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so many masters available
ShanJieshi2
bahia blanca Veteran
I am quite uncomfortable with the number of Zen masters writing in the popular magazines, as well as in the social networks. They also give courses, seminars and talks on almost any subject, with sometimes little time left in a weekend.
In magazines, almost any topic is enough to make an attractive headline. It will never be an option to say nothing or to induce silence. On the contrary!! we will make a new note about "silence and how to take advantage of it"...read it now! or watch the video or listen to the podcast!!!
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I was on twitch the other day and this advertisement ended and the ending caught my attention. Now I wanted to know what it was. So I waited for it to come on again but I only caught the tail end again. I realize I'd programmed myself to ignore advertisements and now I was having trouble seeing this one! One I actually wanted to see...it never did come back on.
Ah being comfortable with discomfort.
Ain't it The Way.
False Zen to No Zen. I'll join.
So many people don’t feel the impulse to go to a live meeting out of their own impulse. They have to be enticed to go there, titillated by text-based tasters in magazines. It’s a symptom of people having too little time, being too busy.
But have you heard of the great resignation? Apparently a lot of people are resigning their jobs and going to live a simpler life. They look at their car, their house, their mortgage, their financing and say, what do I actually do these things for? And then they make up the balance, and figure out what else they can do.
Yeah I'd like to see how many "a lot of people" actually is.
Supposedly its quite a few millions... statistically significant in the US labour market.
Ah those Ma$ters, giving cour$e$, lecture$, $eminar$.
I have had a number of mentors. I do not have to choose one a all and each are providing priceless lessons and advice. We are equals and everyone is a mentor, even when he/she is unaware of that reality.
Just the ranting of an old geezer.
Peace to all
Tee hee @Lionduck
Real mentors are $free
We need a lot less than we think. The sangha is priceless when good but when goods just another commodity … as you mention.
Here is the lovely jubbly/jhambahla
There are no true masters - only teachers and coaches.
You are the master, perhaps not yet realized.
all other are guides, teachers, coaches, helpers.
The path is yours, not theirs.
Peace to all
Talking of no true mastering …
Here is a course …
… which nobody needs …
https://personaltao.com/taoism/taoism-101/
That's nothing. Have you noticed the Dharma mags full of adverts from shops selling all manner of Dharma paraphernalia, in issues with articles on non-attachment, emptiness (material objects not being "real" anyway), cultivating simplicity/minimalism, etc.? You can't even pick up a Dharma mag without encountering a barrage of buy-buy-buy messages.
I guess they're there to help us practice non-attachment to ads and sales messages.
Lots of practice!
Instead of looking for a master, one might try surrendering to the All.
the buddhadharma has been turned into popular buddhism. large temples and smiling masters are endorsed by the crowds from their mobile phones and online donations.
Magazines and books sprout like mushrooms everywhere. Mindfulness institutes and schools promise everything fast and easy.
Those who move fast and without scruples will be able to make a lot of money and live like princes at the expense of the rest.
everything is bought and sold, because it is all in the hands of the marketing experts.
The same thing happened to Europe in the past. They let psychology supplant the spiritual unity of the people.
And we all went from being believers to being customers.
The thing is, the common people do not want a difficult and long path. So the popular path will be one that is easy to do. If one was unkind one might say Pure Land’s popularity is due to this.
Spiritual unity under Christianity, which was the last time Europe had spiritual unity? I think this idea of unity is something to be let go of, it was rarely so, there were always many schisms and alternate traditions.
it is a historical hypothesis, it may be wrong, but I sum it up like this (and I am not a fan of Christianity at all).
At one time in history a person would go to any church, be it cathedral or chapel, anywhere in Europe and the core teachings available there were the same. That expressed the unity of that religion in that territory. The victory of the schism has to do with breaking that structure.
Years later, with Christianity already atomised, a new wave of psychological therapy arrives and sweeps away spirituality (whatever it is) and turns everyone into clients who will have to pay but no longer to be in harmony with the Absolute, but to fit into the very society that oppresses them and generates that suffering.
The vicious circle is closed