Dear Darlof:
One way to assess a teacher's character is to observe how he or she deals with
source material. If someone claims to be sole custodian of something for which no one can be sole custodian -- hmmm.
One item to be aware of is that some are out there who claim that
a "serious seeker" gives up all claim to basic human rights.
That one isnt a serious seeker unless one is willing to risk insanity, illness,
financial ruin, relationship betrayal in order to seek ego death or enlightenment, and that one must surrender into the hands of a savage
guru who will pummel that evil, loathsome ego to smithereens.
Here is an example: Ken Wilber's "Rude Guru" Manifesto.
[www3.telus.net]
Wilber never submitted himself to any such guru, but has endorsed a whole
series of so called 'teachers' who were tornadoes on feet and left destruction in their wakes.
[www.google.com]
One person wrote a critique of the culture of cruelty and abuse that
has formed around Wilber and those whom he has endorsed and who
associate with him.
[www.google.com]
This notion of "crazy wise" gurus started with such persons as
Chogyam Trungpa, Da Free John (Adi Da)* and was later exemplified
by such persons as Lee Lozowick (now deceased) and those claiming
inspiration from Gurdjieff or other 'Fourth Way' teachers.
This has not worked out well, not at all.
*Da Free John was endorsed by Ken Wilber.
** Chogyam Trungpa was from the Ri-Med orientation within Vajryana Buddhism; Ri-Med practitioners studied with a variety of teachers. By contrast, when
Trungpa created his own dharma centers with Western followers, he forbade
those vowed to study with other teachers 'heritics'. Trungpa told followers to
beware of 'spiritual materialism' yet created a ranking hierarchy, in which
new students did servant work for senior students, high ranking students wore
badges that distinguished them from lower ranking students, while Trungpa arranged to be served by uniformed servants. All that pomp and circumstance
merely re-enforced the spiritual materialism by fostering ambition.
(Source: The Double Mirror by Stephen Butterfield)
[www.google.com]
Chogyam Trungpa's source for 'Shambhala' -- the Ri-Med tradition
[forum.culteducation.com]
Finally, it can help to recognize that what we think of as "Buddhism" or "Hinduism" is actually something formed by the encounter of unfamiliar Asian
spiritual sects with Westerners in the 19th Century whose expectations where
shaped by Theosophy, by assumption that any religion could be given
a single name "Hinduism" "Buddhism" which implied a unity while concealing
the actual diversity. Buddhism and Hinduism more resemble clusters of sects, the way "Christianity" encompasses Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Lutherans, Calvinists, Quakers, Amish, Mennonites, Baptists, Pentacostals, etc.)
If any teacher claims to give the 'true ancient source' -- that is a form of possessiveness right there.
Hinduism became misleadingly equated with the Bhagavad Gita. Buddhism was equated with a mere cluster of texts.
The Making of Buddhist Modernism may be a bit tough, but gives an idea
of how what Westerners believe to be "Buddhism" is something shaped by
the preconceptions and desires of Westerners.
[www.google.com]
Donald Lopez The Dead: A Biography tells us how Evans Wenz, himself a Theosophist, had some expectations that influenced his search for texts
and the odd circumstances that led to the TBD being selected, rather than some other text (!)
[www.google.com]
One way to assess a teacher's character is to observe how he or she deals with
source material. If someone claims to be sole custodian of something for which no one can be sole custodian -- hmmm.
One item to be aware of is that some are out there who claim that
a "serious seeker" gives up all claim to basic human rights.
That one isnt a serious seeker unless one is willing to risk insanity, illness,
financial ruin, relationship betrayal in order to seek ego death or enlightenment, and that one must surrender into the hands of a savage
guru who will pummel that evil, loathsome ego to smithereens.
Here is an example: Ken Wilber's "Rude Guru" Manifesto.
[www3.telus.net]
Wilber never submitted himself to any such guru, but has endorsed a whole
series of so called 'teachers' who were tornadoes on feet and left destruction in their wakes.
[www.google.com]
One person wrote a critique of the culture of cruelty and abuse that
has formed around Wilber and those whom he has endorsed and who
associate with him.
[www.google.com]
This notion of "crazy wise" gurus started with such persons as
Chogyam Trungpa, Da Free John (Adi Da)* and was later exemplified
by such persons as Lee Lozowick (now deceased) and those claiming
inspiration from Gurdjieff or other 'Fourth Way' teachers.
This has not worked out well, not at all.
*Da Free John was endorsed by Ken Wilber.
** Chogyam Trungpa was from the Ri-Med orientation within Vajryana Buddhism; Ri-Med practitioners studied with a variety of teachers. By contrast, when
Trungpa created his own dharma centers with Western followers, he forbade
those vowed to study with other teachers 'heritics'. Trungpa told followers to
beware of 'spiritual materialism' yet created a ranking hierarchy, in which
new students did servant work for senior students, high ranking students wore
badges that distinguished them from lower ranking students, while Trungpa arranged to be served by uniformed servants. All that pomp and circumstance
merely re-enforced the spiritual materialism by fostering ambition.
(Source: The Double Mirror by Stephen Butterfield)
[www.google.com]
Chogyam Trungpa's source for 'Shambhala' -- the Ri-Med tradition
[forum.culteducation.com]
Finally, it can help to recognize that what we think of as "Buddhism" or "Hinduism" is actually something formed by the encounter of unfamiliar Asian
spiritual sects with Westerners in the 19th Century whose expectations where
shaped by Theosophy, by assumption that any religion could be given
a single name "Hinduism" "Buddhism" which implied a unity while concealing
the actual diversity. Buddhism and Hinduism more resemble clusters of sects, the way "Christianity" encompasses Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Lutherans, Calvinists, Quakers, Amish, Mennonites, Baptists, Pentacostals, etc.)
If any teacher claims to give the 'true ancient source' -- that is a form of possessiveness right there.
Hinduism became misleadingly equated with the Bhagavad Gita. Buddhism was equated with a mere cluster of texts.
The Making of Buddhist Modernism may be a bit tough, but gives an idea
of how what Westerners believe to be "Buddhism" is something shaped by
the preconceptions and desires of Westerners.
[www.google.com]
Donald Lopez The Dead: A Biography tells us how Evans Wenz, himself a Theosophist, had some expectations that influenced his search for texts
and the odd circumstances that led to the TBD being selected, rather than some other text (!)
[www.google.com]