Lama Surya Das speaks here of a melting-pot dharma. That’s a good term for what I’m hoping to help build.
Do you need to Convert to Buddhism in order to Meditate. For more about Buddhism visit here – http://www.surya.org
Lama Surya Das speaks here of a melting-pot dharma. That’s a good term for what I’m hoping to help build.
Do you need to Convert to Buddhism in order to Meditate. For more about Buddhism visit here – http://www.surya.org
Melting-Pot Dharma 
Wonderful! I can get into Buddhism as a philosophy of living. I have a Kindle copy of Confession of a Buddhist Atheist, but I eventually found that it was really just a story of this guy’s journey, and my journey is different, so it didn’t seem like I could take away much usable stuff from the book. I have Buddhism Without Beliefs on my wish list, but wonder if it could be useful to me. Can you recommend something that would give me a primer on Buddhism without the more fantastic stories of the Buddha?
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Both of the books you mention are by Stephen Batchelor, who gets very tied up in the historical research. His latest book, Secular Buddhism, attempts to pare the Buddha’s teachings down to what’s essential, but he does so using analysis that you’d probably find tedious and uninteresting (redundant?). I’d suggest something by Lama Surya Das or Thich Nhat Hanh. I’m reading Surya Das’s latest book now, Make Me One With Everything. As you saw on the video, he’s a very real, plain-spoken guy who’s interested in the here and now. Two books by Thich Nhat Hanh that are among my favorites are Old Path White Clouds and Living Buddha Living Christ. Old Path White Clouds tells the story of the Buddha’s life in language that’s accessible to Westerners — reads like a novel — and Nhat Hanh has a progressive view of Buddhism that explains the functional aspects of the rituals — the reasons for the rituals. So I’d consider that one a good introduction to Buddhism.
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Louise, you asked about an introduction to Buddhism. I just came across this seven-minute video from Lama Sutya Das that does a reasonable job. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGLIroC6ewY
He makes reference to his book on the basics of Buddhism, Awakening the Buddha Within. I have not read it, but if you like the video that might be a good one for you.
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