Why I Write Buddhism on Medium
This is my very first story on Medium! Please join me on my creative (and potentially controversial) journey while I share my experiences, learnings, mistakes and feelings as a practitioner of Buddhism.
This is not the story I intended to write when I first started.
I’d intended to share a bit about who I am and the ways Buddhist practice has enhanced my life, and then to share my views on a series of Medium stories written by philosopher and college professor that harshly criticize certain specific Buddhist concepts and teachings in favor of Western philosophy.
Simple enough, right? That’s what I thought when I started.
Boy oh boy was I wrong.
But first, here’s a bit about me.
Over nearly ten years of diligent practice and over 1800 hours of samatha/vipassana meditation, my journey in Buddhism has dramatically enhanced my wellbeing, reduced my anxiety and suffering, and transformed (for the better) how I perceive and relate to my self, others and the world.
Buddhist practice hasn’t been easy, and it certainly hasn’t been a quick fix, but it’s worked well for me. My life is immeasurably better for it. Having gained such powerful benefits from my practice, I often considered sharing my experiences to help others do the same. However, I struggled to find the right alchemy of a great writing forum and a compelling issue to address.
Then, in the early months of this year (2023), the Medium algorithm fed me a series of articles by Professor Giles proclaiming that Buddhism is wrong and asserting that Buddha’s core teachings are absurd, fatally illogical, and utterly inconsistent with bedrock principles of Western/European philosophy.
In these articles, I read Professor Giles as asserting that Buddhism’s supposed errors are solved by Western philosophy and that Western philosophy’s fundamental principles provide a clearer, safer, more effective path to a good life.
Reading Professor Giles’ articles, I was struck with a deep sense that something was wrong, very wrong.
On the one hand, I was struck by his direct challenge to things that I knew, through years of exploration and discovery, to be true, healing and beneficial. On the other hand, (aside from a few factual and interpretational quibbles that Professor Giles and I will either resolve or agree to disagree), I had a vague sense that this friction/dissonance/conflict of views points to something much deeper and much more interesting than a mere debate over differing philosophical views.
Interesting…
I wondered, what if it’s not a matter of which of us (me or Professor Giles) is wrong? What if neither of us is wrong? What if we are both simultaneously inhabiting different worlds? What if we are both seeing/perceiving/experiencing the same world from fundamentally different eyes/senses/perspectives, both of which are equally valid and not mutually exclusive?
Very Interesting….
And then I wondered, would it be possible to respond, engage and explore these issues with Professor Giles and other philosophers, and perhaps other Buddhist practitioners, here on Medium? Would it be possible to inspire actual engagement with these folks? Would it be possible to realign and expand both of our perspectives and reach a common, respectful understanding of these deep issues?
Extremely interesting…
So I decided to begin writing about Buddhism. Though I strongly disagreed with Professor Giles’ arguments, I did not immediately post a response. Instead, Giles inspired (or perhaps even compelled?) me to re-examine and reaffirm my understanding of Buddhism; about what Buddha said, what he didn’t say, what he valued, and what he set aside. Also, to better understand Professor Giles’ mindset and point of view, I was moved to read many of his other stories on Medium. This, in turn, inspired me to go beyond Professor Giles’ writings and to embark on something I hadn’t tried since my college days: a general dive into the core principles of Western philosophy.
For me, this was a major undertaking. It involved months of ever-expanding and deepening research, analysis, contemplation, and introspection. I discovered and explored Google Scholar, JSTOR, and other fascinating and seemingly boundless online academic resources that simply did not exist so many decades ago when I was an undergraduate at UCLA and a law student at USC.
I hit a tangled wall of nuances and complexities and tumbled down a rabbit hole of philosophical academia. I flailed about in a seemingly bottomless quagmire of conflicting intellectual views, movements and “-isms”.
To be honest, I am still working my way out of Professor Giles’ rabbit hole, but I’m very glad to have taken the plunge. I’m finding that as I slowly gain a deeper understanding of Western philosophy, I am also gaining a better idea not only of the types of biases that may cause Buddhism to be misunderstood but also my own biases that have challenged my appreciation and acceptance of some of Western philosophy’s core principles.
So now I’d like to wrap up my first Medium article by confessing that my expectations and aspirations in this endeavor were fundamentally shattered, then enriched and expanded before I even began. Inspired by the Medium writing of Professor Giles, , and other philosophers and spiritual practitioners, the scope of my interests and intentions here has blossomed and I am now hoping to make my own contributions for the possible benefit of others who (like me) are searching on Medium for answers, for healing and for personal development.
I am writing about Buddhism on Medium because I find it to be the most dynamic and accessible platform currently available on the Web, and I am fascinated by the remarkable insights I have gained because of my engagement even before posting my first article.
I am excited by what I see as the potential for exploration and interaction here, and I hope you’ll check out Part 2 of this article where I set out in a bit more detail the specific topics I am working on and that are in the pipeline for posting in the weeks and months to come.
Let’s get busy!
