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Opportunism in the sanghas
This is a humorous yet insightful piece by Brad Warner about the dangers of giving your trust to sham teachers/wise leaders. Gullible students he calls the people who follow an exalted one with glazed over eyes.
This is the same dynamic that happens in society with scandals like the christian ministries leader who has illicit affairs while espousing the ten commandments type thing. People can beleive in someone so much that they become above question and their antics always explained away or not even seen.
Buddhist community can have these false leaders/teachers too.
It happens all the time. It is very easy and desirable to have someone on a pedestal to look to for direction. To see another as having all the answers. It also creates fertile ground for con artists. And con artists never look like con artists, lol.
I think this is especially relevant for those of us who engage with a cyber sangha composed of people with all levels of practice. We need to remember that words on a screen are just that: words.We can gain and share much over the internet but we need to be vigilant to never accept anything at face value. Same advice as you give to those involved in internet romances.
Question everyone you cannot observe in person over time to see that their actions correspond to their words. Unless you have that benefit, you can never know if anybody is what you think they are.
This is the same dynamic that happens in society with scandals like the christian ministries leader who has illicit affairs while espousing the ten commandments type thing. People can beleive in someone so much that they become above question and their antics always explained away or not even seen.
Buddhist community can have these false leaders/teachers too.
It happens all the time. It is very easy and desirable to have someone on a pedestal to look to for direction. To see another as having all the answers. It also creates fertile ground for con artists. And con artists never look like con artists, lol.
I think this is especially relevant for those of us who engage with a cyber sangha composed of people with all levels of practice. We need to remember that words on a screen are just that: words.We can gain and share much over the internet but we need to be vigilant to never accept anything at face value. Same advice as you give to those involved in internet romances.
Question everyone you cannot observe in person over time to see that their actions correspond to their words. Unless you have that benefit, you can never know if anybody is what you think they are.
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Comments
yu can try to access it through his blog :
http://hardcorezen.blogspot.com/2007/01/enlightenment-part-million.html