on "dharma punks"
Sep. 28th, 2021 08:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cattasallaThere's this subculture within Buddhism that prides itself on being punk. They like to swear a lot (like who fucking cares?) and engage in sexual activity with their students, which should be obviously problematic to anyone with any sense.
I mean, sure, the Buddha could be read as the most punk guy ever. His teaching goes "against the stream", as he put it (and as Noah Levine named his organization), against the stream of worldly pleasures and desires and notions of success. It's as punk as you can get, really.
But there's something about these Dharma Punks that doesn't sit well with me. Is it that their entire shtick is pretty childish? Yes, in part. Is it their arrogance? Yes, definitely so. They often lay claim to be the True Buddhists, and look down on other, more conventional, practitioners, tossing around nonsense phrases like "politically correct".
But hey, that's just my impression. Correct me if I'm wrong.
Love,
A guy whose ears constantly ring because of all the punk shows he went to as a kid
I mean, sure, the Buddha could be read as the most punk guy ever. His teaching goes "against the stream", as he put it (and as Noah Levine named his organization), against the stream of worldly pleasures and desires and notions of success. It's as punk as you can get, really.
But there's something about these Dharma Punks that doesn't sit well with me. Is it that their entire shtick is pretty childish? Yes, in part. Is it their arrogance? Yes, definitely so. They often lay claim to be the True Buddhists, and look down on other, more conventional, practitioners, tossing around nonsense phrases like "politically correct".
But hey, that's just my impression. Correct me if I'm wrong.
Love,
A guy whose ears constantly ring because of all the punk shows he went to as a kid