Ask A Buddhist: Can I be an agnostic/atheist Buddhist?

I’ve been an atheist my entire life, and was comfortable with this before I started studying Buddhism. Now, I find the morality, daily practice and ideas such as letting go of the “I” captivating. However, I’m still not ready to whole-heartedly believe in ideas such as reincarnation and karma as a spiritual truth rather than just a happenstance one. So I guess I’m wondering — is agnostic Buddhism a thing? Can I uphold the standards of Buddhism, and still be wary of some of its parts?

In short, yes. Agnostic Buddhism is very much a thing, but commonly called secular Buddhism. The question you raise is of great interest to modern Buddhist practitioners, especially the very two issues you mention: belief in karma, reincarnation and the relationship between the two. How could they not raise eyebrows—dogma of every religious tradition has necessarily come under scrutiny. Science may have its limit vis-à-vis the lived human experience, but there’s no doubt that science, as well as a general knowledge of radically conflicting religious ideas, have together nullified a single cosmological narrative for the global citizen.

Sam Harris, a self-identified atheist and fan of Buddhism, quipped that Buddhism would be so much better if it could be cleansed of the “naive, petitionary, and superstitious” trappings of religion altogether. He need not lump all religions together. Belief plays a different role in Buddhism than in many other religions—this is one of the reasons it is finding a sure foothold in the West. The Buddha himself, millenniums ago, encouraged skepticism and inquiry, personal experience over blind belief.

I won’t deny that some traditions of Buddhism utilize the aforementioned trappings, but ultimately, they must rely on the canonical materials of Buddhism wherein dogma is discarded for direct experience. The Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh, a Vietnamese Zen master nominated for the Noble Prize by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, states, “Do not be idolatrous about or bound to any doctrine, theory, or ideology, even Buddhist ones. Buddhist systems of thought are guiding means; they are not absolute truth.”

The Kalama Sutta is one of Buddha’s most widely quoted teachings on this subject. To summarize the back-story: the Buddha and several of his monks entered a town called Kesaputta of the Kalama people. The Kamala people told the Buddha that many monks and brahmans (holy men and gurus) had come to Kesaputta before him and that each of these religious men had expounded their own doctrines and reviled the doctrines of others. “Venerable sir,” they asked the Buddha, “Which of these reverend monks and brahmans spoke the truth and which falsehood?”

The Buddha responded, “Of course you are uncertain, Kalamas. Of course you are in doubt. When there are reasons for doubt, uncertainty is born. So in this case, Kalamas, don’t go by reports, by legends, by traditions, by scripture, by logical conjecture, by inference, by analogies, by agreement through pondering views, by probability, or by the thought, ‘This contemplative is our teacher.’ When you know for yourselves that, ‘These qualities are unskillful; these qualities are blameworthy; these qualities are criticized by the wise; these qualities, when adopted and carried out, lead to harm and to suffering’ — then you should abandon them.”

The Buddha continued, “When you know for yourselves that, ‘These qualities are skillful; these qualities are blameless; these qualities are praised by the wise; these qualities, when adopted & carried out, lead to welfare and to happiness’ – then you should enter & remain in them.” (Translation Thanissaro Bhiikhu)

Be cautioned however— the Theravada scholar Bhikkhu Bodhi writes that the Kalama Sutta is often misinterpreted. “Buddha has been made out to be a pragmatic empiricist who dismisses all doctrine and faith, and whose Dhamma is simply a freethinker’s kit to truth which invites each one to accept and reject whatever he likes.” Instead of this relativism, Bhikkhu Bodhi says, the Buddha provided examples and a framework by which people can test teachings and judge their veracity.

Further in his essay on the Kalama Sutta, Bhikku Bodhi says the Buddha, “shows that whether or not there be another life after death, a life of moral restraint and of love and compassion for all beings brings its own intrinsic rewards here and now, a happiness and sense of inward security far superior to the fragile pleasures that can be won by violating moral principles and indulging the mind’s desires.” No matter where one stands on the philosophical or faith continuum, it’s hard to argue with that statement.

The results of karma—intention manifest as action— I’ve seen quite directly, as we all have. Upaya, the Buddhist term for skillful means, seems to lead to good outcomes. Unskillful action—well, you know what I’m going to say—it will disturb your mind (and likely others’ too), both on the meditation cushion and off. Just think of a careless remark that someone overheard you say: if the hearer interprets it in the worst possible light, the news will spread and soon enough, there’s no way to clear it up amongst a number of people. (This is one of those times where you lean heavily on the Buddhist premise of all things that arise will eventually come to an end).

Reincarnation has been, for me, a wait-and-see proposition. I know that sounds like a bad pun, but really, my position continues to be agnostic. To practice the Dharma is to become increasingly comfortable with provisional truths: what you believe today will likely be penetrated by a deeper understanding tomorrow. Somewhat to my surprise, my view of reincarnation has nudged a bit towards the traditional over the years. I can still be dissuaded by the illogic of it at a discursive level of thought, but meditation and study has shifted my understanding at an experiential, non-dogmatic level.

One paradigm many Western practitioners adopt (I single out Westerners because the belief in multiple lifetimes is generally ubiquitous and accepted in much of Asia) is to think of both karma and reincarnation within a single lifetime: in fact, they sometimes call themselves “Single Lifers.”  As Bhikkhu Bodhi said so eloquently above, to try and live a virtuous life is its own happiness, reward and security.

Finally, perhaps we should remember that unrelenting skepticism can also be a cage, a limiting dogma: it, too, should be open up to investigation. Barbara O’Brien, a journalist and student of Zen Buddhism makes this recommendation: put aside all assumptions as you enter into Buddhist practice — assumptions about Buddhism, assumptions about religion, assumptions about the nature of the self, of reality, of existence. I would add to her list to put aside your assumptions about karma and reincarnation. Just practice, she says, and see where it takes you.