Why I am not a Buddhist
17 February 2014 [link youtube]
Some unscripted reflections from a former scholar of Buddhism, and an ex-Buddhist. I opted for a very raw format with this clip, including an odd moment of silence. The video is unedited, and it stops at the unplanned moment when the camera ran out of battery, shutting itself down.
Here's the link to the magazine interview mentioned in the video: https://medium.com/p/9df3f5f826e4
Eisel Mazard, 2014.
Youtube Automatic Transcription
Um, for some of you the question might be,
I now say that I'm an ex-Buddhist, as opposed Um, I was involved with Buddhist studies (Buddhist-related of my adult life. I remember hearing on the radio, in Canada, from a Christian minister about the derision just as he went grocery shopping and went At that time there were scandals in the newspapers and ministers and so on, and I remember that at or wave at a child without people looking guy's problem?", or this kind of thing. when he puts on a uniform, he expects to get you know nothing about. He thinks he's clothing and I would guess many medical doctors have coat with a name-tag, and many other professions that a medical doctor can be a terrible person, and so on. But it doesn't enter into the priest's the vast majority of people are not Christian genocide, slavery, racism within the church, You're clothing yourself in something that's an appeal to supernatural things that fewer However, the other meditation that comes out they meet that priest) are apprehensive or to seeing the man in uniform, many of those still have some kind of religious connection want to believe in something. at a certain point that when I met someone things about them anymore. On the contrary, I met someone who was wearing the robes, instead expectations, and [I] would wonder, y'know, Once in a while you meet a monk and you find some thing you can respect about them, however, in the 21st century you know that if you meet in a nondescript way, you may expect the best, either way, compared to the rest of humanity; monk, what they're clothed in (for me, as in 12 years) is actually very negative. So, not only is it the case that I'm not a Buddhist, don't want to be called or referred to as I gave to a magazine in Hong Kong (a Buddhist a Buddhist, I'll provide the link at the bottom a Buddhist in the past, and I can remember that I was not a Buddhist, and I would be what I've accomplished in the past years, grounds do you have for saying I'm not a Buddhist?" they themselves had no scholarly knowledge had not accomplished anything in their lives, interest in) the religion. some [other] religions, it is entirely possible supernatural. It is true [that] I never believed you went to meet King Yama in hell --and it's you see in the modern cartoon Dragon Ball have interpreted it in different ways, of No, uh, in that sense, I never did [believe], to me was that my engagement with Buddhism in the world, and I'd like to think that's Socrates or Thucydides, or any other ancient today, or that may be a religious philosopher. was the mix of humanitarian work and field the modern disaster of places like Cambodia philosophical concerns, ancient history and and modern languages, all mixed up at the But there's a very sad sequel to the first monk I don't consider them a good person, apprehensive, knowing what I know, and many and that is that in 12 years, I met many of and there are many others whose work I've being the 21st century, and, um, there's not Not even one. And, uh, the level of intellectual exists in the academic study of Buddhism, me, no matter how low my expectations were. ex-Buddhist, that's because in the past, even my life (I thought I would spend the rest to modern Southeast Asian languages (including dedicate my life partly to dragging some of ancient texts and making it available to the was involved in) the humanitarian concerns post-war, post-communist disasters, and undergo accomplish, really, everything I wanted to for a number of years, I was able to work Pali to a level where I could really read a diverse and very educational experience financially and materially, I coped with very (and they do sometimes ask me), "Why don't you continue your work in these places?", I set out to do. That's the positive reason. mentioned, that there's really no further any colleagues that I respect, the absence all the time, still today I get fan-mail (I on the internet), and normally the first question give me your recommended reading list, whose to study?" "What are the best institutions?" and so on, there's really nothing I can recommend, to me with enthusiasm about some book, I have translator is intentionally misleading in ways," it's really reached a remarkably low So, y'know, that's the negative side of it. thing. for, to give a positive example of a monk; after another as a refugee, and, uh, his temple and beaten by muslims, his followers were violence, which is a huge issue that you can't that's the story of a thousand years that's and I had a long conversation, he was very a man with a shaved head, who can really read of intermediary status, half-way between monk with me… and, um, at the end of the conversation, to me, and for a second just said, "Well, better and better now." in various countries in Asia…", and that he and I had been having up until that moment, in Southeast Asia and around the world. I you; I don't think even you believe that. in China, Buddhism is collapsing in Tibet, is collapsing in Thailand, and so on. legitimate scholarship of Buddhism going on zero, and there's certainly zero legitimate There's a lot of fraud, a lot of scams, but,
