The Vajra Parrot Squawks!

In days of yore those who were committed to achieve liberation in order to benefit others would find a teacher, receive from him or her the necessary abhishekas and liberating instructions and go and practice. For some this would mean an isolated place, a cave or a forest; for others, a room in the family home or a quiet place nearby. This still happens today.

So what went wrong in this part of the world in these troublesome times? (Yes this another rant about things that irritate me.)

Here, abhishekas and liberating instructions can be bought in the Dharma marketplace as easily as one could buy washing powder in a local supermarket. It seems that they are far more readily available in the West than they ever were in the East.

And what do we do with them?

Well, for many, this arcane knowledge is a great subject of intellectual speculation; then there are those who collect wangs and pith instructions as if they are toy soldiers; some prefer to be 'mystical' about the teachings and authorisations they receive and behavely strangely in front of people who have no idea what trip they're on; others deck out a room of the house like the Potala and once a day (if lucky) go and sit in front of a sumptuous shrine bedecked with idols and feel good about themselves; others just wear the sanctimonious, pseudo-pious, cryptic smile of the terminally constipated and irritate those within a hundred metre radius (see attached photo).

Most of these you find milling around Dharma centres like hungry ghosts, parroting words of their Precious Teachers and perpetuating myths and stories that often have been made up by other students and have become incorporated into the canon of tales which will end up in their guru's namthar.

I blame the gurus. Not all, but some, seem to be more interested in building Dharma empires than offering the means of liberation to sentient beings. They put huge demands on their students to acquire land or property, effectively ending the possibility of that student engaging in any meaningful worldly or spiritual pursuits. They actively discourage 'shopping around' or taking teachings from other lineages because they don't want to lose their revenue stream. They allow their students to believe they are some kind of demigod and have some kind of sacred samaya bond, when they haven't - or won't - even give them the full four empowerments necessary for entry into the Vajrayana path and instead peddle jenangs as if they are full abhishekas.

Students emulate their masters. If the master is guilty of the above behaviours then it is as sure as hell is hot that the students will carry on the lineage.

The Dharma is about liberation and personal responsibility. Western Dharma seems to be about infantilisation and collective irresponsibility in the name of 'Rinpoche knows best'. Of course, in one respect, this is perfectly true, but it is often used as a very pernicious excuse. People become so mired in group politics or guru 'devotion' that they can't hear the call of the cave or the forest, and become content instead with jingling bells and mumbling magic spells in a language they can't understand in drafty front rooms or church halls, while the world outside looks on incredulously.

Whilst there are good communities of practitioners it is best as a general rule, I think, to be a solitary practitioner: shop around; find an authentic teacher; take what teachings you need as you need them, and disappear from the scene in between these meetings.

Homage to the authentic teachers!