He settled in Dharamsala, the capital-in-exile of the Dalai Lama, and studied with Geshé Ngawang Dhargyey at the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives.

In April 1981, Batchelor travelled to Songgwangsa Monastery in South Korea to undergo training in Zen Buddhism under the guidance of Kusan Sunim.

Following the death of Kusan Sunim, Batchelor and Martine Fages laicised in February 1985 and married in Hong Kong, then returned to England and joined the Sharpham North Community near Totnes, Devon.

From 1990 he has been a Guiding Teacher at Gaia House meditation centre in Devon and since 1992 a contributing editor of Tricycle: The Buddhist Review.

As a lay Buddhist author, teacher, and self-designated scholar,[10] he has increasingly turned his attention to the earliest teachings of Buddhism as recorded in the Pali canon.

[12][page needed] Batchelor is a member of the core faculty of Bodhi College, which focuses on interpreting the early texts of Buddhism, such as the Pali Canon, in a manner applicable to the modern world.