Philosophical Buddhist who is still an atheist

[Angrboda]

The validity of Buddhism's moral viewpoint, that under-girds its behavioral prescriptions, is, imo, its metaphysics. And I rather suspect its metaphysics (including its psychology) is a load of horeshit. You don't need to be a Buddhist to be compassionate. You don't need to be a Buddhist to be reasonable. But Buddhists imply that they know how to be truly compassionate and reasonable, and that you can't be equally reasonable and compassionate without drinking their koolaid. If there were some substantial evidence for their metaphysics and their psychology, that would be one thing. But when I engage with Buddhists, I get nothing but, "Well some Buddhist who was smarter than me says it makes sense." That's hardly persuasive. (There is an article in Wikipedia on the role of faith in Buddhism, and I think it's worth reading.)

When Buddhists started migrating to China, their teachings had a profound impact upon the philosophical and religious situation in China, and since that's where my Taoism originated, the two have interacted over the centuries. As a result, I've done some studies on that confluence. Some of the things revealed are instructive. (And thanks to books like God Is Not Great, religions like Buddhism which once got a pass for being peaceful religions are getting a second look as to the truth of their peacefulness, and rightly so.) One quote sticks out in my mind, from a 10th or 11th century Buddhist monk. His comment, upon someone observing the good character of a particular Taoist sage, was that he was very good, all that he lacked was the perfection that the Dharma (the Buddhist teachings) could bring him. And I interacted with a Buddhist here this past year who claimed that Buddhists did not claim any kind of moral superiority, in response to which I quoted the chapter titled "The Flower" in the Dhammapada which showed otherwise. Buddhists of course are blind to this, but Buddhism, and especially institutionalized Buddhism, is very elitist (you can easily find it in the Dhammapada and the sutras, if you bother to look for it, not to mention modern writings). It is this combination of asserting a moral superiority on the basis of a questionable set of metaphysical and psychological beliefs that I find somewhat repugnant. (Not that Taoists, Hindus, and so forth aren't equally guilty; perhaps. I'll have to think about looking in the mirror later. Oh. Wait. I broke all my mirrors. Nevermind.)