Objections against Buddhism

[buddhist]

I don't know what's in the heads of all the day pilgrims. But among friends of mine who go regularly who are Sri Lankan Buddhists, the general understanding is the same as that of the Hindus, Christians and Sikhs who go there - Shiva, Lakshmi, Saraswati, Ganesha etc are forms taken by the one God, whose will moves the entire cosmos, and whose true nature has been apprehended by such realised souls as the Buddha. For the Buddhists, they pay a lot of reverence to the Buddha as a guru and an avatar, as the Christians generally do for Jesus and the Virgin.

I can understand how some Buddhists might see it this way.

 

[beenherebeforeagain]

Haha. Is it really a western thing? You know we are always pressed for time and running out of time while making our bucket lists.

Where you from?

The Midwest, central Illinois, specifically.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

I have often wondered why Buddhism is not more popular than it is currently. I personally have found Buddhism to be a great help in thought and in life, as well as reasonably easy to grasp (unlike Hinduism and humanistic materialism) and generally devoid of serious logical or ethical problems (unlike Abrahamic religions).

So, for those you who have heard or read a bit about Buddhism. what were the main objections that caused you to not pursue it or give up on it or feel uninterested in it?

Three big ones:

- I disagree fundamentally with the "Four Noble Truths".

- It tends to be quite anti-LGBTn conservative, and intolerant (not so much in its liberal western versions, but more as practiced in Buddhism-dominated countries).

- For denominations with monks and/or clergy: I have problems with the idea of a clerical class that's supported by working people.

 

[Willamena]

So, for those you who have heard or read a bit about Buddhism. what were the main objections that caused you to not pursue it or give up on it or feel uninterested in it?

I'm too attached to me.

 

[sayak83]

Three big ones:

- I disagree fundamentally with the "Four Noble Truths".

This is the primary one. What precisely do you disagree upon fundamentally?

- It tends to be quite anti-LGBTn conservative, and intolerant (not so much in its liberal western versions, but more as practiced in Buddhism-dominated countries).

Has to do with social conventions. Buddhist corpus has nothing to say about any of this.

- For denominations with monks and/or clergy: I have problems with the idea of a clerical class that's supported by working people.

This assumes that Buddhist monk do not contribute anything to society with regards to ethics, knowledge and philosophy. This is certainly historically wrong (many of the famous classical universities of ancient south asia and central asia of international fame like Nalanda were founded and run by Buddhist scholars, where important advancements in mathematics, sciences, philosophy and medicine were made) and also wrong in modernity (given the increasing use and practice of meditation as well as Buddhist contribution to psychology and philosophy today). At the end of the day like any non-profit enterprise, people fund a Sangha for they find value in it. Buddha was very strict that the monks do not abuse the faith of lay followers by extracting money from them through false and superstitious practices:-

DN2:-

"Whereas some contemplatives & brahmans, living off food given in faith, maintain themselves by wrong livelihood, by such "animal" arts as: reading marks on the limbs [e.g., palmistry]; reading omens and signs; interpreting celestial events [falling stars, comets]; interpreting dreams; reading features of the body [e.g., phrenology]; reading marks on cloth gnawed by mice; offering fire oblations, oblations from a ladle, oblations of husks, rice powder, rice grains, ghee, and oil; offering oblations from the mouth; offering blood-sacrifices; making predictions based on the fingertips; geomancy; making predictions for state officials; laying demons in a cemetery; placing spells on spirits; earth-skills [divining water and gems?]; snake-skills, poison-skills, scorpion-skills, rat-skills, bird-skills, crow-skills; predicting life spans; giving protective charms; casting horoscopes — he abstains from wrong livelihood, from "animal" arts such as these.

"Whereas some contemplatives & brahmans, living off food given in faith, maintain themselves by wrong livelihood, by such "animal" arts as: determining lucky and unlucky gems, staffs, garments, swords, arrows, bows, and other weapons; women, men, boys, girls, male slaves, female slaves; elephants, horses, buffaloes, bulls, cows, goats, rams, fowl, quails, lizards, rabbits, tortoises, and other animals — he abstains from wrong livelihood, from "animal" arts such as these.

