Protestant Buddhism

 In the very near future I hope to be doing a blog or two which I shall term for now as the Protestantization of Buddhism (include Zen in that, also).  One of the leading proponents of this is Stephen Batchelor and those who follow his ideas—or should I say, ideology?

It almost goes without saying this, but Batchelor has been very critical of Buddhism, in general.  He disrobed twice: once in Tibetan Buddhism and once in Korean Zen.  This is fitting for someone with a Protestant attitude especially when Holmes Hartshorne reminds Protestants “of their responsibility to be critical of religion, especially their own” (The Faith to Doubt,  p. x).  

It is no surprise that Batchelor and secular Buddhists are critical of their own religion which is Buddhism.  But then the question arises, how much are we supposed to doubt our religion which happens to be Buddhism, including Zen?  Arguably, Batchelor went too far with his book entitled, Buddhism Without Beliefs (1997).  It came not too long after his other book, The Faith to Doubt (1990) which, curiously, bears the same title as Hartshorne’s book, The Faith to Doubt (1963).

As Buddhists with strong Protestant leanings, for Batchelor and his followers there can be no privileged truth nor incontestable values; moreover that criticism, they believe, can lead us to truth being like a path.  With this comes faith and doubt, the faith that gives courage and makes radical doubt feasible and justifiable, for it transcends all error, or so it is believed.  But is this really an authentic reverence for the Buddha’s teaching and the truth? Isn’t Batchelor really trying to make a new understanding of Buddhism as if to suggest that his interpretation of Buddhism offers a better form of Buddhism—a Protestant form—one more suitable for the modern world in which each individual decides for himself whether a doctrine is true or not based upon their peculiar needs?

 

Comments

[Thezennist]

Methexis:

"As a matter of fact, Zhuangzi influenced Chan in such a profound way that one cannot imagine what the Chan linguistic strategy would be without Zhuangzi’s imprint" (Youru Wang, Linguistic Strategies in Daoist Zhuangzi and Chan Buddhism: The Other Way of Speaking (New York: Routledge Courzon, 2003), 13).

[Methexis]

With Protestantism, Christianity found its true form. Before that, it was still mixed with paganism and Greek philosophy (Neo-Platonism & Aristotle). With Protestantism, Christianity purified itself from these heterogenous elements.

Recently I've been researching Christianity very closely and I come to the conclusion that Reformed Christianity is the true form, especially in its Calvinist guise (yes, predestination has to be a part of it).

So I'm not sure you picked a good example! Protestantization does not mean secularization! As you know better than me, being an American, Protestantism even lead to Christian fundamentalism. Protestants can be more "old-skool" than even Catholics (which Catholic believes in Genesis literally? not the Catholics I've met, and I live in a Catholic country!)

I think Buddhism *already* had a Protestant movement, and it is *not* the "secular Buddhism" movement. It happened in Japan, with Shinran. It's startling how similar Shinran's path is to Luther's! Both left the religious establishment, both married, both stressed "sola fide" (faith alone). There are more similarities ... no monks, religion becomes for everyone who has faith ... and Monergism (stressing Other Power vs our own "good works / meditation"; in Christianity: primacy of God's Grace vs good works)

While I agree with your critique of Stephen Batchelor I think the Protestant analogy is not the best one.

These days I'm studying the Zhuangzi ... have you tried to penetrate into that text yet? Man, it's a challenge! It's harder than the sutras & Hegel combined. All the allusions, elipsis, tropes and metonymies ... but hands down the most beautiful book I've ever studied up close. No Indian or Jewish religious book matches it in my opinion! (Even the New Testament doesn't because it lacks humor and light-heartedness)

The roots of Zen are in Zhuangzi, no doubt.