Read today's Brad Warner blog, interesting exploration of Theravada, Mahayana, Emptiness, etc.

http://hardcorezen.blogspot.com/2011/03/reasonable-doubts-about-emptiness-and.html

I liked most of this but still can't stand that he always insists that "Buddhism is not a religion." Oh well.

He makes a good point about the types of rational arguments often used by Atheist types. The arguments are generally well formed, and are thus internally consistent and reliable. However, they are not always valid, in that the counter argument is against something that was never stated. I guess that would make it a "straw man" argument (a phrase I'm bored to death with these days).

It's weird that Brad insists on Buddhism not being a religion, when there are myriad people who are religious Buddhists. It might be fair to say that Buddhist practice doesn't have to be religious, and especially not dogmatic, but it can still be either or both depending on the practitioner.

Over all I enjoyed this piece. He's fun to read, even if I don't like everything he says. Oh, and did he HAVE to mention Genpo's "Big Mind" again? I'd like to see him let that one go, or at least talk about it when it's more relevant.