Pragmatic
Buddhism
"Remember that the historical Buddha himself rejected most
of the central “traditions” of his day. He rejected the
fundamental Hindu doctrine of atman, or the
“eternal Self,” and posited anatman in its place:
selflessness. But the reason Siddhartha Gautama
(the historical Buddha) rejected this doctrine was not
because of a rebellious and irreverent mind, but because he
saw that the concept of atman was hindering
meaningful personal and social development for the Hindu
people. He sensed that the lure of the attachment to the
idea of a permanent, eternal Self, when no
experience of permanence and eternalism is possible, led
spiritual seekers down a dead path. Tradition is simply a
set of values and expectations that worked for a previous
generation of peoples, but tradition says little of its
value to us today when it is not appropriately weighed
against the contemporary needs. This is just like the
historical Buddha rejecting the traditions of his own day
after seeing they no longer worked as well as they could.
Instead, we must take the heart of the message and
put it into whatever form works. This is
Pragmatic Buddhism."
-Jim Eubanks, Shi Yong Xiang
