The Faith to Doubt

Library Journal

This is a spiritual autobiography and meditative journal of the author's three-year stay in a Korean Zen monastery. What makes the account even more interesting is that this Englishman had previously had eight years of training in Tibetan Buddhism and was an ordained monk who then came, as a result of a retreat in the Burmese meditation tradition, to doubt the Tibetan claims. Batchelor's experiences of mindfulness and of mystical illumination become the basis for doubt, for questioning, and for reflection on Buddhist text and traditional teachings, as well as on technique, on cultural forms, and on self. While a personal account, this book also contains real scholarship: those studying Buddhism academically as well as personally will find it of interest.