Buddhism Before Religion

The Buddha’s stance is anti-religious in a certain way. He uses what’s in religious practice to undo religious belief. The Buddha creates strategies, not dogmas. The more you go back into the old texts, the further away you get from religion. What we don’t need at this moment is another religion. Instead, perhaps we could engage a living tradition, and uncover the values of these practices. This means having a conversation with the past, while being rooted in the soil of present experience.