When The Buddha’s Teachings Move
When the Buddha’s teaching moves to another culture, the expression of the teaching has to adapt in order to adjust to that particular mindset. The primordial purity of the teaching never changes, but is expressed in a method that deals with the problems of that collective cultural mind.
Relaxed people need brightening
and bright people need relaxing.
“Not too tight and not too loose.”
Relaxing the relaxed
produces lethargy.
Energising the energetic
produces lunatics!
🙂
Happiness doesn’t come from philosophical theory;
it comes from direct understanding arising from experience
– pleasant and unpleasant.
Make sure you’re in the right queue!
The film may be just a imitation.
BUDDHA IN THE MUD is a blog - a living book based on the Dzogchen teachings. Our teacher is life, and life is karma. We are all Buddhas in the mud of concepts. 
The Dalai Lama wrote:
” Whenever Buddhism has taken root in a new land, there has been a certain variation in the style in which it is observed. The Buddha himself taught differently according to the place, the occasion and the situation of those who were listening to him.”
I’d really like to see this idea of change take hold in the west at a much deeper level than I can see currently. It’s not enough to listen to some lamas who seem to think they’re cool and have an understanding of the way the western mind works simply because they’ve listened to a few students…it has to be far more profound than tokenism.
Until we start to see some recognition of the achievements of western students – including female ones – beyond the (invaluable) work than has been done by people such as Matthieu Ricard and Eric Pema Kunsang, it seems we are destined to continue with the Tibetan-ness.
I really really hope this starts to manifest…
Daisy
Hello Daisy,
If enough people recognise the value of the Buddha’s teachings, then things will change. This is not Buddhism in daily life, but compassionate awareness in daily life.
Tony