[Buddha-l] Reconversion?

[Blumenthal, James]

Refuge can also be a good way of beginning to establish a teacher-student relationship.  If you have such a Nyingma lama in mind, it certainly cannot hurt to take refuge again.  But it is not necessary.
Jim Blumenthal


James Blumenthal
Department of Philosophy
Oregon State University


-----Original Message-----
From: buddha-l-bounces at mailman.swcp.com on behalf of curt
Sent: Mon 4/17/2006 12:08 PM
To: Buddhist discussion forum
Subject: Re: [Buddha-l] Reconversion?
 
Hi Stefan,

I think that its more important to view Buddhist affiliation in terms of 
"working with" rather than "belonging to". If you are actually working 
with the Nyingma tradition, then you can simply follow the advice of 
people in the Sangha that you know and trust. But if you just want to 
"belong to" that tradition in an abstract way, without having direct 
contact with other human beings in that tradition - well, I don't really 
think that such an "affiliation" is recognized by the Nyingmas.

Also, the process of "leaving" one tradition can be uncoupled from 
"joining" another one. If you are currently a Zen student you could ask 
your teacher for advice on how to "officially" renounce Zen! The trouble 
with that, of course, is that once you renounce Zen, that makes you even 
"more" Zen than before!

But the real answer is that who you give your $$$ to is all that really 
matters! So just stop paying your Zen dues and start paying your Nyingma 
dues.

- Curt

Stefan Detrez wrote:
> Hi,
>  
> suppose you are a Zen Buddhist and you would want to convert to - say 
> - Nyingma Buddhism. Do you have to take refuge 'again' to redefine 
> your identity?
>  
> Stefan
>  
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