Biography
Stephen Batchelor is a British writer, translator and meditation teacher, recognised for his reflections on secular Buddhism and the contemporary reinterpretation of Buddhist teachings. In his youth he trained in Tibetan and Korean Buddhist communities and lived as a monk before leaving monastic life. His thought focuses on the practical, ethical and existential character of the dharma beyond traditional metaphysical claims.
In Buddhism Without Beliefs (1997), he proposed an interpretation of Buddhism centred on practice and open to doubt. His subsequent books include Confession of a Buddhist Atheist (2010), After Buddhism: Rethinking the Dharma for a Secular Age (2015), The Art of Solitude (2020) and Buddha, Socrates, and Us (2025). Through them, he examines the relationship between experience, uncertainty, freedom and responsibility in contemporary life.
Batchelor has devoted much of his career to writing, translation and the teaching of retreats and seminars. His proposal for a secular Buddhism seeks to recover the ethical and transformative dimensions of the earliest Buddhist teachings without requiring doctrinal adherence. This approach has made him a prominent figure in debates on non-dogmatic spirituality, contemplative practice and modernity.
Profiles and references
Published books