Abstract
This chapter traces the ongoing transformation of the traditional Buddhist enlightenment ideal in convert Western Buddhist communities due to its conflict with deeply held Western beliefs concerning human well-being and flourishing. One way to resolve the tensions between enlightenment and eudaimonia would be to “domesticate” enlightenment by blending those aspects of it that are consonant with modern Western belief with compatible aspects of eudaimonia. This new resulting ideal, “eudaimonic enlightenment,” could serve as the new end-goal of modern Western Buddhist practice. The chapter proposes a ten-attribute model of eudaimonic enlightenment that illustrates what such a blended ideal might look like. It then concludes by demonstrating that more than being a mere thought experiment, this blended ideal is already reflected in the contemporary rhetoric of many Western Secular Buddhist, Insight Meditation, and Zen Buddhist communities.
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Notes
- 1.
“The Dart” (Part of the Vedanāsaṃyutta), in The Connected Discourses of the Buddha: A New Translation of the SaṃyuttaNikāya, translated by Bhikkhu Bodhi (Boston: Shambhala, 2000), 1263.
- 2.
Namely, generosity, morality, patience, energy, concentration, and wisdom.
- 3.
Namely, compassion, loving-kindness, equanimity, and sympathetic joy.
- 4.
Alfred North Whitehead, Process and Reality (New York: Free Press, 1978).
- 5.
Eugene Gendlin, A Process Model (Studies in Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy) (Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 2018).
- 6.
Autopoiesis is the self-organizing process of living organisms. See: Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela, Autopoiesis and Cognition: The Realization of the Living (Dordrecht, Holland; Boston: D. Reidel, 1980).
- 7.
Keown also notes a close similarity between sophia and prajñā. See Damien Keown, The Nature of Buddhist Ethics (New York: Palgrave, 2001), 205.
- 8.
Eihei Dōgen, Genjokoan, Treasury of the True Dharma Eye: Zen Master Dogen’s Shobo Genzo, translated by Kazuaki Tanahashi (Boston: Shambhala, 2016), 31.
- 9.
Stephen Batchelor, Buddhism Without Beliefs (New York: Riverhead, 1997).
- 10.
Stephen Batchelor, Confession of a Buddhist Atheist (New York: Spiegel and Grau, 2010).
- 11.
Stephen Batchelor, After Buddhism: Rethinking the Dharma for a Secular Age (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2015).
- 12.
Stephen Batchelor, Secular Buddhism: Imagining the Dharma in an Uncertain World (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2017).
- 13.
Stephen Batchelor, “A Secular Buddhism,” Journal of Global Buddhism 13 (2012): 90.
- 14.
Stephen Batchelor, “A Secular Buddhism,” 91.
- 15.
Ted Meissner, “If Secular Buddhists Don’t Believe in Rebirth, Then What Motivates Them to Practice,” Secular Buddhist Association FAQ [webpage], para. 6 http://secularbuddhism.org/faq/
- 16.
Ted Meissner (private communication, April 2019) assures me that his understanding of Secular Buddhism makes commitments to naturalism and empiricism, but not to ontological materialism. It’s impossible to tell whether most people who identify as Secular Buddhists make the same distinction.
- 17.
Paul Tillich, The Dynamics of Faith (New York: Harper & Row, 1957).
- 18.
Jack Kornfield. A Path with Heart: A Guide Through the Perils and Promises of Spiritual Life (New York: Bantam, 1993).
- 19.
Kornfield, A Path with Heart, 309.
- 20.
Kornfield, A Path with Heart, 310–11.
- 21.
James Ishmael Ford, “What is Enlightenment? Zen and the Nature of Awakening,” Monkey Mind: Easily Distracted (blog), December 31, 2017. http://www.patheos.com/blogs/monkeymind/2017/12/enlightenment-zen-nature-awakening.html
- 22.
Barry Magid, Facebook post, May 30, 2018, quoted with permission, accessed at: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=804313867&hc_ref=ARRtKUXXB7n1-T-QWCeKmzz2znxEJGc3tYiNIM_peHHSspn1mUH6Ilbc4CNG6otQLhM&fref=nf
- 23.
Dosho Port, “Two Kinds of Buddhists? Unrolling the Traditionalist and Modernist Distinction,” Wild Fox Zen (blog), September 18, 2017, para. 12–15. http://www.patheos.com/blogs/wildfoxzen/2017/09/two-kinds-of-buddhists-unrolling-the-traditionalist-and-modernist-distinction.html
- 24.
Ann Gleig, American Dharma: Buddhism Beyond Modernity (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2019).
- 25.
Daniel Russell, Practical Intelligence and the Virtues (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), 112–117. Russell calls such concepts “satis concepts,” the term “satis” being derived from the Latin word for “enough.”
References
Batchelor, Stephen. Buddhism Without Beliefs. New York: Riverhead, 1997.
Batchelor, Stephen. Confession of a Buddhist Atheist. New York: Spiegel and Grau, 2010.
Batchelor, Stephen. “A Secular Buddhism,” Journal of Global Buddhism 13 (2012): 87–107.
Batchelor, Stephen. After Buddhism: Rethinking the Dharma for a Secular Age. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2015.
Batchelor, Stephen. Secular Buddhism: Imagining the Dharma in an Uncertain World. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2017.
Dōgen, Eihei. Treasury of the True Dharma Eye: Zen Master Dogen’s Shobo Genzo, translated by Tanahashi, Kazuaki. Boston: Shambhala, 2016.
Ford, James Ishmael. “What is Enlightenment? Zen and the Nature of Awakening,” Monkey Mind: Easily Distracted (blog), December 31, 2017. http://www.patheos.com/blogs/monkeymind/2017/12/enlightenment-zen-nature-awakening.html
Gendlin, Eugene. A Process Model (Studies in Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy). Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 2018.
Gleig, Ann. American Dharma: Buddhism Beyond Modernity New Haven: Yale University Press, 2019.
Keown, Damien. The Nature of Buddhist Ethics. New York: Palgrave, 2001.
Kornfield, Jack. A Path with Heart: A Guide Through the Perils and Promises of Spiritual Life. New York: Bantam, 1993.
Magid, Barry. Facebook post, May 30, 2018. https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=804313867&hc_ref=bARRtKUXXB7n1-T-QWCeKmzz2znxEJGc3tYiNIM_peHHSspn1mUH6Ilbc4CNG6otQLhM&fref=nf
Maturana, Humberto and Francisco Varela. Autopoiesis and Cognition: The Realization of the Living Dordrecht, Holland; Boston: D. Reidel, 1980.
Ted Meissner, “If Secular Buddhists Don’t Believe in Rebirth, Then What Motivates them to Practice,” Secular Buddhist Association FAQ [webpage], http://secularbuddhism.org/faq/.
Port, Dosho. Two Kinds of Buddhists? Unrolling the Traditionalist and Modernist Distinction, Wild Fox Zen (blog), September 18, 2017. http://www.patheos.com/blogs/wildfoxzen/2017/09/two-kinds-of-buddhists-unrolling-the-traditionalist-and-modernist-distinction.html
Russell, Daniel. Practical Intelligence and the Virtues. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.
“The Dart” (Part of the Vedanāsaṃyutta), in The Connected Discourses of the Buddha: A New Translation of the Saṃyutta Nikāya, Vol. 1 & 2, trans. Bhikkhu Bodhi. Boston: Wisdom, 2000.
Whitehead, Alfred North. Process and Reality. New York: Free Press, 1978.
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Segall, S.Z. (2020). The Fate of Traditional Enlightenment in the West. In: Buddhism and Human Flourishing. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-37027-5_4
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