Cutting Through Spiritual Materalism
One of my Tibetan teachers, Younge Khachab Rinpoche told me we are all waiting in the emergency hospital room, we all have spiritual wounds.
I love JP Spears ( he is a satirist) because he touches images and behaviors I've seen in myself and those around me while working putting on weekend Buddhist classes and working in Buddhist meditation retreats. You "must" have a healthy well grounded mind to do this work because lurking in the darkest corners of our mind is bat shit craziness. Most people aren't aware of how much crazy they're hiding until they sit down and start watching their thoughts and totally freak out when they find their minds closets full of ghost, goblins, and junk. This is the dangerous part of the path and only a very few can completely avoid the crazy confusion of the Dharma circus.
In meditation and study, what manifests in the mind can be just boredom or it can be full blown delusions. I know a few Ph.D Western Buddhist scholars that can quote anything to do with Buddhism but are throughly miserable unhappy people, wisdom is not knowledge. All this will pass if you don't buy into your mind telling you all that you see manifesting in your mind is real, this is where good teachers come in handy. This happens on a daily bases for me, at least I'm aware of my delusions, they also make pretty paintings. In my Imagination all my teachers hangout with me and remind me that I'm full of bullshit, with loving kindness of course.
Many real teachers and respectable institutions take advantage of our spiritual wounds and confusion. Now meditation is making big profits and becoming very trendy, like the mindfulness movement. I've been taught if you run after fame and profit you will never find peace, happiness, contentment, and equanimity. In the vipassana meditation center I cut my baby meditation teeth on, if one says they want to be a meditation teacher, they will never be a meditation teacher. If you want to help others find peace and happiness you have to help yourself first.
I'm serious, without a teacher to help one through the levels of the mind, one can get lost. I've been really lucky to have stumbled across some really good teachers and not get totally lost in my own bullshit. I'm lucky to be a country kid and understand shit really well having shoveled so much mucking out or barns and stalls, barn boots are essential items of survival. We all need some good barn boots right now! Bullshit when composted for a year makes excellent garden dirt!
Now I know what a good teacher is and isn't, that's golden, over 20 years stumbling around in my shit, I found a nugget of gold. Spiritual Teachers
Younge Khachab Rinpoche, Is a kind but tough teacher, he understands our conditioning is different than his cultural conditioning. He is my favorite teacher because he comes from a farming community that is very much like my community.
Cutting Through Spiritual Materalism, by Chogyam Trungpa
Trungpa tried to transform Western societies poisons, but they killed him in the end. He didn't try to portray himself as the perfect teacher. I've met some of his first students, brilliant people who have flaws and know how to work with those flaws without trying to be holier than thou.
Another one of my favorite teachers, I got to work with him and his family at an American retreat back in 2008, is Choegyal Namkhai Norbu, Rinpoche deeply understands the Western mindset and has found brilliant ways to unhook his students from their bullshit! He is getting on and years and had serious health problems, so if you can meet him, be quick about it. I worked with his Son, Yeshe is one of the hardest working people I met at that particular retreat, and I didn't know he was Nomkhai's son. A very modest and humble man indeed.
This post has been ranked within the top 50 most undervalued posts in the second half of Jan 26. We estimate that this post is undervalued by $7.89 as compared to a scenario in which every voter had an equal say.
See the full rankings and details in The Daily Tribune: Jan 26 - Part II. You can also read about some of our methodology, data analysis and technical details in our initial post.
If you are the author and would prefer not to receive these comments, simply reply "Stop" to this comment.
I'm pretty sure my low ranking is because of my using bullshit and enlightenment in the same article 😇👹💀
Very interesting post dear friend @reddust, it is always good to heal the soul, excellent video, thank you very much for sharing this wonderful post
Once in awhile I have to speak about the Spiritual game, like the Medical game, profits are made from illness and dysfunction. Without clear cut guidelines there is no profitable reason to cure people of what ails them. The truth is we make ourselves sick and we are the only one who can truly heal ourself.
Excellent article. The greatest gift I received is the realization that what I understood and defined myself as was someone else's propaganda and perception. It's exciting for a lot of it was debilitating and limiting. Thanks for the tips about the teachers, I will look into that :)
I know! It's kinda scary too, I had to let go of all I held dear, including my own story. Finding a good teacher is linked on this page, Berzins archives hold a wealth of knowledge and I trust the site. I was told your true teacher will manifest when the heart is ready...my heart was a like rawhide and needed years of chewing to soften it up!
I have heard the same about the teacher manifesting when the heart is ready. I have been exploring and applying what I have been given to date; the principle that you can't expect more instruction until you have mastered what you were given lol. I suppose when I exhaust my current "assignment" I will receive further "instructions" by a new teacher.
For my first Tibetan teacher I practiced "Calling The Guru From Afar," that's how I found Khachab Rinpoche, a friend I rarely speak to told me about him, after I'd been practicing daily for a month. I lived close to his place of residence and took a weekend teaching. I like his students and his teachings. I had a dream about Namkhai Norbu, he was in a hospital bed and asked me to sit on his bed by his side and talk with him. We talked and talked until I got so tired I lay down beside him and took a nap. I went and did a retreat that year with him, he is old school Vajrayana. I have had several other Tibetan teachers but these two are the ones my thoughts rest on all the time.
Even if your not into Vajrayana the practice my lead you to the teacher in your heart.
Lama Yeshe is cool, I know a few of his students, he put a nice booklet together of the teachings http://www.lamayeshe.com/article/calling-guru-afar
I listened to the call and sent out the intention for a teacher to manifest itself. I look forward to having a teacher come forward. Your post also inspired me to write one of my posts and I thank you for that.
I'm so happy, I am hesitant to post articles like this because I might turn someone away from finding themselves. I am looking forward to your article @commonguru🙏
In Tibet, buddhist master often go insane. And they are just taken care of until they come back to their senses. Fixing our life issues ixs a very good thing, but it is really like the kiddy pool end (beginning) of meditation/going down the rabbit hole.
It is tough on the psyche when you find out literally everything you thought you knew is wrong.
When you begin on quest, a mountain is a mountain.
And then you find out a mountain is not a mountain.
When you complete your journey, a mountain is again a mountain.
I love Ultra Spiritual's videos, but I am afraid to link them, because many do not know that they are satire.
I didn't know people would take JP as the real deal, that's kind of scary. I've seen some crazy shit manifest as seemgly real at silent vipassana retreats. My first teacher Sunim a Zen monk from Korea always coached me to sit still and watch...I still do that.
Some Tibetan teachers are fake, others are so real they seem like crazy people. Tibetan Buddhism is a wild ride and I'm glad I had Mahayana and Thervada teachings before I started Dzogchen...
Yes, greater completion yoga is not something to dive into as a newbie.
I am glad you found a good path and good teachers.