“An agnostic Buddhist looks to the dharma for metaphors of existential confrontation rather than metaphors of existential consolation,” wrote Stephen Batchelor in Buddhism Without Belief.
“The dharma is not a belief by which you will be miraculously saved. It is a method to be investigated and tried out. It starts by facing up to the primacy of anguish, then proceeds to apply a set of practices to understand the human dilemma and work toward a resolution.
“The extent to which dharma practice has been institutionalized as a religion can be gauged by the number of consolatory elements that have crept in: for example, assurances of a better afterlife if you perform virtuous deeds or recite mantras or chant the name of the Buddha.”
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