I now say that I'm an ex-Buddhist, as opposed Um, I was involved with Buddhist studies (Buddhist-related of my adult life. I remember hearing on the radio, in Canada, from a Christian minister about the derision just as he went grocery shopping and went At that time there were scandals in the newspapers and ministers and so on, and I remember that at or wave at a child without people looking guy's problem?", or this kind of thing. when he puts on a uniform, he expects to get you know nothing about. He thinks he's clothing and I would guess many medical doctors have coat with a name-tag, and many other professions that a medical doctor can be a terrible person, and so on. But it doesn't enter into the priest's the vast majority of people are not Christian genocide, slavery, racism within the church, You're clothing yourself in something that's an appeal to supernatural things that fewer However, the other meditation that comes out they meet that priest) are apprehensive or to seeing the man in uniform, many of those still have some kind of religious connection want to believe in something. at a certain point that when I met someone things about them anymore. On the contrary, I met someone who was wearing the robes, instead expectations, and [I] would wonder, y'know, Once in a while you meet a monk and you find some thing you can respect about them, however, in the 21st century you know that if you meet in a nondescript way, you may expect the best, either way, compared to the rest of humanity; monk, what they're clothed in (for me, as in 12 years) is actually very negative. So, not only is it the case that I'm not a Buddhist, don't want to be called or referred to as I gave to a magazine in Hong Kong (a Buddhist a Buddhist, I'll provide the link at the bottom a Buddhist in the past, and I can remember that I was not a Buddhist, and I would be what I've accomplished in the past years, grounds do you have for saying I'm not a Buddhist?" they themselves had no scholarly knowledge had not accomplished anything in their lives, interest in) the religion. some [other] religions, it is entirely possible supernatural. It is true [that] I never believed you went to meet King Yama in hell --and it's you see in the modern cartoon Dragon Ball have interpreted it in different ways, of No, uh, in that sense, I never did [believe], to me was that my engagement with Buddhism in the world, and I'd like to think that's Socrates or Thucydides, or any other ancient today, or that may be a religious philosopher. was the mix of humanitarian work and field the modern disaster of places like Cambodia philosophical concerns, ancient history and and modern languages, all mixed up at the But there's a very sad sequel to the first monk I don't consider them a good person, apprehensive, knowing what I know, and many and that is that in 12 years, I met many of and there are many others whose work I've being the 21st century, and, um, there's not Not even one. And, uh, the level of intellectual exists in the academic study of Buddhism, me, no matter how low my expectations were. ex-Buddhist, that's because in the past, even my life (I thought I would spend the rest to modern Southeast Asian languages (including dedicate my life partly to dragging some of ancient texts and making it available to the was involved in) the humanitarian concerns post-war, post-communist disasters, and undergo accomplish, really, everything I wanted to for a number of years, I was able to work Pali to a level where I could really read a diverse and very educational experience financially and materially, I coped with very (and they do sometimes ask me), "Why don't you continue your work in these places?", I set out to do. That's the positive reason. mentioned, that there's really no further any colleagues that I respect, the absence all the time, still today I get fan-mail (I on the internet), and normally the first question give me your recommended reading list, whose to study?" "What are the best institutions?" and so on, there's really nothing I can recommend, to me with enthusiasm about some book, I have translator is intentionally misleading in ways," it's really reached a remarkably low So, y'know, that's the negative side of it. thing. for, to give a positive example of a monk; after another as a refugee, and, uh, his temple and beaten by muslims, his followers were violence, which is a huge issue that you can't that's the story of a thousand years that's and I had a long conversation, he was very a man with a shaved head, who can really read of intermediary status, half-way between monk with me… and, um, at the end of the conversation, to me, and for a second just said, "Well, better and better now." in various countries in Asia…", and that he and I had been having up until that moment, in Southeast Asia and around the world. I you; I don't think even you believe that. in China, Buddhism is collapsing in Tibet, is collapsing in Thailand, and so on. legitimate scholarship of Buddhism going on zero, and there's certainly zero legitimate There's a lot of fraud, a lot of scams, but,