navigating a multitude of teachings
Jul. 24th, 2023 07:51 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cattasallaAn unparalleled development in the history of Buddhism has been its integration as an international entity. A few hundred years ago, if you wanted to be a more devoted or intense practitioner, you had few options for teachers; basically you had to go to whoever was close to you. But now, a multitude of teachers from all traditions have made their teachings available in print and online. While a teacher is still invaluable for progress, a good teacher will not insist their teaching is the only option, and will learn from others and encourage their students to learn from others. This has led to an unprecedented cross-pollination between very different strands of Buddhist thought and practice; a Theravādin can now learn from Zen or Dzogchen which will enrich their own practice, as a personal example.
But the array of teachings available can be overwhelming, especially to newcomers. How do you pick what among the diverse teachings are valid ones?
First off, the Buddha gives us guidelines for that in the famous Kālāma Sutta. While often mistakenly taken as some sort of free rein to believe whatever a person wants--which is most definitely not what it says!--it does give us the guideline that the validity of any spiritual practice, including the ones taught by the Buddha, only derive from witnessing the results of putting them into practice. If they reduce greed, hate, and delusion, they are valid.
So this should be our first clue.
Overall, though, we still need to make some kind of decision what to try in the first place. Probably the best thing to do is to review a variety of teachings and find what best resonates. Some presentation of the Dhamma will seem more "right" for the individual than others. This can form a first pass at deciding what teachings to try out. And what seems "right" for one person may not be for another...this is why we are at such an advantage for having such variety. Once this is done, it's generally best to narrow down to a limited set of teachings, a particular tradition, and give that five or six years of dedication before evaluating whether or not to change it up.
That said, there is a huge danger in this. First off, the student is almost guaranteed to go down some blind alleys. I mean, the Buddha himself did this before discovering the Dhamma! Some things will be tried, perhaps even for an extended period of time, and will just never work. Some things might even be detrimental, and this is where honesty and an accurate self-perception (as well as advice from a teacher who knows you well) are vital. It is essential to be able to tell when a teaching is not working for you, not having the intended effect, even when you think it is right or otherwise like it. As a personal example, when I was younger I absorbed a lot of Mahāyāna and Tantric teachings about how pleasure is okay to experience, as long as you don't get attached to it. (This is, in fact, a teaching that goes all the way back to the EBTs!) I took that as license to indulge in whatever I wanted as much as I wanted, telling myself I was not attached to any of it. I was lying to myself. I was, in fact, quite attached to all of those sensual pleasures. I still am, in fact...this is my primary area of work right now. For someone whose main problem is, say, hate, then it's not as big of a deal to indulge...they may even be able to indulge without attachment quite easily. For someone whose main problem is greed, like me, this is not the case.
So, while we must find what teachings best resonate with ourselves, we also must be cautious not to be deluding ourselves into thinking a teaching that is right for us when it is actually wrong...that it is helping us when it is actually harming us. Or else we have no hope of advancing in the practice.
But the array of teachings available can be overwhelming, especially to newcomers. How do you pick what among the diverse teachings are valid ones?
First off, the Buddha gives us guidelines for that in the famous Kālāma Sutta. While often mistakenly taken as some sort of free rein to believe whatever a person wants--which is most definitely not what it says!--it does give us the guideline that the validity of any spiritual practice, including the ones taught by the Buddha, only derive from witnessing the results of putting them into practice. If they reduce greed, hate, and delusion, they are valid.
So this should be our first clue.
Overall, though, we still need to make some kind of decision what to try in the first place. Probably the best thing to do is to review a variety of teachings and find what best resonates. Some presentation of the Dhamma will seem more "right" for the individual than others. This can form a first pass at deciding what teachings to try out. And what seems "right" for one person may not be for another...this is why we are at such an advantage for having such variety. Once this is done, it's generally best to narrow down to a limited set of teachings, a particular tradition, and give that five or six years of dedication before evaluating whether or not to change it up.
That said, there is a huge danger in this. First off, the student is almost guaranteed to go down some blind alleys. I mean, the Buddha himself did this before discovering the Dhamma! Some things will be tried, perhaps even for an extended period of time, and will just never work. Some things might even be detrimental, and this is where honesty and an accurate self-perception (as well as advice from a teacher who knows you well) are vital. It is essential to be able to tell when a teaching is not working for you, not having the intended effect, even when you think it is right or otherwise like it. As a personal example, when I was younger I absorbed a lot of Mahāyāna and Tantric teachings about how pleasure is okay to experience, as long as you don't get attached to it. (This is, in fact, a teaching that goes all the way back to the EBTs!) I took that as license to indulge in whatever I wanted as much as I wanted, telling myself I was not attached to any of it. I was lying to myself. I was, in fact, quite attached to all of those sensual pleasures. I still am, in fact...this is my primary area of work right now. For someone whose main problem is, say, hate, then it's not as big of a deal to indulge...they may even be able to indulge without attachment quite easily. For someone whose main problem is greed, like me, this is not the case.
So, while we must find what teachings best resonate with ourselves, we also must be cautious not to be deluding ourselves into thinking a teaching that is right for us when it is actually wrong...that it is helping us when it is actually harming us. Or else we have no hope of advancing in the practice.