A review by reasonpassion
Confession of a Buddhist Atheist by Stephen Batchelor

5.0

There are some reviews describing the book as a meandering and sometimes confusing foray into Buddhism and quote the author in his confession of taking on projects in an erstwhile and haphazard fashion. I won't go against the author in his self-description but I will note that the result is neither confusing nor meandering, if anything it achieves exactly what it declares itself to be, a journey of confession where searching for the man behind the myth, the Gotama behind the Buddha, becomes an ever-present shadow stemming from Batchelor's own life. The honesty and humility consistently exhibited here, combined with a deeply personal and committed understanding of the Buddhist experience and doctrine, is refreshing and deeply spiritual. There is never a sense in which the author fails to get to his point, any more than life is ever a failure for continuing. To dwell in the dhamma, to tread peacefully within the truth of uncertainty and take on the mentality of impermanence, this is precisely what is accomplished here and it is a journey that was a joy to walk with the author on.