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Re: A Criticism of tulku selection process in tb?
Its been a while since I've been in the TB world.
The tulku system can be abused by organizations to maintain power, they can select a candidate from an existing family. Or shenanigans to that effect.
Personally I've always wondered about the objectivity of the selection process. Does the person testing the child know which items belonged to the previous lama? That sort of flaw right there is a basic tenet of scientific studies. If the tester does know perhaps all they are testing for are sensitive children that have some ability to intuit the correct choice. I'm guessing that those type of children will be more inclined and better able to absorb the meaning of the Dharma. So they may make good lamas but that doesn't mean they are a reincarnation of a previous teacher. But I honestly have no clue whether the tester has that knowledge or not.
Edit: I'll add something that came to mind. 25 or so years ago I joined a TB sangha that had a couple monks they were supporting (we have a decent sized Tibetan population here) and a Geshe who earned top marks came to live and teach. I attended regularly for the few years he was there. After 3 or 4 years he was offered the head abbot position at Gyuto tantric college in India.
Anyway, this past year the Tibetan sangha here sent an email saying he was coming back to visit and give some teachings. In the meantime he had been "recognized" as a tulku and now has the Rinpoche title.
He was a good and kind teacher, this is nothing against him. It just seems rather convenient that even though they missed that he was a tulku for all those years he was a young monk, now that he was head of the college they could see that he was actually a tulku. It just seems so blatant a move to provide more status and credibility than an actual recognition.
person
Re: A Criticism of tulku selection process in tb?
What benefit is there in that? Why not open a door to disbelief with a quiet no thank you?
You must be a Buddhist of some other sort or not at all?
https://studybuddhism.com/en/advanced-studies/lam-rim/student-teacher-relationship/spiritual-teachers-and-spiritual-students/the-traditional-meaning-of-a-spiritual-teacher#n6
lobster
Re: Buddhist quotes
"Generations of peoples, primarily in Asia, have maintained that the historical Buddha, Gautama, invented zazen, and so was an Absolute God in zazen.
The truth is, of course, zazen was not born of, nor created by the historical Buddha; Buddha was born of the unfathomable depths of zazen.
We too may be born from the same place, as countless buddhas have in the past. We are all absolute perfection in zazen, infinite perfection — the transcendence of ourselves; the transcendence of the practice; the transcendence of all things.
Zazen is and was the mother of Buddha. We should confirm this with our own direct experience."
~ Hōgen Yamahata
Re: Why I’m not keen on the bodhisattva vow
I formally took the Bodhisattva vow yesterday at an Avolekitesvara Empowerment ceremony. The way I see it, and the way our teacher explained it is that we are planting the seed now and it may take place this lifetime or in future lifetimes. But for me personally, I will strive to be a better human and Buddhist starting yesterday. I will carry the awareness at the foremost of my being to the best of my ability. Will I screw up? Sure. But I will keep striving.
That's just my take on it anyway.
Re: An experience of ‘who am I?’
"You can not catch hold of it, nor can you get rid of it...In not being able to get it, you get it....When you speak it's silent-When you're silent it speaks."
~Chan Poem~
Shoshin1
Re: Understanding the do'er?
There is a do'er which I identify with as self but that do'er is just a part or a system among a bunch of parts and systems that is the body-mind complex. What the do'er does is a result of cause and effect. Parts and systems causing and effecting.
From my own perspective, I would advise sitting with this for a bit.
When someone mentions a "doer" I like to throw in a reminder to practice pausing between stimuli and reaction so we see the difference between responding solely through conditioned response and acting mindfully. Eventually, that pause may get smaller and smaller and abandoned like the raft to the other shore.
The fifth of the Five Remembrances is that my actions are my only true possessions and are the ground upon which I stand. A fatalist view would seem to fly in the face of Buddhist practice.
