Imperfect Buddha

This is a major premise of a post-traditional approach to Buddhist practices and principles. It does not supercede traditional Buddhism, merely places it on a level-playing field with the wider world of knowledge, culture, practices & insight as a participant of equal value.

We live in an age in which retreat to belief, and practice as retreat are less of an option when such moves leave aside the meta-knowledge we hold in our culture. We can creatively relate worlds of knowledge, insight, & practice & allow each to act on the other.

You can even put the shiny bits back on afterwards, entertain the loveliness of the extravagent belief and physical and imaginary ornaments. But, such forms should appear more fully transparent & less beguiling now. Their human creativity being visible & even more admirable.

It should look quite different afterwards. It may appear less shiny, less special, but this does mean it has lost its worth. Rather, there has been an ideological shedding of sorts. A moulting of the excesses of ideological assertion and posturing.

Applying non-Buddhist principles to any Buddhist practice is not so hard: remove all belief in the superiority, rarity, revelatory nature of the practice or teaching at hand. Treat it as raw human material. Remove the lingo, jargon, & place it in the wider knowledge context.

Interview with @ronpurser on neo-liberal Buddhism, Mindfulness, & neo-liberal selfhood will be released on 1st August. It was a utopian conversation in places & all the better for it. In my humble opinion, it's essential listening.