Confession of a Buddhist Atheist by Stephen Batchelor [EPUB] [PDF] {VTS}

Title: Confessions of a Buddhist Atheist
Author: Stephen Batchelor
Category: Non-Fiction
Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: Spiegel & Grau (March 8, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0385527071
ISBN-13: 978-0385527071



This upload is dedicated to my friend Anette1437280 , who is a dedicated scholar or reason and rational thought. May she ever continue to question and doubt, and be all the wiser for it. :)

Publisher's summary/promotional info - "Does Buddhism require faith? Can an atheist or agnostic follow the Buddha’s teachings without believing in reincarnation or organized religion?

This is one man’s confession.

In his classic Buddhism Without Beliefs, Stephen Batchelor offered a profound, secular approach to the teachings of the Buddha that struck an emotional chord with Western readers. Now, with the same brilliance and boldness of thought, he paints a groundbreaking portrait of the historical Buddha—told from the author’s unique perspective as a former Buddhist monk and modern seeker. Drawing from the original Pali Canon, the seminal collection of Buddhist discourses compiled after the Buddha’s death by his followers, Batchelor shows us the Buddha as a flesh-and-blood man who looked at life in a radically new way. Batchelor also reveals the everyday challenges and doubts of his own devotional journey—from meeting the Dalai Lama in India, to training as a Zen monk in Korea, to finding his path as a lay teacher of Buddhism living in France. Both controversial and deeply personal, Stephen Batchelor’s refreshingly doctrine-free, life-informed account is essential reading for anyone interested in Buddhism."

Review sample from Western Buddhism Review - "This ‘confession’ is quite a revelation. First, it suggests that Batchelor’s book, like his writing style and his Buddhism, is profoundly individualistic: it’s just his take on things. Second, his attitude to Buddhism is completely pragmatic – he treats it as ‘true’ only insofar as ‘it works’ and is useful. The ‘memoir’ part of his Confession is thus an account of how he became an individualist pragmatic kind of Buddhist, and the ‘declaration of faith’ part of his Confession is an attempt to read this kind of Buddhism back into the life and teaching of the Buddha."

The full review is here.

The torrent contains the front cover (above) and both the PDF and EPUB copies of the book. Please seed an enjoy! :-)