The Erosion of Buddhism in the West

The UK Guardian newspaper published an article by Mark Vernon on how buddhism risks erosion in the West because of a pick'n'mix culture, the New Age syncretism that Rinpoche is also very concerned about. That's one of the main reasons we need to study Madhyamika. As Rinpoche says, studying the view allows us to become dharmapalas (dharma protectors), who can ensure that the dharma doesn't fall into the pervasive extremes of eternalism and nihilism. Unless the dharma remains the middle way, it is no longer a path to enlightenment.

Unfortunately, it appears that Vernon has quite an agenda of his own (see http://www.markvernon.com/belief/index.htm). So it's perhaps not surprising he's anti-Matthieu Ricard (who, despite Vernon's criticisms, has an authentic lineage as a close student of HH Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche) and pro-Stephen Batchelor (who, like many "Western buddhists", doesn't believe in karma, reincarnation, etc).

I agree with the argument that you can't pick and choose elements of a path, but that's exactly what Batchelor does, and Vernon seems to be quite happy to overlook this - whereas Ricard presents the whole dharma without leaving anything out. Since karma is the very mechanism of causality and interdependence, a path without karma becomes a nihilist, materialist path. Leaving out karma is a sign that you simply don't understand what it means and its central significance to the path. While you might end up creating something that's attractive and perhaps soothing for the incense-and-self-help crowd, and possibly even sell a lot of books along the way, that's not what authentic dharma is about.