DiscussWorldIssues - Socio-Economic Religion and Political Uncensored Debate - View Single Post - Is modern "Buddhism" moving away from the teachings of the Buddha ?

**Mr Andrews** · 12-01-2010, 07:37 AM

Hi Glow,

My use of the word 'preposterous' in connection with Batchelor as a teacher was purely a rather forceful personal opinion !

As well as writing books he also functions in a teaching capacity. From his website...." For several months each year he travels worldwide to lead meditation retreats and teach Buddhism "....and personally I wouldn't consider it worth investigating him as a teacher.

I'm not sure why you think I'm pitting the Forest Tradition against Batchelor, that certainly wasn't my intention, perhaps its my muddled way of presenting my views. The topic is "Is modern Buddhism moving away from the teachings of the Buddha" and I was supporting the teachings of the Forest Tradition (which isn't moving away from the teachings of the Buddha) as being very relevant to the modern world.

Sorry if I caused any misunderstanding.

Hi Aloka-D. Okay, I think I understand what you mean now.

I think I probably muddled my first post in this thread wrong when I said that monasticism was a "stumbling block." I think I may have seen it that way when I posted that, but now I realize that I have learned quite a lot from monks and nuns. My point was that, although in the suttas we see the monastic community communicating all manner of dharma to laypeople, this hasn't always been how it's worked out historically. From accounts I've read and my own experiences in Asia, the laity don't really know about the dharma beyond the very basics and the monastic community didn't have any interest in sharing it with them until fairly recently. Places like Amaravati in England and Dhammaloka in Australia are quite novel in that they exist to offer the dharma to an audience that includes people from all lifestyles: not just monastics.

Lay people are now interested in really, seriously studying meditation and the suttas and the dharma in detail whereas, traditionally, (and this is the case even in the Buddha's time), such people were not expected to take up such a dedicated practice. The Buddha's prescription for lay people is fairly limited. People want more than that now. That's why I think "modern" Buddhism is actually a propagation of the historical Buddha's message: it's allowing more people than ever to interact more intimately with his message than ever.

12-01-2010, 07:37 AM	#38
Mr Andrews Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 347 Senior Member	Hi Glow, My use of the word 'preposterous' in connection with Batchelor as a teacher was purely a rather forceful personal opinion ! As well as writing books he also functions in a teaching capacity. From his website...." For several months each year he travels worldwide to lead meditation retreats and teach Buddhism "....and personally I wouldn't consider it worth investigating him as a teacher. I'm not sure why you think I'm pitting the Forest Tradition against Batchelor, that certainly wasn't my intention, perhaps its my muddled way of presenting my views. The topic is "Is modern Buddhism moving away from the teachings of the Buddha" and I was supporting the teachings of the Forest Tradition (which isn't moving away from the teachings of the Buddha) as being very relevant to the modern world. Sorry if I caused any misunderstanding. Hi Aloka-D. Okay, I think I understand what you mean now. I think I probably muddled my first post in this thread wrong when I said that monasticism was a "stumbling block." I think I may have seen it that way when I posted that, but now I realize that I have learned quite a lot from monks and nuns. My point was that, although in the suttas we see the monastic community communicating all manner of dharma to laypeople, this hasn't always been how it's worked out historically. From accounts I've read and my own experiences in Asia, the laity don't really know about the dharma beyond the very basics and the monastic community didn't have any interest in sharing it with them until fairly recently. Places like Amaravati in England and Dhammaloka in Australia are quite novel in that they exist to offer the dharma to an audience that includes people from all lifestyles: not just monastics. Lay people are now interested in really, seriously studying meditation and the suttas and the dharma in detail whereas, traditionally, (and this is the case even in the Buddha's time), such people were not expected to take up such a dedicated practice. The Buddha's prescription for lay people is fairly limited. People want more than that now. That's why I think "modern" Buddhism is actually a propagation of the historical Buddha's message: it's allowing more people than ever to interact more intimately with his message than ever.
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