"Whereas some contemplatives & brahmans, living off food given in faith, maintain themselves by wrong livelihood, by such "animal" arts as [forecasting]: the rulers will march forth; the rulers will not march forth; our rulers will attack, and their rulers will retreat; their rulers will attack, and our rulers will retreat; there will be triumph for our rulers and defeat for their rulers; there will be triumph for their rulers and defeat for our rulers; thus there will be triumph this one, defeat for that one — he abstains from wrong livelihood, from "animal" arts such as these.

"Whereas some contemplatives & brahmans, living off food given in faith, maintain themselves by wrong livelihood, by such "animal" arts as [forecasting]: there will be a lunar eclipse; there will be a solar eclipse; there will be an occultation of [a conjunction of the moon or a planet with] an asterism; the sun and moon will be favorable; the sun and moon will be unfavorable; the asterisms will be favorable; the asterisms will be unfavorable; there will be a meteor shower; there will be a flickering light on the horizon [an aurora?]; there will be an earthquake; there will be thunder coming from dry clouds; there will be a rising, a setting, a darkening, a brightening of the sun, moon, and asterisms; such will be the result of the lunar eclipse ... the rising, setting, darkening, brightening of the sun, moon, and asterisms — he abstains from wrong livelihood, from "animal" arts such as these.

"Whereas some contemplatives & brahmans, living off food given in faith, maintain themselves by wrong livelihood, by such "animal" arts as [forecasting]: there will be abundant rain; there will be a drought; there will be plenty; there will be famine; there will be rest and security; there will be danger; there will be disease; there will be freedom from disease; or they earn their living by accounting, counting, calculation, composing poetry, or teaching hedonistic arts and doctrines [lokāyata] — he abstains from wrong livelihood, from "animal" arts such as these.

"Whereas some contemplatives & brahmans, living off food given in faith, maintain themselves by wrong livelihood, by such "animal" arts as: calculating auspicious dates for marriages — both those in which the bride is brought home and those in which she is sent out; calculating auspicious dates for betrothals and divorces; for collecting debts or making investments and loans; reciting charms to make people attractive or unattractive; curing women who have undergone miscarriages or abortions; reciting spells to bind a man's tongue, to paralyze his jaws, to make him lose control over his hands, or to bring on deafness; getting oracular answers to questions addressed to a spirit in a mirror, in a young girl, or to a spirit medium; worshipping the sun, worshipping the Great Brahmā, bringing forth flames from the mouth, invoking the goddess of luck — he abstains from wrong livelihood, from "animal" arts such as these.

"Whereas some contemplatives & brahmans, living off food given in faith, maintain themselves by wrong livelihood, by such "animal" arts as: promising gifts to deities in return for favors; fulfilling such promises; demonology; reciting spells in earth houses [see earth skills, above]; inducing virility and impotence; preparing sites for construction; consecrating sites for construction; giving ceremonial mouthwashes and ceremonial baths; offering sacrificial fires; administering emetics, purges, purges from above, purges from below, head-purges; ear-oil, eye-drops, treatments through the nose, ointments, and counter-ointments; practicing eye-surgery [or: extractive surgery], general surgery, pediatrics; administering root-medicines and binding medicinal herbs — he abstains from wrong livelihood, from "animal" arts such as these. This, too, is part of his virtue."

 

[buddhist]

... Buddha was very strict that the monks do not abuse the faith of lay followers ..

Well said. Also, Dhp 208:

"It would be better to swallow a red-hot iron ball, blazing like fire, than as an immoral and uncontrolled monk to eat the alms of the people."

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

This is the primary one. What precisely do you disagree upon fundamentally?

Our attachments - especially our attachments to people - do us good. Yes, they make us vulnerable and yes, unhealthy attachments can happen, but on the whole, we're better off with them than without them.

Has to do with social conventions. Buddhist corpus has nothing to say about any of this.

I've heard Buddhists justify anti-gay views based on the Eightfold Path.

This assumes that Buddhist monk do not contribute anything to society with regards to ethics, knowledge and philosophy.

It doesn't, actually.

 

[sayak83]

Three big ones:

- I disagree fundamentally with the "Four Noble Truths".

Since the Noble Noble Truths are quite central to Buddhism, I well present a formulation of the four Noble Truths so that we can have something about which we can talk.

Formulation of Four Noble Truths: Part 1

The most distinctive thing that Buddha says in his teachings is that he has found a way to eliminate suffering in this life and instructs his followers how to gain that final state of non-suffering,Nibbana. Buddha's first discourse clearly identify the goals and the means to achieve them.


