[Buddha-l] The way the wind blows

[Erik Hoogcarspel]

Mike Austin schreef:

> When assessing modern teachers and their supposed realisations, I 
> wonder what part pride plays. For example, I find I have a reluctance 
> to accept that some westerner, like myself, has achieved anything 
> remarkable. Now, on the one hand, I suppose the chances may be very 
> small.  But I suspect my reluctance to accept it is largely due to the 
> pride of competition. I cannot imagine that they have achieved 
> anything more than I have.
>
> Then I find myself thinking that only eastern adepts - Tibetan monks 
> and 'high lamas' for example - are the only authentic realised beings. 
> Could this also be pride because I associate with them? For example, I 
> think I tend to believe more of a Tibetan monk than a Japanese monk. Why?
>
> It is in my arrogant nature to consider myself better than others. 
> Where others come up with the same sort of views as myself, I can 
> either think of them as 'good' because they think like me, or as 
> 'ordinary' because I got to that view before they had. Either way, I 
> sit in state of conceit.
>
> Then, rather than thinking western people have reached realisations 
> that are as profound as, say, Tibetan lamas, I can tend to think that 
> Tibetan lamas are nothing special.  Why should they be able to achieve 
> something more than western practitioners?
>
> With all this dross going on inside my head,  those judgements I tend 
> to make of others and their realisations are nothing more than pissing 
> into the wind.
>
Well, I think the problem is the concept of awakening, nirwana or moksha 
or whatever you would like to call it. Most people are reluctant to 
discuss and investgate what we mean with this concept. Wittgenstein 
tells us that we should understand better hwo we use this concpet. One 
way would be to establish what would be the criteria. When do we call 
someone enlightened? Maybe there are different sorts or degrees. Is 
there a way to investigate this? To develop tests. What would change if 
such tests were invented?
I heard Akong Rinpoche stick to the thought that Zenmasters couldn't be 
beyond the second bodhisattvabhumi, whereas the Karmapa certainly would 
be on the nineth, because of some theoretical argument. This doesn't 
help. If enlightenment means anyhting more than a vague symbol, we need 
practical criteria, not dependent on any creed. And I don't think that 
it has anything to do with race or culture.


Erik


www.xs4all.nl/~jehms