousness Break Events Fields Spring Capacity Phenomenon

Author:Stephen Batchelor