Monks, these two extremes should not be followed by one who has gone forth into homelessness. What two?
The pursuit of sensual happiness in sensual pleasures, which is low, vulgar, the way of the worldlings, ignoble, unbeneficial;
And the pursuit of self-mortification, which is painful, ignoble, unbeneficial.

Without veering towards either of these extremes, the Tathagata (Buddha) has awakened the Middle Way, which gives rise to vision and knowledge and leads to
peace, to direct realization, to enlightenment, to Nibbana.This Middle Way with its benefits as depicted in the quote, is taught by Buddha as an antidote to both sensual pleasure seeking and mortifying self-denial.

This Middle way is described by Buddha in terms of Eight major points:-


And, monks, what is this Middle Way? It is this Noble Eightfold Path. Right View, Right Intention, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, Right Concentration.

Most of what Buddha teaches is centered around explaining what these eight points mean. Here I will briefly state the formulation of Right View as the realization of the Four Truths.


This monks is the Truth of suffering:- Birth is suffering, aging is suffering, illness is suffering, death is suffering; union with what is displeasing is suffering, seperation from what is pleasing is suffering; not to get what one wants is suffering. In brief the five aggregates (of existence) subject to clinging are suffering.

This monks is the Truth of the origin of suffering :- It is craving that leads to renewed existence, accompanied by delight and lust, seeking delight here and there; that is, craving for sensual pleasures, craving for existence, craving for extermination.

This monks is the Truth of cessation of suffering :- It is the remainderless fading away and cessation of that same craving, the giving up and relinquishing of it, freedom from it, nonattachement.

This monks is the Truth of the way leading to the cessation of suffering:- It is this Noble Eightfold Path.

The key to understanding the cause of suffering and eliminating it is understanding the Law of Kamma. The main formulation of this law is through dependent origination (Samyutta Nikaya 12:1 and 12:2)

Buddha said,

"And what, monks, is dependent origination? Listen and attend closely

(i) With Ignorance as condition, volitional formations come to be.

(ii) With volitional formations as condition, consciousness come to be.

(iii) With consciousness as condition, name-and-form come to be.

(iv) With name-and-form as condition, the six sense bases come to be.

(v) With six sense bases as condition, contact comes to be.

(vi) With contact as condition, feeling comes to be.

(vii) With feeling as condition, craving comes to be.

(viii) With craving as condition, clinging comes to be.

(ix) With clinging as condition, existence comes to be.

(x) With existence as condition, birth comes to be.

(xi) With birth as condition, aging-and-death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, displeasure and despair comes to be.

Such is the origin of the mass of suffering
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
But

(i) with the remainder-less fading away and cessation of ignorance, comes cessation of volitional formations

(ii) With cessation of volitional formations comes cessation of consciousness

(iii) With cessation of consciousness, comes cessation of name-and-form

(iv)......... name-and-form..........................................six sense bases.

(v) ................six sense bases...................................contact

(vi) .................contact...........................................feeling

(vii).................feeling..........................................craving

(viii)...............craving...........................................clinging

(ix).................craving..........................................clinging

(x).................clinging..........................................existence

(x)..................existence......................................birth

(xi)With cessation of birth, comes cessation of aging-and-death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, despair and displeasure.

Such is the cessation of the whole mass of suffering

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Now the definitions of each term

Aging-and-death:- The aging of various beings in the various order of beings, their growing old, brokenness of teeth, greyness of hair, wrinkling of skin, decline of vitality, degeneration of faculties, this is called aging. The passing away of various beings from the various order of beings, their perishing, breakup, disappearance, mortality, death, the breakup of aggregates..this is called death.

Birth:- basic conventional definition.

Existence:- There are three kinds of existence. There is existence in the sphere of the senses. There is existence in the sphere of forms, and there is existence in the sphere of form-lessness. All three modes of existence is together called existence.

Clinging:- There are 4 kinds of clinging. Clinging to sense-pleasures. Clinging to views. Clinging to rules and vows. Clinging to the doctrine of the self. All 4 kinds together constitute the various modes of clinging.

Craving:- There are 6 classes of craving. Craving for forms, craving for sounds, craving for odors, craving for tastes, craving for tactile objects, craving for mental phenomena. They constitute craving.

