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Tibetan Buddhism
trendybuddha
Explorer
I have been a diamond way buddhist for some time, I don't want to start a huge discussion about that group. But I am now looking for something else, as I found that it was really not my cup of tea. I loved doing ngöndro though, so I want to practise that. I am wondering if generally people do not recommend tibetan buddhism? I read a discussion here where there were so much back and forth on abuse etc... my view is though that in any religion there will be abuse, because people are people. And they do bad things.
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The Buddha talked about even the dhamma itself being a raft that, once you cross the stream of samsara and reach the far shore(Nibbana), you don't pick up the raft and carry it, you leave it there. The different schools are just rafts to eventually be dumped on the far shore anyways, find what works for you and stick with it.
I don't see how you practicing what works for you, is excusing or supporting abuse. Unless you are sending money and resources to those who abuse, or purposely ignoring something you could do something about, then it should not be a problem. We do what we can to have an effect on the bad in the world, but we cannot do so in all cases. You can find bad things in the world no matter what branch of what religion you choose to follow. I find Buddhism nice in the way that you are not supporting something larger. When I choose to donate, the money goes to help my teacher, and I cam comfortable with where the money goes. As opposed to how I felt when I used to attend church and was demanded to give a certain % of my money to support the church and it's missions without knowing where that money went entirely.
In the end, the question is, is what you choose helping you to become a better person, and thus positively influencing the world around you? If yes, then I say that is what you should do. If we cannot have a positive impact on the people and the world immediately around us, we cannot cause it to spread further. Buddhism, for me, is not something to keep to oneself, but something you practice and in effect share with the world around you as a result of that practice. That is why I like Tibetan Buddhism more than many others, because it encourages that rather that focusing solely on yourself.
Check out Reggie Ray. I enjoy him as a teacher because he teaches the essence of Tibetian Buddhism in a modern context.
And he brings it all back to ones own practice and unfolding as the human spiritual journey.
I practice not to wear another set of clothing. I desire to be happy and useful to those around me. And I treasure this life I have. No time for any other bs.
So maybe Reggie Ray may sync with you. Maybe not. Either way shop around for an authentic lineage that speaks to you.
When practicing, you are the Buddha (just snoozing), you are the Sangha (community of internal facets of Buddhist Self) and you are the source of inspiration (dharma).
Practice in all the realms of being with the three jewels and the lama will emerge . . . and guess who it will be . . . You!
There are millions of happy practitioners in every possible school and sect; the key is to find what's right for you. Of course you may be limited to what is in your own area; just go to teachings, talk to students, and see what feels right. Usually (in my experience) one will kind of jump out at you.
I think the problem is, for me at least, the ego thing. I am not an egoless, perfect being and so in order to practice effectively I have to be around people who are going to support my practice or at least not cause me to falter. Until we manage to get some serious realizations under our belts I suspect it is the same for everyone so look around, we have more centres and teachers than we have ever had, in person, on the net and in books. Finding a group where you can practice calmly and diligently seems to be more important than whether they do this or that specific practice. I don't know of any group that would object to you carrying on with your Ngondro if you already have the necessary permissions and teachings to start.
Trying to straddle the spiritual/ political divide like the pope or DL has, seems like a job that would display few of us in a favourable light, given the expectations and scrutiny that I read about here.
I see them as little more than the enertia of the organizations that spawned them.
Scapegoats for the critical, deities for the spiritually myopic or just beings dealing with the cards they've been dealt with..
Those people defaming the DL usually sound like folks who just don't know themselves or their own particular teacher well enough.
Back to the OP's concern, I don't think the fact that there are abuses necessarily means anything for her specific center. All it means is that it's helpful to keep a good ear to the ground, and not suspend one's critical thinking skills entirely. Even the DL says to spend years checking out teachers before you hand over your trust completely. But for beginners' study, it shouldn't be difficult to find a decent group.
If one finds wisdom in TB, who am I to discourage them from their journey or practice?
If one finds wisdom in TB, who am I to discourage them from their journey or practice?
This is a discussion on Tibetan Buddhism, not a platform for broadcasting inappropriate negative political judgements.
Feel free to create a thread, if you deem it appropriate.
However, once people get privileges, unless held in check by a scrupulous examination of conscience daily (which the religious need to do), corruption sets in.
Perhaps a New Monasticism is needed that doesn't force people intent on the monastic vocation to be the asexual creatures they cannot truly be. If it's on the mind, one is not abstaining. And if one is not "abstaining," then how in the heck can you go to an aloof superior monk for counsel? I know of a pdf publication by that above-cited name which I believe was published some months ago in AMERICA magazine. It is written by Rory McEntee and Adam Bucko.
I think the higher standard should be primarily about truthfulness and integrity. Keeping pure and undefiled by the world entirely is perhaps setting ones mark too high, even for the severely introverted hermit.
Society, taken too seriously, can be viewed by a true Lover as an organized band of plotters trying to bore people to death.
Whether secular or religious, when sexual instincts are at work, everyone has a cross to bear when it comes to doing the "correct thing" all the time. These sexual instincts are very strong and are very deeply encoded in our whole being in sundry ways; these encodings or "surges" are put there biologically to preserve the species by reproductive activity. Nature is prodigiously wasteful: just look at the superabundant production of substances in the body —substances that will never even be used. That's the way nature is and that's the way with sex. (Sects {no distinct diff in pronunciation}, on the other hand, are very stingy. ¶ Which causes more mischief? —who can say? But humanity can get by without sects, I am sure.)
Now, mind you, when the unrealistic expectations that societies forge cause people to cover up their true natures, I don't look for truthfulness or real compassion to superabound, either. "Building more accountability into the system at all levels" is such a nice businesslike approach to the usual bullshit about telling ourselves that purity of heart is all about sexual purity and some almost bland holiness that is completely detached from the warmth of an intimate encounter with a lovely person. I really wonder that maybe all the systems that include abstaining from sex are based on maintaining centralization of power —from today's nuclear family, to the monastic communities, and including the parish churches from medieval times onward.
How much does "society" depend on all these claims (such as total monogamy) we put on each other? The fault, I think, lies in ourselves. We're too afraid to step out of ourselves and be ourselves and too quick to condemn others who don't follow the rules we've been loyal to "all these years." —"How Dare THEY?"
Carry on with Ngöndro, carry on with the path, one day you will be giving advice . . . And if it is good, good will come of it . . .
Good Luck :clap: