Stephen Batchelor (author)

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Stephen Batchelor
Dundee, Scotland
NationalityScottish
Occupation(s)Buddhist author, teacher
SpouseMartine Batchelor
Websitewww.stephenbatchelor.org

Stephen Batchelor (born 7 April 1953) is a Scottish Buddhist author and teacher, known for his writings on Buddhist subjects and his leadership of meditation retreats worldwide. He is a noted proponent of agnostic or secular Buddhism.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7]

Early life and early education

Batchelor was born in Dundee, Scotland, in 1953. When he was three years old, his family relocated briefly to Toronto, Ontario, Canada, where his parents separated. He relocated with his mother Phyllis (b. 1913) to England, where he was raised in a humanist environment with his younger brother David in Watford, Hertfordshire. He attended Watford Grammar School for Boys, leaving in February 1972.

Buddhism studies and career

At age eighteen, he embarked on an overland journey which eventually led him to

S.N. Goenka
, which proved a lasting influence on his practice, and aroused his curiosity about other traditions of Buddhism.

He left India in 1975 to study Tibetan Buddhist philosophy and doctrine under the guidance of

Geshé Thubten Ngawang at the Tibetisches Institut in Hamburg
.

In April 1981, Batchelor travelled to

Zen Buddhism under the guidance of Kusan Sunim. At the monastery, he met Martine Fages
, a Frenchwoman who had ordained as a nun in 1975. He remained in Korea until the autumn of 1984, when he left for a pilgrimage to Buddhist sites in Japan, China and Tibet.

Following the death of Kusan Sunim, Batchelor and Martine Fages laicised in February 1985 and married in Hong Kong, then returned to England and joined the Sharpham North Community near Totnes, Devon. Over the course of the next fifteen years Batchelor lived at Sharpham, he became coordinator of the Sharpham Trust

Channings Wood Prison. From 1990 he has been a Guiding Teacher at Gaia House meditation centre in Devon and since 1992 a contributing editor of Tricycle: The Buddhist Review. In August 2000, he and Martine moved to Aquitaine
, France, where they live in a village near Bordeaux.

As a lay Buddhist author, teacher, and self-designated scholar,

Montaigne's approach to Pyrrhonism.[12][page needed
]

Batchelor is a member of the core faculty of Bodhi College, which focuses on interpreting the early texts of Buddhism, such as the Pali Canon, in a manner applicable to the modern world.[13] He is also a member of the Advisory Board of the Center for Pragmatic Buddhism.[14][15][16] [17] [18]

Bibliography

Translations by Stephen Batchelor

Libretto

Batchelor authored the libretto for MĀRA: A Chamber Opera on Good and Evil (2017).[19] Its music was composed by Sherry Woods.[20]

See also

References

  1. ^ Bakewell, Joan (5 April 2013). "British Buddhist Scholars: Stephen Batchelor, a world authority on Buddhism, talks to Joan Bakewell about his belief". BBC Radio 3. Retrieved 26 April 2021.
  2. ^ Harris, Dan (2020). "Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris: Buddhism Without Beliefs | Stephen Batchelor". Apple Podcasts. Retrieved 26 April 2021.
  3. ^ "Buddhism: Western: Thinkers & Topics, Stephen Batchelor". University at Buffalo: University Libraries. 20 April 2021. Retrieved 26 April 2021.
  4. ^ Tippett, Krista (23 April 2020). "On Being. Stephen Batchelor — Finding Ease in Aloneness". WBEZ Chicago NPR News Source. Retrieved 26 April 2021.
  5. ^ "After Buddhism: A Conversation with Stephen Batchelor". Yale University Press Official London Blog. 5 January 2016. Retrieved 26 April 2021.
  6. ^ Schettini, Stephen (3 April 2011). "An Old Story of Faith and Doubt: Reminiscences of Alan Wallace and Stephen Batchelor". Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT). Retrieved 26 April 2021.
  7. ^ Rotondi, James (6 December 2017). "Buddhist Backlash: Stephen Batchelor Braves The Storm". HuffPost US Edition. Retrieved 26 April 2021.
  8. ^ "Rabten Choeling Temple History". dorjeshugden.org. 3 January 2016. Retrieved 30 April 2021.
  9. ^ "Sharpham Trust for mindfulness retreats, courses & outdoor learning". sharphamtrust.org.
  10. ^ Higgins, Winton (2017). "The Flexible Appropriation of Tradition: Stephen Batchelor's Secular Buddhism". Journal of Global Buddhism. 18: 51–67. Archived from the original on 23 October 2018.
  11. ^ "Dharma Seed - Stephen Batchelor's Dharma Talks". dharmaseed.org.
  12. ^ Batchelor, Stephen. The Art of Solitude.
  13. ^ "Faculty". bodhi-college.org. Bodhi College.
  14. ^ "Center for Pragmatic Buddhism". Archived from the original on 20 October 2009.
  15. ^ Batchelor, Stephen (2010). Confession of a Buddhist Atheist. Random House.
  16. ^ "Very Good Dharma Friends: An Interview with Stephen and Martine Batchelor". Dharma.org. 1996. Retrieved 12 August 2007.
  17. ^ "At the Crossroads". Tricycle: The Buddhist Review. Fall 2002. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 12 August 2007.
  18. ^ "Awakening to Life, Awakening to Death". Tricycle: The Buddhist Review. 2010. Retrieved 25 April 2010.
  19. ^ "MĀRA: A CHAMBER OPERA on good and evil". maraopera.org. Retrieved 27 April 2021. Libretto Stephen Batchelor. Music Sherry Woods.
  20. ^ "Recordings". sherrywoodscomposer. Sherry Woods. Retrieved 27 April 2021.

External links

Interviews and documentaries

Stephen Batchelor.

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