Feeling:- There are 6 classes of feeling. Feeling born of eye-contact; feeling born of ear-contact; feeling born of nose-contact; feeling born of tongue-contact; feeling born of body-contact; feeling born of mind-contact. These are feelings.

Contact:- There are six classes. Eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind contact.

Six Sense Bases:- The vision-sense-base, the hearing-sense-base, the olfactory-sense-base, the taste-sense-base, the bodysense-base and the mind-sense-base.

Name-and-Form:- Feeling, perception, volition, contact, attention- these are called the Name. The four material elements and the forms derived from them are called Form. Together they constitute Name-and-Form. (basically the entire body-mind complex).

Consciousness:- The six classes of consciousness; the eye-consciousness, the hearing-consciousness, the olfactory-consciousness, the taste-consciousness, the body consciousness and the mind-consciousness.

Volitional Formations:- There are three types. The volitional formations of the body, the verbal volitional formations, and the mental volitional formations.

Ignorance:- Not knowing the true nature of suffering, not knowing the true origin of suffering, not knowing the way to the cessation of suffering. That is called ignorance

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In the next post I will analyze the above passage.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

In the next post I will analyze the above passage.

Please don't.

 

[buddhist]

I've heard Buddhists justify anti-gay views based on the Eightfold Path.

In a sense, even heterosexual relationships are incompatible with the highest goals in Buddhism, as they also involve attachment.

 

[sayak83]

Formulation of Four Noble Truths Part 2 (previous post LINK)

In Buddhism, suffering is not caused due to judgement but due to the consequence of misguided intentions and actions due to our ignorance of the true nature of our conditioned existence. All actions (human and animal and other beings) are done within the ambit of certain persistent illusions we harbor about ourselves and the world that do not reflect reality, and hence their consequences tangle us in suffering.

The entire chain of conditions that lead to the arising of suffering is described in the previous post.

I will look at the first point in the sequence of dependent arising,

(i) With Ignorance as condition, volitional formations come to be.


The ignorance that humans (and all other beings) have is the ignorance of the true nature of reality. Truth about reality is characterized by three things,

a) All Reality (Conditioned existence) is characterized by impermanence. From the mundane mortal life and the world to all the highest heavens and lowest hells and all humans, animals, demons and Gods are subject to birth, growth, change, decay and destruction. The level of ignorance differs among different beings. Animals (like say your pet dog) is unaware of its physical impermanence, it does not know that it had a birth and it will die in a few years. Its consciousness is limited to a small window of the "now" guided mostly by passions, desires and instincts which it thinks is permanent. Humans, who understand that it had a birth, it had a growth and it will die bodily, harbors the illusion that its psychological essence (as a soul or a self) is unchanging and is the unchanging reality of himself/herself that is not subject to birth, growth, change and decay and death. This too is an illusion. Even the God (or Gods), due to their extremely long lives that spams quadrillions of years, forget that their existence and the heavens which they have fashioned and reside in are also subject to the same laws of conditioned existence. Any and all Gods had a beginning and will have an end. This is impermanence and the ignorance of impermanence, in Buddhism.

b) All impermanence is suffering:- The fact that everything is subject to change and decay and dissolution means that there is nothing within this existence that can be the source of eternal non-changing bliss. This is the fundamental ground of suffering, out of which all gross and subtle forms of suffering, from pain, anguish, anxiety, insecurity, despair, pointlessness and ennui appear..to which even the Gods are subject to (which is why they create worlds, because they too feel unsatisfied in the highest heavens and hope a Creation may assuage this..to no avail).

c) All phenomena are non-self :- Here the word self is defined as "A posited eternal, unchanging substantial essence in beings that is its core and is not subject to change and decay" ; a soul, a spirit, or a ground of being. Buddha denies all these various formulations of the self from simple ideas like a soul, to theological notions of God as the unconditioned essential ground of all Beings and First Cause who says "I am". All phenomena are conditioned, subject to both arising and destruction, and no such self can be found. All beings who believe so (from humans to Gods) have fallen under ignorance. The self is just a conventional designation of a compound and temporary co-joining of physical and mental phenomena that is subject to growth, change, decay and dissolution.

The ignorance of the three characteristics of reality conditions all humans, animals and Gods to act in misguided ways . They act believing what is impermanent is permanent, act believing what is unsatisfactory could in actually lead to permanent happiness and act under the illusion that it has a self or a soul which is its identity when there is no such thing. Ignorance leads to misguided intentions, misguided intentions lead to misguided actions, misguided actions lead to consequences that are contrary to our expectations and lead to suffering as a consequence.


