A very strict word of warning

[MyoHo]

Dear Daizan,

In danger of preaching here this is what I think:

Here In Holland much the same 'easy listening' spirituality seems to get popular fast. It seems in uncertain times maybe the end of the golden age in Western Europe, many people are looking in that old garbage can, hoping to retrieve some of the “jewels” they carelessly threw away once. Religion and spiritual guidance, seem on the up and up again. I for one, sometimes wish I could help some of those people who hopelessly wander from teacher to teacher in search of a safe haven. I often feel very compassionate and powerless ( frustrated even). It is however just not our place to fill in that gap I think?

If people find some comfort and security from this lady, we can only hope those who listen one day will realize popular and trendy spirituality it's not the answer. The easy way never is, it's hard work and that’s where many lose interest quick. Someone who seems to have all the answers ‘a la carte’ and sliced and diced too is like the old moth to the flame I fear.

I agree it's also very dangerous in a way. Our sensei did warn not too long ago for the teacher pupil relationship and what happens if a teacher cannot deliver. Leading someone astray is easy, don’t you agree?


Still , I for one find it difficult to see that subtle balance in the grey area and refrain from any teaching ( in Zen or Buddhism) as long as that is the case.
But that’s just me

Folowing this thread with extra interest,

Gassho

Enkyo/ Peter/ Potato peal

[Jishin]

I like to avoid the responsibility of being responsible whenever I can and have a tendency to say "this is what I do and it seems to work for me" vs. "do this and that and it will work for you". Being responsible for my own actions is hard enough!

Gassho,

John

[RichardH]

I agree it's also very dangerous in a way. Our sensei did warn not too long ago for the teacher pupil relationship and what happens if a teacher cannot deliver. Leading someone astray is easy, don’t you agree?

I agree with your whole post , Enkyo.

Sometimes it seems like Zen folks can take the "nowhere to fall" realization for granted. It is easy for me say it is true now, but there was a time when that wasn't lived experience. The rabbit holes people go down may be mind-made, but they are very real for someone lost in one and scared. I remember being lost and scared. So the stakes are high in that sense IMHO. A teacher who isn't confirmed and truly grounded in the Dharma can be a real problem. I'm not afraid I'll spout nonsense, or go off the rails, but I do share your view....

I for one find it difficult to see that subtle balance in the grey area and refrain from any teaching ( in Zen or Buddhism) as long as that is the case

Gassho, Daizan

[Jundo]

Hi,
In the Christian world the two poles are: the centralised model of the Vatican, with its college of cardinals, and the lone preacher that sets up at the street corner ... more of the broadly Protestant tradition. Don't we work at both poles, and neither?
Gassho
Myozan

I would say that our Way is not one of rigid "Orthodoxy", yet neither are we a "teach whatever feels good and rings your bell" school either. There are some clear and time-tested-timeless Buddhist, Mahayana and Zen Teachings, Traditions, Practices, Perspectives and such, and while one need not be a slave to Tradition, one would be foolish to toss it all away and just take what pleases. One can find freedom and flexibility in what first seems "the Orthodox".

The Buddha famously said that in the Kalama Sutta not to accept old Teachings on reputation alone, but to put them to the test in life. At the same time, the Buddha taught certain things as definitely right and others as definitely wrong.

It is a bit like driving a car. One cannot just drive however "feels good and rings your bell", ignoring all the traffic lights and stop signs, everyone making up their own rules of the road! That is foolish, if not deadly. Yet, one must stay loose and flexible behind the wheel, always open to changing road conditions, ready to try a new direction! That will get one where one is going (which in Zen, is down the road and always right here too).

Until one has mastered the basic skills and knowledge, one should not be allowed alone on the roads. That is why I am still in favor of having road tests and licensed automobile drivers ... and some system of "licensed Zen Teachers" (even those some folks in both categories should really not be behind the wheel).

I do feel bad for the folks who just go shopping from belief to belief in the spiritual shopping mall, loading their basket with this or that before throwing most of it away. I feel bad for people who get suckered in by all kinds of gurus and healers of this or that. Sometimes, one can get into a caravan following some leader that ends up driving right off a cliff (as has happened in a couple of Zen groups too over the years)! That is not good either. I think I mentioned it earlier, but the movie "Kumare" is out on video now (and free this month online to Tricycle subscribers) ...

http://www.tricycle.com/filmclub

I feel bad for the people who started to follow the film Director-Guru. I think the director does too early on, but goes ahead with his project anyway. Here is a review ...

Brooklyn-based filmmaker Vikram Gandhi likens his new genre-bending documentary Kumaré to a Zen koan. Followed by a film crew, Gandhi grows out his hair and beard, dons an accent, and becomes a “fake guru” he calls Kumaré. Vikram then has his character visit suburban Arizona. The aim isn’t just to trick people, but to teach people who think they need a guru that all spiritual leaders are actually illusions — and the only real guru is within.

“The reason for making the film was in a way propaganda — exposing something that seems real to me and true,” Gandhi says now, as the film continues to open in theaters around the U.S.
But it’s not propaganda without humor. “I didn’t want to say it isn’t a joke,” Gandhi says. “It is a joke. It’s just a serious joke. It’s not a movie that’s just a spiritual quest, it’s also a skeptic’s quest.”

http://shambhalasun.com/sunspace/?p=27723

Keep on drivin' ... the Middle Way!

Gassho, J