I took the bait when I heard the intro bit on Buddhism, because many people get a lot of stuff wrong about it (even people that practice it, which he seemed to

I took the bait when I heard the intro bit on Buddhism, because many people get a lot of stuff wrong about it (even people that practice it, which he seemed to say he did at one point). > What cessation of desire meant was poofing out of existence. That's not true. Even in Theravada formulations of Nirvana, which he's talking about, Nirvana is not an annihilation. The Buddha famously taught a Middle Path, which is there in the Theravada as well, between annihilation and an eternal self/soul. He's not wrong about the power that tends to arise around the priestly caste though, which is why personally for my practice I draw inspiration from the stories of people like Saraha and Tilopa, who disavowed their positions to practice with low caste women.