I have discussed ignorance. Next I will look at volitional formations.

Buddha says that there are three types of volitional formations (sankhara):- bodily, verbal and mental. They can be thought of as strong associative instincts, habits, biases, predilections and emotive reactions of the body, speech and mind- the deeply ingrained verbal, emotive and psycho-physical traits of a person (both good ones and bad ones). In simple animals these are mostly limited to bodily (in modern terminology, genetic) instincts, while in more advanced beings (including humans) they extend to verbal and mental habits. My strong dislike for a certain food or smell, my instinctive fear of snakes, the tune that I hum as I work, my likes and dislikes to certain people or views, my habits of working and leisure, and all those conscious and subconscious psychological character profiles (introvert/extrovert/conservative/liberal etc. etc.) we moderns talk about...all these are part of sankhara. They are partly ingrained and partly learned, but whatever their reason of arising, they are very very difficult to modify by simple conscious intention. It just is not the case that I can say "I will like brocolli this morning" and bingo, brocolli suddenly becomes delicious! It is quite accurate to say that it is the various unique sankhara's that characterize each being as an unique individual. These instinctive and deeply ingrained learned traits are a vital part of a person's past, present and future Kamma as well.

Thus Bhikkhu Bodhi writes

The word sankhara is derived from the prefix sam, meaning "together," joined to the noun kara, "doing, making." Sankharas are thus "co-doings," things that act in concert with other things, or things that are made by a combination of other things.

This contingent coming together of disparate things is a key hallmark of sankhara in the psychological field. For example, the property of brocolli is one thing and my sense of disgust is another separate thing. They come together in the learned sankhara of associating the sense of disgust with the mere thinking or seeing or tasting of brocolli. There is no universal law that necessitates this, in fact other people will find the same brocolli tasty, and hence this coming together is a contingent happenstance unique to my trajectory in life. A similar, but more profound example is language. There is no necessary connection with the squiggle black marks forming the word "COW", the sound pattern that is uttered by saying "COW" and the animal that is called the "COW". Yet when I see or hear the word "COW", I do not really see the strange squiggly lines or the sound patterns (as I would if I did not know the language ), but instead I cognize the animal cow and all its associated images and conceptual constructions. This is sankhara.

As is now clear from such examples, sankhara-s are the very things that characterize us as us and drive us to act, think and intend in our characteristic ways throughout our lives. And Buddha says that much of these sankharas arise conditioned by our pre-existing ignorance about the nature of reality and of ourselves (see the previous post). Hence they are often wrongly directed and drive us towards intentions, actions and circumstances that makes us suffer. Addictions are a clear case of this, but there are many many other subtle ones.

Thus the Buddhist bottom line:-

Suffering is the result of our sankharas which have arisen conditioned by our ignorance about the nature of reality and of ourselves. Remove the ignorance and eliminate these ignorance-conditioned sankharas and suffering will dissipate.

And how to do it? The specific meditations (and the eightfold path) that help us access the links of these tightly bound sankharas and gradually unchain them from us. Since the self that we have access to now is tightly wound coils of samkharas (and language itself is a samkhara), necessarily therefore what remains after complete unbinding cannot be called a self, nor can be described by language. Therefore that state is called by a negative:- Nibbana, the state where all samkharas have been extinguished.


That, as far as I am concerned, is the essence of Buddhism's Noble Truths in two posts! Phew!

Now Objections?

 

[LuisDantas]

Our attachments - especially our attachments to people - do us good. Yes, they make us vulnerable and yes, unhealthy attachments can happen, but on the whole, we're better off with them than without them.

Odds are good that whoever explained the ideas to you did not have a good grasp of those himself.

I've heard Buddhists justify anti-gay views based on the Eightfold Path.

Really? I wonder what on Earth they use as justification. It is certainly not a natural fit.

 

[LuisDantas]

I don't know what's in the heads of all the day pilgrims. But among friends of mine who go regularly who are Sri Lankan Buddhists, the general understanding is the same as that of the Hindus, Christians and Sikhs who go there - Shiva, Lakshmi, Saraswati, Ganesha etc are forms taken by the one God, whose will moves the entire cosmos, and whose true nature has been apprehended by such realised souls as the Buddha.

