A PERSONAL VIEW.

I love the topic of the two truths -what is real and what seems real. The Buddha said it all, and so have many others. There is no difference between them and us, except that they have realise the truth.

However, I do have a personal problem, which has caused me to get kicked out of Dharma centres. It’s the dynamics of spiritual set-ups, and the politics surrounding the teacher. The teacher needs the students, as much as the students need the teacher. So an artificiality of does and don’ts gets established, based on formerly held religious ideas, and there is thus a pressure to conform.

At the beginning of our search, we honestly want to find what is true and real, but very quickly we learn how to be pretenders. This is due us merely adhering to the status quo that has been set up: it sometimes feels like neuro-linguistic programming. We start off with “Beginner’s mind, Zen mind”… and then we learn all those fancy words, and sit on fancy cushions, in front of a very fancy shrine. A new life style has just begun – Chogyam Trungpa called this “Spiritual materialism”.

People start acting in a very ‘special’ way, which is quite unnatural.

It’s the wooden stage in our evolution. In the west we are clinging to another’s culture and ignoring our own. The ancient world has wisdom, while the modern world has energy, and they can work well together. The West has to learn to stand on its own two feet.

I once spoke to a Lama, who admitted that one cannot be honest with people…they are still too delicate.

My personal concern is, “Who was the last person to be enlightened?” I trust it is possible, as I’ve seen changes within my own mind, but I do wonder if we have to let go of letting go. This is why we need to engage in personal research, and not merely copy others.

It is possible that the answer is in devotion, and receiving blessings. I’ll let you know when I find out!

Please be yourself, and don’t copy others…you don’t know where they’ve been, or what they may have trodden in!

Tony