[FrustratedMonky]

This was from 2003.

I think at the time the author(John Horgan) was a kind of a 'religion debunker', and maybe he had latched onto a few sects of Buddhism that sound kind of 'Christian' and 'debunkable'.

He has some follow up writings that indicate his views on Buddhism may have shifted.

From 2023

https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/a-buddhism-critic-goes-on...

"But I’m glad I went on the retreat. The Lama, during our private chat, said Buddhism isn’t true, but it works. Something worked during the retreat, but what was it? "

[toomanyaccts]

Hah, excellent, thank you for the context (admittedly as someone reading the comments to see if the post is worth reading)! He also has a book on entheogens (edit: and other “transcendental technologies” like fasting, meditation, prayer etc.) iirc, from around the same period - Rational Mysticism - which I remember being a pretty good read.

[belfalas]

Thanks for sharing, that's a good follow-up. Surya Das is a well-respected teacher so he found a good one to go to retreat with.

The quote from the lama is excellent as well and a very common type of expression that Dzogchen masters make.

[beej71]

Thanks for posting that link. It's a must-read followup.