I assume that is "(light) monotheism done right", so to speak. With a touch of pantheism, panentheism and/or deism thrown in for good measure.

For the Buddhists, they pay a lot of reverence to the Buddha as a guru and an avatar, as the Christians generally do for Jesus and the Virgin.

Those things are just so personal, that there is hardly any point in emulating others for emulation's sake.

 

[Kirran]

I assume that is "(light) monotheism done right", so to speak. With a touch of pantheism, panentheism and/or deism thrown in for good measure.

Ah, just labels huh? Pantheism, panentheism, nondualism, absolute monotheism, call it as you will

Those things are just so personal, that there is hardly any point in emulating others for emulation's sake.

People have different ways of approaching the Divine that they're comfortable with, often what's familiar to them. I imagine if Skanda Vale ever has an ashram in Brazil they'll be honouring the orixas too.

 

[sovietchild]

For me, I was put off because at the time I thought Buddhism is just as escapist as Christianity, the religion I left. I felt it just had too much emphasis on escaping this existence which it views in a rather nihilist fashion - i.e. 'all is suffering'. At the time I had quite a nihilist view of the world which I was trying desperately to rid myself of so I didn't feel as though adopting a Buddhist worldview would help me.

Do you think Buddhist religion is a pagan religion?

 

[LuisDantas]

Ah, just labels huh? Pantheism, panentheism, nondualism, absolute monotheism, call it as you will

It may not have come clearly, but I think I agree with you. It takes a certain perspective for those distinctions to be meaningful. Quite often there is no reason to pursue such a perspective.

People have different ways of approaching the Divine that they're comfortable with, often what's familiar to them. I imagine if Skanda Vale ever has an ashram in Brazil they'll be honouring the orixas too.

Oh, that is very likely indeed.

 

[Twilight Hue]

I hate Buddhist Sunday school. God are the Revs long winded.

 

[The Emperor of Mankind]

Do you think Buddhist religion is a pagan religion?

No.

 

[vijeno]

So, for those you who have heard or read a bit about Buddhism. what were the main objections that caused you to not pursue it or give up on it or feel uninterested in it?

I had a "fling" with buddhism for a few years. It did indeed help me a lot. At some point, I found myself hung up on enlightenment and a bit over-the-top hyper-"spiritual". After I came to my senses, I began to realize that I really rejected the metaphysical aspects of it, just as I did with christianity. I researched "secular buddhism" (Stephen Batchelor), the connection between zen and war, read an extensive critique on modern "western" buddhism from a tantric perspective...

Ultimately, I found that it simply made no sense to call myself buddhist in any way.

I don't believe in karma. I don't believe enlightenment is possible. I don't believe in reincarnation. I don't think that boddhisatvas are metaphysical beings, or that there are any "realms" beyond the material one. I don't attend regular meetings or crave being in a sangha.

Without all that, well I guess I could still call myself a buddhist if I really wanted to, but that would make little sense.

I still take a few things from buddhism: Meditation practice, "karma" as a crude description of a purely social phenomenon, the idea of practicing loving-kindness (a bit like a workout), and that ethics are not necessarily about absolute good/evil, but about minimizing harm.

 

[sayak83]

I had a "fling" with buddhism for a few years. It did indeed help me a lot. At some point, I found myself hung up on enlightenment and a bit over-the-top hyper-"spiritual". After I came to my senses, I began to realize that I really rejected the metaphysical aspects of it, just as I did with christianity. I researched "secular buddhism" (Stephen Batchelor), the connection between zen and war, read an extensive critique on modern "western" buddhism from a tantric perspective...

Ultimately, I found that it simply made no sense to call myself buddhist in any way.

I don't believe in karma. I don't believe enlightenment is possible. I don't believe in reincarnation. I don't think that boddhisatvas are metaphysical beings, or that there are any "realms" beyond the material one. I don't attend regular meetings or crave being in a sangha.

Without all that, well I guess I could still call myself a buddhist if I really wanted to, but that would make little sense.

I still take a few things from buddhism: Meditation practice, "karma" as a crude description of a purely social phenomenon, the idea of practicing loving-kindness (a bit like a workout), and that ethics are not necessarily about absolute good/evil, but about minimizing harm.

i think Stephen Batchelor's way of doing Buddhism may appeal to you.
Also Secular Buddhist Association
For informational purposes only.