Living with the Devil: A Meditation on Good and Evil
by Stephen Batchelor
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Stephen Batchelor's seminal work on humanity's struggle between good and evilIn the national bestseller Living with the Devil, Batchelor traces the trajectory from the words of the Buddha and Christ, through the writings of Shantideva, Milton, and Pascal, to the poetry of Baudelaire, the fiction of Kafka, and the findings of modern physics and evolutionary biology to examine who we really are, and to rest in the uncertainty that we may never know. Like his previous bestseller, Buddhism show more without Beliefs, Living with the Devil is also an introduction to Buddhism that encourages readers to nourish their "buddha nature" and make peace with the devils that haunt human life. He tells a poetic and provocative tale about living with life's contradictions that will challenge you to live your life as an existence imbued with purpose, freedom, and compassion—rather than habitual self-interest and fear. show less
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From LibraryThing Review:
Batchelor - is the master of secular Buddhist analysis and the teachings of Buddha. In this book he explores the capacity to encounter and work with the Shadow. Highly recommend.
Begins with thoughts on Mara, the satanic figure found in the early Buddhist texts, and moves on to explore more topics than it's easy to summarise. As ever, Stephen is original and inspiring and writes the most stylish prose of any living Buddhist.
Batchelor - is the master of secular Buddhist analysis and the teachings of Buddha. In this book he explores the capacity to encounter and work with the Shadow. Highly recommend.
Begins with thoughts on Mara, the satanic figure found in the early Buddhist texts, and moves on to explore more topics than it's easy to summarise. As ever, Stephen is original and inspiring and writes the most stylish prose of any living Buddhist.
The first three-fourth of this book felt like word salad (existantialist buddhist christian thoughts and terminology mixed), which is maybe on me, but at the end Batchelor does what he's probably the best at. Interpret the buddhist canon from his very authentic and well argued viewpoint.
Batchelor - is the master of secular Buddhist analysis and the teachings of Buddha. In this book he explores the capacity to encounter and work with the Shadow. Highly recommend.
Begins with thoughts on Mara, the satanic figure found in the early Buddhist texts, and moves on to explore more topics than it's easy to summarise. As ever, Stephen is original and inspiring and writes the most stylish prose of any living Buddhist.
See my other Batchelor review for a reference. I haven't finished this book, I got bored and switch to Stiff (which was much more fun and a quick read). The book is filled with insight but just so laboriously presented.
Another great book from one of our most important, critical buddhist thinkers.
SUVREMENA PODUKA
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A former Buddhist monk, Stephen Batchelor has written several books attempting to make Buddhist accessible and understandable to the Western reader. These books include The Awakening of the West: The Encounter of Buddhist and Western Culture, and Buddhism Without Beliefs: A Contemporary Guide to Awakening. (Bowker Author Biography)
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Living with the Devil: A Meditation on Good and Evil
- Original publication date
- 2004
- People/Characters
- Buddha; God; John Milton; Blaise Pascal; Shantideva; Mara (show all 7); Satan
- Epigraph
- I do not know who put me in the world, nor what the world is, nor what I am myself. I am in terrible ignorance about everything. I do not know what my body is, or my senses or my soul, or even that part of me which thinks wha... (show all)t I am saying, which reflects on itself and everything but knows itself no better than anything else. I see the terrifying spaces of the universe enclosing me, and I find myself attached to one corner of this expanse without knowing why I have been placed here rather than there, or why the life allotted me should be assigned to this moment [rather] than to another in all the eternity that preceded and will follow me. I see only infinity on every side, enclosing me like an atom or a shadow that vanishes in an instant. Blaise Pascal
- Dedication
- For Hay
- First words
- This is a book for those like myself who find themselves living in the gaps between different and sometimes conflicting mythologies-epic narratives that help us make sense of this brief life on earth.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)They hand in hand with wand'ring steps and slow, Through Eden took their solitary way. Milton
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- Popularity
- 88,214
- Reviews
- 7
- Rating
- (3.81)
- Languages
- Dutch, English, German
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 6
- ASINs
- 3
