Buddhism and Human Flourishing

"Over the years, I have found Buddhist practice to be extraordinarily beneficial. It has helped strengthen and enrich my capacities to be intimately present, to be at home in my body,to accept life's circumstances with equanimity,and to focus on the well-being of others. At the same time, I am aware of Buddhist teachings that I had to alter, modify, are simply disregard in order for Buddhism to make sense to me. I am also aware of the way many contemporary Western Buddhist teachers often alter, ignore, selectively emphasize, or  unwittinglymisunderstand traditional Buddhist teachings, and how their modifications and elisions echo my own difficulties with making sense of the tradition. The things I need to alter-- and which these teachers seem to have made parallel conscious or unconscious alterations on--are not random but conform to a pattern. That pattern--why it occurs and why ought to occur--is the subject of this book." From the introduction in the first chapter of "Buddhism and Human Flourishing: A Modern Western Perspective" by Seth Zuiho Segall

I feel like I've been dealing with some of the same issues. My amateur musings on the intersection and transition between my Christian faith and my Buddhist practice are often on my mind. I no longer fear I am involved in syncretism as I don't feel that my faith is an amalgamation but a legitimate attempt to be faithful. I explain it to myself, thinking I am preparing for a future explanation to someone who asks about it.

He also draws a distinction between the Western abrahamic faith and Buddhism by outlining four points: (1) an all-impowerful, omniscient God who was (2) the creator of the universe, who (3) miraculously intervened in the natural order, and (4) who was the administrator of justice on earth and in the afterlife...

The book’s central thesis is the tensions between traditional Buddhist understandings of enlightenment and Western understandings of well-being are critical factors determining the course of contemporary Western Buddhism’s evolution. The book addresses the general problems that arise whenever one attempts grafting borrowings from another culture onto one’s root culture. It also addresses how all religions that survive over time evolve as they adapt to new cultural realities and existential concerns through creative processes of reinvention and renewal. Lastly, it explores how Western beliefs regarding (1) the continuity of life after death, (2) scientific naturalism and materialism, and (3) the nature of human well-being and flourishing impede the Western assimilation of traditional Buddhist teachings in an unadulterated form.