In Buddhism Without Beliefs Stephen Batchelor states: "The challenge is to imagine and create a culture of awakening that both supports individual dharma practice and addresses the dilemmas of an agnostic and pluralistic world." The author, who lives and teaches in a nondenominational Buddhist community in Devon, England, believes that the four ennobling truths (those of anguish, its origins, its cessation, and the path leading to its cessation) solidify an authentic way of being in the world. Batchelor writes cogently about emptiness as "the womb of awakening" and agnosticism as a therapeutic way of acknowledging the limits of human reason and thought. Most of our troubles grow out of anguish, restlessness, lethargy, confusion, and thinking that life would be different "if only..." (which he calls the mantra of unconsummated desire).
Batchelor wants to move beyond Buddhism as a religion — something to believe in — and to emphasize instead its liberating and creative potential as a way of living — something to do. This excellent book enables us to see just what that means as individuals create themselves anew and engage in the re-creation of the world through compassion.
