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Why I wish Buddhists had a good anti-Buddhism litany

nothingismere.substack.com · 4,072 words · saved by 1 readers

First, Buddhists often talk as though “Buddhism” were a cohesive thing with a fixed set of doctrines. Maybe all the Buddhisms are that Buddhism deep down, or maybe there’s one True Buddhism surrounded by pretenders to the throne. This is not a thing. “Buddhism” is about as broad a category as “Abrahamism,” and the weird Buddhisms out there get very weird. Just saying you’re an Abrahamist or saying you endorse “the core message of Abrahamism” is not saying a lot, and thinking that way is liable to get you confused. Also, all the popular Buddhisms have rather a lot of bad mental habits, have mixed-at-best epistemics, and (even if they contain some truths) are awash with falsehoods and overconfident beliefs. And, while some Buddhisms are better than others, you will search for a lifetime and you won’t find the True Buddhism, ‘cause: There’s no such thing as a Buddhist Essence. So there’s no denomination that perfectly captures that Essence. Nor is there (yet, to my knowledge) an establish

Let me start with some of my beefs with Buddhism. First, Buddhists often talk as though “Buddhism” were a cohesive thing with a fixed set of doctrines. Maybe all the Buddhisms are that Buddhism deep down, or maybe there’s one True Buddhism surrounded by pretenders to the throne. This is not a thing. “Buddhism” is about as broad a category as “Abrahamism,” and the weird Buddhisms out there get very weird. Just saying you’re an Abrahamist or saying you endorse “the core message of Abrahamism” is not saying a lot, and thinking that way is liable to get you confused. Also, all the popular…

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