[Buddha-l] flat earth?

[jkirk]

Hi Joy—you sure met some humdingers in your life as a monk. Good thing some
of these stories are getting out—Erik’s, also--too much mystification re:
Tibetan Buddhism, IMHO.

Cheers, Joanna

 

If I may indulge you with some more autobiographical material. During my
retreat (beginning 1980s), we had a bit of a row with one of our teachers (a
Buthanese) about the flatness (not!) of the earth. The teacher insisted the
earth was flat because the Buddha said so. When we confronted him with the
more tolerant Dalai Lama's point of view on this matter, he got angry and
insisted the Buddha said the earth was flat and that was all there was to
it.

 

There was another disagreement with another teacher (Tibetan) about the
human anatomy, when explaining hathayogic practises. We were perfectly ready
to distinguish between the actual physical body with its internal organs and
a meditated empty subtle body with channels and cakras, but he wasn't. There
was only one body and when one breaths in through the nostrils, the air
didn't go into the lungs but went straight down via the two side channels
and then into the central channel...   

 

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