An essential collection of Stephen Batchelor's most probing and important work on secular Buddhism

As the practice of mindfulness permeates mainstream Western culture, more and more people are engaging in a traditional form of Buddhist meditation. However, many of these people have little interest in the religious aspects of Buddhism, and the practice occurs within secular contexts such as hospitals, schools, and the workplace. Is it possible to recover from the Buddhist teachings a vision of human flourishing that is secular rather than religious without compromising the integrity of the tradition? Is there an ethical framework that can underpin and contextualize these practices in a rapidly changing world?

In this collected volume of Stephen Batchelor's writings on these themes, the author explores the complex implications of Buddhism's secularization. Ranging widely from reincarnation, religious belief, and agnosticism to the role of the arts in Buddhist practice he offers a detailed picture of contemporary Buddhism and its attempt to find a voice in the modern world.
Secular Buddhism: Imagining the Dharma in an Uncertain World, Stephen Batchelor, Yale University Press, Paperback, 2017, 285 Pages, $17.00

Stephen Batchelor is known worldwide for his work as author, teacher, and scholar of Buddhism. He has been a teacher at the Gaia House meditation center in Devon, England, for twenty-five years and is a contributing editor of Tricycle: The Buddhist Review. His previous books include Buddhism without Beliefs and Confession of a Buddhist Atheist. He lives in southwest France.

CONTENTS: Secular Buddhism
	Preface	ix
	INTRODUCTION
	In Search of a Voice	3
1	LOOKING FOR NANAVIRA
	Existence, Enlightenment, and Suicide	29
	"A Much Younger Man, but No Less Charming"	61
2	BUDDHISM 2.0
	A Secular Buddhism	75
3	THINKING OUT LOUD
	Rebirth: A Case for Buddhist Agnosticism	111
	Creating Sangha	126
	The Agnostic Buddhist	133
	The Other Enlightenment Project	145
	What's Wrong with Conversion?	151
	Limits of Agnosticism	154
	A Secular Buddhist	158
	A Mindful Nation?	165
4	CONVERSATIONS
	The Eclectic Cleric	173
	Study and Practice	182
	After Buddhism	195
5	ART AND IMAGINATION
	A Convenient Fiction	213
	A Democracy of the Imagination	220
	Seeing the Light	229
	A Cosmos of Found Objects	233
	An Aesthetics of Emptiness	237
	Notes	255
	Bibliography	265
	Acknowledgments	273
	Index	275