The Dilemma Of Secrecy

The Dharma teachings are vast, simple and complex, and all centre around one point; pure compassionate awareness.

Some regard the finer aspects of the teachings as secret. In fact, there is a very compassionate reason for this. Some regard the teachings as self secret, as people can only understand what they understand, the rest sounding like gobbledygook.

Here is the dilemma:

If people are introduced to high teachings and ‘don’t get it’ they may switch off from any further progression, thinking it is far too difficult. On the other hand if they think, “I get it”, they may also switch off from progressing to deeper stability, as they remain in a concept of the teachings.

We have to be aware of these possibilities. And – this is very important – when communicating with others we have to be mindful of saying too much or too little. People can become easily upset, and that can turn to hatred. However, we can’t please everyone – even Buddhists!

Compassion is a very skilful activity.
As the Buddha said, “Not too tight and not too loose.”
He really did know what he was talking about!

Gobbledygook: language that is meaningless or is made unintelligible by excessive use of technical terms.