Stephen Batchelor

Stephen Batchelor is a former Tibetan Buddhist monk (Gelug, ordained 1974) and Korean Sŏn monk who left robes in the mid-1980s and has since become the most prominent Western advocate of a "Secular Buddhism" stripped of the doctrines of literal rebirth and karma. His positions are contested across all major traditional schools and he should be contextualised carefully. The Promised Studios curates his work for completeness and Western secular reach but does not feature him on Lumbini-site landing pages or alongside pilgrimage content.