Yesterday I began reading an intriguing book on the topic of pseudo-spirituality in Buddhism, Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism.
The book’s title intrigued me because I have long felt that yoga and meditation, which are widespread in European countries, are associated with the religion of Buddhism in the same way as T-shirts with the image of Che Guevara with the communist revolution. In other words, these ideas are dumbed-down and simplified to a level accessible to every consumer, to maximize market coverage and enrichment.
The book, as it turned out, only partially met my expectations. On the one hand, it does talk about the difference between traditional Buddhism and its projection on Western society. However, it is argued that this difference is how people in general and not only in the West are accustomed to perceiving religious or philosophical teachings.
The book tells about the most challenging obstacle to reaching enlightenment – spiritual materialism.
The book gives following definitions to these two concepts.
The enlightenment, according to the book, is the search for truth through liberation from illusions and living in accordance with the truth found.
And spiritual materialism is a false spirituality, which manifests itself only in the mechanical performance of rituals and does not lead to changes in the human soul.
When so defined, spiritual materialism does seem to be a wide-spread phenomenon. The practical steps for avoiding spiritual materialism are plentiful inside the book.
The most interesting of them will be described in the next post!
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